The Most Powerful Drug

   For decades, Reverend Kaye Harvey (left) has been dispensing a healing drug with extraordinary effectiveness. She administered this drug to her former congregation & to endless others. Many got better through her treatments. 

   Although she was specially ordained to inject this drug, you can give it too. The drug that has been changing our brain cells for millennia? Not ketamine or psilocybin (which also holds great promise). But, Love. 

   Chaplain Marcy Thomas (right) did the same during her long service as a chaplain at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Instead of a sharp syringe she used a soft hand. Instead of cubic centimeters of antibiotics she administered rich quantities of her loving presence.

   Many believe both these caregivers contributed as much to those in need as did prescription drugs. 

The Role of Consciousness in Healing

   Every year millions travel seeking excitement, discovery & change. Without moving an inch, I traveled further than I have ever gone. This time, ketamine was the guide. 

   Readers of the Journal often prefer spirituality over science. The wisest, like Reverends Harvey & Thomas, incorporate both in the life journey. 

   It is shocking how few appreciate the value of other consciousnesses. What happens every night? Sleep delivers other worlds.  

   Freud pioneered dream consciousness to heal.  Remembered or not, we dream. Like you, I dismiss night dreams to live in daytime's "reality." 

   But my mind also dismisses earth the moment sleep takes over! Which is "real?"

   One of my friends attacked this series as nonsense that contains, "too much personal information, Erie." She wrote, "We all have problems. Buck up!" & posted it on Facebook with other comments so inflammatory I removed them.

   Maybe I was wrong. Kathy represents the majority. But, the atypical minority pioneers new healing. 

   Consider the breakthrough work of M.I.T. scientists reported in 2019 by Simon Mankin in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: "The Food and Drug Administration’s approval in March of a depression treatment based on ketamine generated headlines…because the drug represents a completely new approach for dealing with a condition the World Health Organization has labeled the leading cause of disability worldwide." 

   Note: "The FDA’s approval marks the first genuinely new type of psychiatric drug—for any condition—to be brought to market in more than 30 years."

   The reason to look beyond ketamine is the implications for you. Careful reading reveals scientists describing radical news: certain drugs do more than treat specific conditions. They offer tickets to 1) fundamental insights into our mind's function & 2) can change them permanently. 

   As NIMH scientist Carlos Zarate added,“'It’s a remarkable engineering feat, where they were able to visualize changes in neural circuits over time, corresponding with behavioral effects of ketamine.” Zarate is chief of the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the Institute.

   Changing neural circuits means that new treatments may restore memory, change personality & enhance brain function in older people.

   As Mankin writes, "'ketamine [just one example] has researchers excited [because] it works differently than existing antidepressants."

   Doctors reference "monoamine neurotransmitters" (serotonin, norepinephrine & dopamine). These words describe current antidepressants that impact the most common chemical messenger in the brain, glutamate.

   Get this. Glutamate commands one of the biggest processes happening in our minds right now: the brain wiring that underlies learning & memory.

   More “neuroplasticity” means better brain function. Depression shrinks the brain's hippocampus. Ketamine’s may help restore that crucial region. 

   Other drugs may revolutionize how all humans think. This includes impressive results from Johns Hopkins studies on psilocybin (mushroom extract.)

   Fortunately, that drug of Love, especially Radical Loving Care^®, exceeds others in impacting well being. Reverends Harvey & Thomas are especially good at delivering it. 

  With thanks to them, & to help other caregivers & patients, this series will continue. 

  Please contribute your experiences & insights as the journey continues.

-Rev. Erie Chapman

Photos from Facebook