04 PM | 11 Dec

Magic #mushrooms may offer help with #depression & #anxiety [#geekgirl]

magic-mushrooms

Psilocybin has long been thought to assist with depression and anxiety. Now two studies run by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the other at the New York University Langone Medical Center, tend to confirm this long-held belief.  Both studies simultaneously ran trials on participants who had life-threatening cancers as well as a psychiatric diagnosis of anxiety or depression.

Those with cancer can be particularly susceptible to anxiety and depression. Roland Griffiths, a professor at the the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the lead author of one of the studies, said “depression (sic) is a very special and quite poignant vulnerability that many people have in facing life-threatening illnesses.”

The researchers from https://detoxofsouthflorida.com are ready to admit that they aren’t sure exactly how psilocybin works—a rather common problem in drugs aimed at brain chemistry. Psilocybin seems to quiet the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain where increased activity has been associated with depression. It also might be acting on the brain’s use of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that affects learning and memory.

The conclusion seemed definitive, a single dose of magic mushrooms can make people with severe anxiety and depression better for months, just as when you buy weed to treat the same symptoms.

Source: The Atlantic

12 PM | 04 Nov

Tim Shieff stars in #Swine – a #Mutant #Superbug is on the loose [#geekgirl]

Antibiotic Resistance is a reality. SWINE – Resistance has arrived – the world’s most destructive industry has a secret it doesn’t want you to know about, the character Jack Tomlins goes undercover to reveal the truth.

Will he survive?

Starring Timothy “Livewire” Shieff a professional English Freerunner. He is best known for winning the 2009 Barclaycard World Freerun Championship and participating on the television programme MTV’s Ultimate Parkour. Tim is a vegan and credits his increased performance to a plant based diet. He is also a champion and advocate for animals rights and welfare, and is keen for you to know the truth behind animal production and the use and abuse of drugs to raise them.

Antibiotic Resistance is real and its coming for us. Our lazy approach to these drugs will come back to bite us. It is only a matter of time. [#govegan]

✖ facebook: http://facebook.com/swinethemovie/

01 PM | 16 Oct

Unproven but worth a try – sniff this #Hawaiian #mushroom for an #orgasm [#geekgirl]

Hawaiian shroom - Dictyophora

A study from the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms reports that Dictyophora, a mushroom that grows on lava flows, induces spontaneous orgasms in about 1/3 of the woman who sniff it. From Wikipedia: According to a 2001 publication in the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, the smell of the fresh fungus can trigger spontaneous orgasms in human females. In the trial involving 16 women, 6 had orgasms while smelling the fruit body, and the other ten, who received smaller doses, experienced physiological changes such as increased heart rate. All of the 20 men tested considered the smell disgusting. According to the authors, the results suggest that the hormone-like compounds present in the volatile portion of the gleba may have some similarity to human neurotransmitters released in females during sexual activity. The study used the species found in Hawaii, not the edible variety cultivated in China.

Source: BoingBoing (Update)

02 PM | 25 Jul

#Feminist reactions to the #Amy Winehouse #documentary [#geekgirl]

The new Amy Winehouse doco is getting a lot of good reviews; some more substantive than others. One particular perspective stood out to me, and it’s gripping title; Patriarchy, male entitlement, & capitalist greed killed Amy Winehouse, not boozing by Meghan Murphy definitely caught my eye..

Meghan states>> (sic) “As I watched her very public and publicized downfall, as she was abandoned to her addictions, depression, now-apparent eating disorder, and struggles with the pressures of fame, I noticed the different treatment she received in the media.

Male substance abusers are often afforded a certain level of respect no matter how much they drink or use drugs — women, less so. Framed as “trainwrecks,” unfeminine and embarrassing, both pitied and mocked — women are meant to maintain composure and class in a way men aren’t expected to. Generally, drunkenness in men is viewed as normal and acceptable whereas women who party are portrayed as messy, trashy, slutty, and deserving of any “punishment” they receive (see: the victim blaming of rape victims who were under the influence when assaulted) for their unladylike behaviour.

As pointed out by Molly Beauchemin in Pitchfork, “Men who grapple with issues that coincide with art and fame are canonized in death.” Indeed, male addicts are romanticized as troubled artists while women who struggle with addiction or mental illness or both, as the two often go hand in hand, are seen as disasters. Kurt Cobain is one example Beauchemin offers who has most certainly been painted as tragic and as having suffered, but also as a universally-respected genius. (Conveniently, many have blamed Courtney Love for his heroin addiction and his death.) Amy, in comparison, hasn’t been treated with anywhere near the respect Cobain was and her death was seen by many as expected and deserved.

I watched Amy on Sunday night, prepared to feel sadness and loss, but less prepared for the level of anger I felt as I left the theatre. She didn’t die, as the media told us, because she was a lost cause who cared only for boozing and nothing else. Amy died because the men in her life were selfish, careless, capitalists who faked compassion for cameras when it was convenient, but only in order to boost their own “careers,” fill their bank accounts, and satisfy their own needs. More broadly, she died because of a culture built on greed, misogyny, and individualism”.

Full article: > Feminist Current