(via nomosshere)

‘The euphoric feeling one experiences during a psilocybin “magic mushroom” trip could be crafted to treat depression and other illnesses say British scientists, who have studied the brains of those using the psychedelic substance.

Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms was analyzed in two separate studies and was found to suppress brain activity in regions similar to that of pharmaceutical anti-depressants. This evidence helps strengthen the argument of doctors and scientists who believe that using natural psychedelic substances in a therapeutic manner, along with professional psychotherapy, could be a step forward in treating depression, addiction to hard drugs or alcohol, and other ailments of the mind.

One of the studies, which is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal (PNAS) [1], showed that volunteers felt a mood-lifting shift in their perception of self. Theoretically under the right coaching, this could help patients change their outlook on life to be more positive.’

‘Here’s some depressing recent medical news: Antidepressants don’t work. What’s even more depressing is that the pharmaceutical industry and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have deliberately deceived us into believing that they DO work. As a physician, this is frightening to me. Depression is among the most common problems seen in primary-care medicine and soon will be the second leading cause of disability in this country.

The study I’m talking about was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. It found that drug companies selectively publish studies on antidepressants. They have published nearly all the studies that show benefit — but almost none of the studies that show these drugs are ineffective. (1)

That warps our view of antidepressants, leading us to think that they do work. And it has fueled the tremendous growth in the use of psychiatric medications, which are now the second leading class of drugs sold, after cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The problem is even worse than it sounds, because the positive studies hardly showed benefit in the first place. For example, 40 percent of people taking a placebo (sugar pill) got better, while only 60 percent taking the actual drug had improvement in their symptoms. Looking at it another way, 80 percent of people get better with just a placebo.’

‘Studied across a wide variety (81,000 count) of women of various paths and lifestyles, Vitamin D when found in natural food sources had been related to significantly lower depressive symptoms among women than those who do not consume foods rich in Vitamin D.

The researchers particularly involved in the study seem to be under the impression that Vitamin D, in addition to being a crucial part of the human body’s chemistry, may directly affect the functioning dopamine and norepinephrine receptors, causing an imbalance in the brain which may lead to depressive symptoms.

It’s not a secret that Vitamin D is known to fend off depression.

A study among the elderly in 2006 showed that those with lower levels of vitamin D were many times more likely to be depressed as those with healthy doses, sometimes upwards of 11 times more likely.

Depression improved even with vitamin D levels significantly lower than optimal

The most current study revealed that those who consumed more than 400 IU of Vitamin D from food sources was correlated with up to a 20 percent lower risk of depressive symptoms, when compared to those who consumed 4 times less.’

‘Greece has been laboring under austerity imposed by the EU, IMF and the ECB and as a result their deficit for the first half of the year rose to $21.4 billion from $17.3 billion. Needless to say, tax revenues have fallen off a cliff and as a result the Troika has mandated further cuts in order to offset revenue loss. This is a never ending story, because when all is said and done the economy will be all but dismantled, that is what economy existed in the first place. As a result unemployment worsens and that provides more demonstrators in the streets.

Those lower tax receipts mean more government layoffs. As a result of these and other problems Greek projections came up about 25% short of projections. These nebulous announcements by key players certainly did not justify major rallies in stock markets. Economic numbers in Greece are dreadful and in the UK, US and Europe they are only marginally better. It is obvious the world is slowing down.

Very disturbing is that the Fed, other central banks; governments and financial communities have no idea as to how to end the ongoing financial and economic crisis. All they can come up with is to throw money at the problem, which has not worked and extending the timeline has solved nothing. As a result the world is headed into a further fall into depressionary inflation. Virtually everyone in the financial sector in the US, UK and Europe are clamoring for more issuance of money and credit, now known as quantatiative easing.’