New psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic open in Edmonton

Psychedelic therapy is being called a ‘frontier’ field of medicine, and now Edmonton has a new psychedelic assisted mental health treatment clinic.

 But psychiatrists warn there are still unanswered questions about their use. 

Psychologists say this ‘frontier’ field of mental health treatment is already showing promising results.

In order to get a dose of psilocybin–ketamine — or mdma — patients at reunion psychedelic therapy downtown must get a referral by a clinical professional and meet eligibility requirements after consulting with psychologists

While on a psychedelic dose, patients in this room are guided by medical professionals.

Meant to treat issues like treatment -resistant depression — anxiety ptsd — and end of life anxiety.

“To go inward an encounter different types of experiences, memories, emotions or thoughts that perhaps they’ve been really struggling with,” said Dr. Kevin St. Arnaud, Psychologist at reunion.

Different types of traumatic experiences perhaps start to come to the surface.

Dr. St. Arnaud says the research on psychedelic-assisted therapy dates back to the 1950s and its use recorded in human history thousands of years before– but despite that– is still an emerging field of field of clinical treatment.

 Alberta is the first province to regulate the practice in 2022.

“Under what we’ve put together here, this is protecting individuals from unregulated individuals providing non-evidence-based therapy,” said Dr. Robert Tanguay, Alberta Health Services.

Researchers at the University of Alberta told CityNews while promising clinical results around psychedelics started showing up a decade ago — there are still questions around their use.

“And they seem to create new nerve pathways and help nerve growth in ways that other drugs don’t–and that makes them very exiting,” said Dr. Peter Silverstone, professor of department of psychiatry at the University of Alberta. “There’s a huge question about whether you need to have the psychedelic effect — to have the therapeutic effect.”

Dr. Silverstone adds — after a few more years of research into their clinical use — psychedelic substances could be a more common treatment for severe ptsd and depression.

“So, I think it’s very exciting — huge potential — but is it ready for primetime? Not yet, we’re getting their,” said Dr. Silverstone.

However, at reunion, they  stress that they will always follow a psychedelic session with therapy.

“So it’s not just all about having these amazing fantastical experiences — it’s really about going to work and making them into something useful therapeutically,” said Dr. St Arnaud.