THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022 A9
Psilocybin
Continued from A1
“You don’t realize how bad
your vision is until you put
those glasses on,” he said.
PSILOCYBIN AND TRAUMA
Jarvis is not alone in his
struggle. Thousands of mili-
tary veterans struggle with a
host of mental health issues.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disor-
der. Depression. Anxiety. Sui-
cide. According to the VA’s
2022 National Veteran Suicide
Prevention Annual Report,
there were 6,146 veteran sui-
cides in 2020 — an average of
16.8 each day.
Inundated with thousands of
patients, Jarvis said the VA of-
ten relies on prescription med-
ication, even when it might not
be the best choice.
“I know what I need for my
mental health. Antidepres-
sants are just not a part of the
equation,” he said. “I know my
needs better than anyone.”
Jeff, a firefighter for a city
in Deschutes County, said that
while therapists can help peo-
ple recognize patterns in how
they operate, psilocybin lets
people make those connec-
tions for themselves.
Jeff asked that the Redmond
Spokesman withhold his last
name because he was con-
cerned his use of psilocybin
could affect his job as a city
employee.
After using psilocybin to
deal with trauma from combat
and his job as a first responder,
he said it’s like putting aloe
vera on a burn and getting in-
stant relief. The benefits, he
said, continued for months af-
ter taking a dose.
“It’s totally a relief to have
access to medicine and treat-
ment without being dependent
upon it for the rest of your life,”
he said.
He said psilocybin opens
a layer of self-healing and
makes it easier to accept your
experiences. When exposed
to trauma, people often push
those memories away and wall
them off in their minds to pro-
tect themselves from pain and
hurt. Psilocybin, he said, lets
you go to those places and pro-
cess the trauma.
“It makes you completely
aware not only of what’s going
on inside of you but what’s go-
ing on around you,” said Jeff.
TREATMENT
Psilocybin treatment is typi-
cally an internal experience, said
Dr. Vicki Kalira, who lives in
Bend and is the acting medical
director for Addiction Recov-
ery Treatment Services at the
VA Northern California Health
Care System.
For veterans like Jarvis and
Jeff, psilocybin can put them
in a contemplative state and
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Memorabilia on the wall of the converted school bus where James Jar-
vis lives near Bend.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
James Jarvis in the forest with his converted school bus that he lives in near Bend.
let them interact with their
thoughts, feelings and experi-
ences — rather than relying on
the assistance of a therapist.
“They’re having their own
epiphanies or insights in that
experience,” she said. “They are
just going through the process
and most of the time no one is
saying anything.”
Usually, treatment involves
multiple preparatory meetings
with a medical provider and
facilitator to determine dosage
and to go over what experiences
participants may have. In the
majority of treatment sessions,
Kalira said that participants
lie on a couch in comfortable
clothing. They might be under
a blanket with an eye mask on
and listen to music that can aid
in the experience.
She said that preparation is
critical to the experience. Much
of the treatment is tied to what a
patient bring to the session and
the environment where the ses-
sion takes place.
“Both are important to psy-
chedelic work,” she said.
Kalira said most participants
do one to two preparatory ses-
sions before consuming orally
psilocybin at a treatment center,
but that the number of sessions
depends on the facilitator’s rec-
ommendations and the partici-
pant’s history.
Once preparation is over and
treatment is underway, the par-
ticipant will start to experience
effects in roughly 20-30 min-
utes. While participants are not
functionally impaired by psi-
locybin, there can be laughing,
crying or feelings of joy. Some
may feel anxious or paranoid,
but these symptoms are dis-
cussed beforehand.
While everyone can have a
different experience, partici-
pants might see visual or audi-
tory hallucinations — things
that aren’t real. Colors can look
more vibrant, solid objects may
look distorted or participants
might see geometric shapes and
patterns.
If participants feel uncom-
fortable during the 4-6 hour ex-
perience, a facilitator will help
them with calming techniques
like deep breathing. Sometimes,
all it can take to make someone
more comfortable is a glass of
water or getting up to use the
bathroom.
