Mental Illness

A recent pilot study provides encouraging insights into the potential of a common dietary supplement, creatine, for enhancing brain health in individuals grappling with Alzheimer's disease. The research indicates that participants who consistently consumed creatine monohydrate over an eight-week period experienced a measurable uptick in brain energy and noticeable improvements in cognitive function. This groundbreaking work suggests an alternative therapeutic strategy that centers on revitalizing the brain's metabolic processes, which are often compromised in Alzheimer's patients.

Creatine Offers Hope for Alzheimer's Brain Health

In a pioneering pilot study, researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center, including Aaron N. Smith and Matthew K. Taylor, investigated the impact of creatine monohydrate on Alzheimer's patients. Published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, their findings offer a glimmer of hope for a novel approach to managing the disease. Twenty older adults, aged 60 to 90, all clinically diagnosed with progressive dementia due to Alzheimer's, participated in the eight-week trial. To ensure the study's relevance, participants' blood was analyzed for the p-tau217 biomarker, confirming a high likelihood of true Alzheimer's pathology, and nearly two-thirds carried the APOE gene variant linked to late-onset Alzheimer's.

Participants were instructed to take 20 grams of creatine monohydrate daily, split into two 10-gram doses, dissolved in a beverage. Study partners meticulously tracked daily consumption. Blood samples, drawn at the beginning, middle, and end of the trial, confirmed elevated creatine levels, indicating successful absorption. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, an advanced brain scanning technique, revealed an average 11% increase in total brain creatine levels in the frontal and parietal regions, confirming that the supplement successfully crossed the blood-brain barrier and integrated into the brain's energy storage systems.

Remarkably, the study revealed early cognitive benefits. Participants' overall cognitive test scores improved by approximately three points. They showed enhanced fluid cognition, which involves problem-solving and rapid information processing, and better performance on working memory tasks. Oral reading recognition scores also increased, as did the ability to focus amidst distractions. The degree of improvement in reading performance correlated with the increase in brain creatine levels. The supplement proved to be highly feasible and well-tolerated, with 19 out of 20 participants completing at least 80% of the daily doses. Minor side effects, such as temporary muscle cramping, occasional diarrhea, or disrupted sleep, were largely self-resolving, and metabolic blood tests showed no adverse impact on major organs.

This pilot study, while promising, acknowledges its limitations as a single-arm trial without a control group. Future larger-scale clinical trials with placebo controls and longer observation periods are essential to definitively confirm creatine's direct cognitive benefits and long-term efficacy. If these early findings are corroborated, this affordable and widely accessible supplement could become a valuable tool in supporting brain health and delaying cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.

This research underscores the potential of an accessible dietary supplement to address a critical aspect of Alzheimer's pathology: energy dysfunction. By targeting brain metabolism, creatine may offer a complementary strategy to existing treatments that primarily focus on plaque reduction. The study's emphasis on practicality, safety, and measurable cognitive improvements provides a compelling foundation for future investigations into creatine's role in neurodegenerative diseases. As we continue to seek effective interventions for Alzheimer's, metabolic support through compounds like creatine could offer a tangible path towards improving patients' quality of life and prolonging independent function.

Unveiling the Spectrum: From Madness to Meaning Through Psychedelics

The Long Shadow of a Crisis: Navigating the Aftermath of Psychosis

The author recounts the arduous process of recovering from a life-altering crisis in 1990, a period diagnosed as psychosis. This experience involved a terrifying descent into a "pan-dimensional hellscape" filled with distressing imagery and voices, leaving a lasting impact on her life. The resistance to conventional medication, which she felt would erode her true self, further complicated her journey.

A Lingering Desire for Transcendence: Beyond the Veil of Consensus Reality

Despite the horrors of her psychotic episode, the author yearned for the rare moments of profound clarity and spiritual awareness she had occasionally experienced. These transcendent states offered exquisite insights and a sense of unity, free from pain, doubt, or shame. This longing persisted even as she strived to integrate back into everyday life and reconnect with her children, who were her primary motivation for recovery.

Embracing New Pathways: The Unexpected Turn Towards Psychedelic Therapy

Initially hesitant due to a fragile psyche, the author's perspective on psychedelics shifted in late 2021. Repeated encounters with literature and personal testimonies about psychedelic therapy sparked a cautious curiosity. The idea of carefully guided psilocybin use, coupled with professional preparation and integration, emerged as a potential avenue for healing unresolved aspects of her past and recapturing some of the spiritual understanding she had known.

The Transformative Power of Psychedelic Integration: A Journey of Healing and Balance

After 18 months of consistent therapeutic sessions, the author underwent a psilocybin experience. While not inherently pleasurable, the session, conducted in a safe environment with experienced companions, facilitated significant healing. Crucially, the subsequent integration process, diligently supported by her therapist, proved to be the most impactful. This led to a gentler, more manageable form of transcendence, fostering a newfound balance between the ordinary and the profound.

Challenging Conventional Wisdom: The Disconnect in Mental Health Approaches

The author reflects on the stark contrast between her personal experience of integrating psychedelic insights and the historical approach of mental health services to spontaneous altered states. She posits that integrating her 1990 experiences with the same care provided by PAT could have significantly reduced her suffering. However, she notes that such comprehensive healing remains largely inaccessible within both conventional psychiatry and current psychedelic research, particularly for those with a history of psychosis, who are often deemed too high-risk.

Re-evaluating Exclusion Criteria: A Call for Inclusive Psychedelic Research

The article critiques the widespread exclusion of individuals with psychotic disorders from psychedelic research, citing the severe and persistent challenges faced by this population, including reduced life expectancy and stagnant clinical improvement. While acknowledging that PAT may not be suitable for everyone, the author advocates for a reconsideration of these broad exclusion criteria, urging for more individualized and compassionate assessments.

Bridging the Divide: Integrating Experiences of Mysticism and Madness

The author highlights the distinct approaches to altered states in psychedelic research versus psychosis research. Psychedelic studies often explore experiences of mysticism and ego dissolution, utilizing tools like the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI). In contrast, psychosis research primarily focuses on pathological symptoms. The author recounts how questions from the EDI would have been invaluable during her own "psychotic" experience, potentially validating her perceptions and fostering a sense of understanding rather than mere medication.

"Ask Us": A Poetic Plea for Empathy and Understanding

Years before her PAT journey, the author penned a poem, "Ask Us: To a Long-Ago Psychiatrist and Some Current Ones Too," expressing her desire for mental health professionals to explore the profound experiences underlying what is often labeled "lunacy." She emphasizes that the "fascinating territory" of her spontaneous altered states was far more meaningful than her subsequent psychedelic experience, yet received no curious inquiry, only a push towards medication.

Forging New Paths: The MadPsychedelics Collaboratory and Future Hopes

Inspired by her healing journey, the author has engaged with the growing field of psychedelic research and therapy, particularly at the intersection of psychedelics and psychosis. She is part of the MadPsychedelics Collaboratory, a collective aiming to empower individuals with lived experience to lead research in this area. The initiative seeks to ask more pertinent questions and analyze data without the fear or stigma often associated with pathologized non-ordinary states, ultimately hoping to transform mental health services and inform future psychedelic research through the lens of madness liberation movements.