u/SibyllaAzarica

"A new WHO strategic technical advisory group for traditional medicine was launched this week at a global summit in India. “This is a pivotal moment for traditional medicine. It embodies cultural heritage and national health identities, and increasingly, it constitutes a vital component of primary health care strategies,” Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO’s assistant director-general for health system, access and data, told the summit.

The idea, Kuruvilla suggests, is to “build a bridge” between traditional medicine and biomedicine. It is important to “find commonalities”, she says. “Showing that the science can be robust is really, really important, and especially on the patient safety aspect.”

Traditional medicine has the potential to be a “treasure trove”, Kuruvilla says. The vast numbers of people working in the field – including university-educated professionals accredited to work in clinics in China and India – could ease global workforce shortages and make a “huge contribution” to universal health coverage, she says."

This timeless debate comes up all the time in esoteric communities and is frequently debated within some shamanic traditions, as well. What's your current take on this age-old question?

An interesting read. Although the title says veterans, it can obviously apply to anyone with significant unresolved trauma.

From the article: "After war and addiction, he chased relief across the border. What followed was complicated. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. It first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service."

>If patients experience stress after taking psychedelics, the drugs “can do more damage than good,” according to Gul Dolen, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. 

>Dolen’s work found psychedelics reopen “critical periods”—windows when the brain is more sensitive to its environment and more capable of learning during early childhood and other critical periods. In the same way a person who just had open-heart surgery shouldn’t climb stairs, people who take psychedelics shouldn’t expose themselves to traumatic events.

>“Think of this as open-mind surgery,” Dolen said. 

>For Dervaes, the trauma returned less than a month after returning from Ambio. He lost a friend to suicide. The devastation ripped through his community of friends. In a Zoom call hosted by an Ambio counselor with about 30 former patients, frustration mounted. The healing stopped. Dervaes started drinking. “Regression,” he said. 

I think the moral here is be well informed going in, and have a good aftercare plan/therapist in place to support your recovery in the days/weeks/months that follow. Anyone can experience regression when life goes sideways. Harm reduction should always be top priority.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/for-some-veterans-psychedelics-are-a-last-hope-and-a-dangerous-gamble/