After the session, facilitators,
therapists, peers and coaches
can help participants integrate
their experiences and help so-
lidify insights. This may look
like journaling or engaging in
physical activity such as hiking.
How long the integration stage
lasts depends on the individual,
she said.
Kalira said psilocybin is not
for everyone and it is currently
not recommended for those
with a personal or family his-
tory of psychosis or those who
have bipolar disorder.
Kalira said there is lim-
ited data about strong adverse
events. Most bad experiences,
she said, is due to taking large
doses, consuming psilocybin
with other substances, not tak-
ing it in the correct setting or
not following up afterward.
She said there is evidence
psilocybin can help with a wide
range of issues, including de-
pression, migraines, alcohol use
disorders and cluster headaches.
According to a 2020 study from
Johns Hopkins University and a
2022 study from the University
of California, psilocybin can al-
leviate symptoms of major de-
pressive disorder.
This may come, she said,
from psilocybin’s ability to help
people look at things differently.
“That is the crux of it,” she
said. “...It is an agent that is able
to afford you a different per-
spective.”
According to Kalira, psilo-
cybin seems to target serotonin
receptors in the brain and in-
crease the brain’s cognitive and
psychological flexibility.
“A lot of the way we see the
world is colored by our experi-
ences,” she said. “When people
take psychedelics, those de-
fenses are interrupted.”
Kalira said indigenous cul-
tures have used psychedelics
like psilocybin for centuries and
that psilocybin treatment is not
a novel concept.
FINDING PEACE
Adam Leary is an Army
veteran from Redmond who
served three tours and is cur-
rently an eighth-grade teacher
at an online school. Leary said
he has taken psilocybin a few
times and that has been help-
ful. He said it created an in-
trospective experience and let
him reach parts of himself that
he normally couldn’t access.
“(Psilocybin) is something
you can take and then can pro-
cess trauma,” Leary said. “It’s
therapy, but on steroids.”
Leary, who was shot in his
right leg during his service,
said there needs to be an all-
hands-on-deck approach to
the mental health issues fac-
ing veterans. The opposition
to the psilocybin measures in
Redmond and Bend, he said,
mostly comes from fear and
not understanding the research
behind the psychedelic.
“Even if it helps just a small
percentage of the mentally ill
people who take it,” Leary said,
“I think it’ll be worth it.”
Jeff, the firefighter, said
combat and military service
take their toll. But he said psi-
Get great
service &
great rates.
locybin has helped everyone
he knows who has used it in a
therapeutic setting. He said it
is a risk to go public with his
experiences, but that he was
willing to speak out due to its
potential to help veterans and
people who are hurting or sui-
cidal.
“I never imagined that I’d
know so many people who
have succumbed to their own
wounds to suicide,” he said.
“This is me crying out.”
After trying psilocybin,
James Jarvis began microdos-
ing regularly by ingesting small
amounts of the psychedelic
every morning with his cof-
fee. Although using psilocybin
outside of therapeutic centers
is not legal in Oregon, Jarvis
said everything seemed a lit-
tle more vibrant and he was
able to think in a different way
when he used them.
Now he hasn’t taken any psi-
locybin for a few months but
says he still sees the benefits.
“I feel better,” he said. “Anx-
iety kind of dissipates, it goes
away, it helps you completely
reframe your mind and see
things from a different per-
spective than you would be-
fore.”
Now living in a sky-blue
renovated bus, Jarvis still has
trauma behind his eyes. But
he says he has found a way to
cope.
At home, his military ID
tags hang next to handmade
ceramic mugs. On another
wall, a military patch hangs
next to a wood cutting to me-
morialize hiking the Pacific
Crest Trail. There is also a
painting he made, inspired by
a road trip in Utah.
The painting was a turning
point in his depression. It let
him open up, be vulnerable
and allowed him to be okay
with making mistakes.
Now, he said it reminds him
of how far he’s come.
“It reminds me ... I am free
to choose what I want to do
with my life,” he said.
█
Reporter: nrosenberger@
redmondspokesman.com
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