Health Conditions / Mental Health / Substance Use Disorder

That said, it’s definitely not a bad idea to be mindful of how much you’re drinking year-round. Below, mental health and substance use experts provide tips for anyone looking to extend their period of abstinence beyond Dry January, or anyone trying to revisit their relationship with alcohol in the days ahead.What to do if you want to cut back on alcohol—or stop drinking altogetherKeep track of how you’re feeling. As with many “health” challenges that go viral online, it’s easy to go through the motions of Dry January without really diving into your feelings. If you took a break from drinking and want to keep going, reflect on how you’ve felt living alcohol-free for the past few weeks. Ask yourself some questions about what your relationship with alcohol has looked like in the past. It can also be useful to think about what usually happens when you drink, Fred Rotgers, PsyD, ABPP, founder of Moderation Management, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing the harm caused by alcohol misuse, tells SELF. “Alcohol problems are defined not by how much you drink, but by the consequences that happen as a result of your drinking,” he explains. A few starters to get you going include: Do I use alcohol to manage uncomfortable emotions, or is it something I turn to when I’m happy? Do I always go a little too hard with a certain group of friends? (If so, how can I still connect with those friends without drinking alcohol?) Do I drink when I’m bored or to mark the end of the workday? In short, taking a big-picture look at the role alcohol plays in your life can help you set up some guardrails for safe drinking practices in the future.Pick a starting place. Those aforementioned guardrails look different for everyone, Benson says. “It really depends on the person, the approach [they’re] going to be able to stick to,” she says. A couple of habits that work well for some people include not drinking two nights in a row; not drinking alone; only drinking a certain number of nights a week; only drinking at celebratory functions (like birthday parties or weddings); drinking a full glass of water between every alcoholic beverage; or not keeping alcohol in your house.Remember your goals can—and probably will—change. We live in a very New Year’s–resolutions–focused culture, Benson says. As anyone who uses the internet knows, there’s often a lot of pressure to make radical lifestyle choices on January 1 in the name of “health”—and to stick to them, no matter what. But the first changes we decide to make—anytime, not just at New Year’s—often aren’t sustainable long-term and may need to be tweaked along the way. Try not to blame yourself if you end up breaking a rule you’d previously agreed to stick to, Dr. Vakharia says. “When you put so much preciousness and so much weight on the ultimate goal, you see a violation of that [goal] as a clearing of the slate,” she says. If you do end up straying from the original path you set for yourself, soften the language you use to describe it. “Rather than using the word ‘relapsed,’ use a gentler term like ‘slip,’” she recommends. “It’s kinder. When you slip, what do you do? You get up again.”Talk to your loved ones about your goals. If you’re thinking of extending Dry January (or taking a break at any time!), a good first step is to make that clear to friends, family members, and anyone you regularly drink with so they can help you stay on track. “Surround yourself with people who understand the situation—people who are going to be understanding of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it,” Benson says.Explore support groups for sober people. If you don’t know of any in your area, you could use this tool from Psychology Today, which allows you to search for support groups by zip code, as a starting point. If the options in your area don’t feel like a good fit for you (or there simply isn’t an option in your area), there are loads of groups that meet online. For example, Moderation Management offers private online support groups, which you can find more info on here, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has links to support groups here. 

Michael J. Fox said he drank to excess after being diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease in a new documentary, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. In the film, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival last week and will be available on Apple TV+ later this year, the 61-year-old Canadian actor talked about his 1991 diagnosis and its aftermath, including substance abuse—and, eventually, sobriety.In the documentary, Fox said he felt uncertain about his future after learning he had the neurological disorder at age 29—and that this feeling led to an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, per USA Today. “I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know what was coming,” Fox said. “So what if I could just have four glasses of wine and maybe a shot? I was definitely an alcoholic.”In the documentary, Fox said that he also abused dopamine pills, explaining that he took them “like Halloween Smarties” in an attempt to quell early Parkinson’s symptoms, like tremors, and to deal with its mental health fallout. “Therapeutic value, comfort—none of these were the reason I took these pills,” Fox said. “There was only one reason: to hide.”Fortunately, Fox’s wife, actor Tracy Pollan, and four children helped him get sober: “I’ve gone 30 years without having a drink,” he said. But the first few years of sobriety were difficult, he added, since they forced him to reckon with his diagnosis: “As low as alcohol had brought me, abstinence would bring me lower. I could no longer escape myself.”Fox didn’t disclose his diagnosis until 1998. He recently said in an acceptance speech for the Academy Awards’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award that he was “in denial” during the seven years between learning he had Parkinson’s and publicly sharing the news, per CBS News. Shortly after making the announcement, he launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), which provides funding for teams working to find treatments for the disorder.Fox—who’s something of an expert on optimism, having written multiple books on the subject—has spoken about how his diagnosis illuminated the things in his life that he’s grateful for. He was particularly struck by the encouragement he received after sharing his diagnosis with the world, as he said in the acceptance speech: “What happened next was remarkable: The outpouring of support from the public at large and the beautiful reaction from all of my peers in the entertainment business…it was transformative.” Fox continued that he was thankful to be in a position to help others living with Parkinson’s. “It struck me that everything I had been given—success, my life with Tracy, my family—had prepared me for this profound opportunity and responsibility,” he said. “It was a gift.”The ending of Still shows Fox reflecting on how the MJFF changed the course of his life. “Some people would view the news of my disease as an ending,” he said. “But I was starting to sense it was really a beginning.”If you or someone you love needs support due to substance use, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website or call the national helpline at 1-800-662-4357.Related:

The holiday season is full of opportunities for boozy fun. A festive cocktail here, a mulled wine there. So, if learning how to prevent a hangover is at the top of your wish list, we get it.Before you hark back to your college tactics or old wives’ tales passed down from your parents, we’re sorry to say that most hangover prevention tricks just plain don’t work. When you drink too much, there’s only so much you can do while your liver clears the damage. But there are a few things you can do to ward off a post-party pukefest.What causes a hangover? Well, drinking alcohol—but you already knew that. There are several reasons alcohol can make you feel crummy. That’s because “alcohol is a toxin to the body,” Keith Humphreys, PhD, a psychiatry professor at Stanford University who researches the prevention and treatment of addiction disorders, tells SELF. As fun as it might be, you’re always going to be putting your body a bit through the wringer when you over imbibe.According to the Mayo Clinic, alcohol can cause dehydration, irritate the lining of the stomach (which is why you might feel pukey), expand blood vessels in a way that can cause headaches, and prevent you from reaching deep stages of sleep, which can make you feel exhausted. It also triggers an inflammatory response from the immune system and causes blood sugar to drop, which can make you feel weak and shaky and make it difficult to concentrate. All of these things can contribute to your state of misery the morning after.If you have fond memories of being able to throw several back as a college student without consequence, but now even a few drinks can ruin the next day, that’s par for the course, Dr. Humphreys says. “Our body’s ability to metabolize lots of things weakens with age,” he says. Alcohol is no exception.How to prevent a hangover before drinkingYou might have seen supplements that claim to prevent a hangover. Some say to take them before you start drinking, some after, and some say both before and after. But sorry, Dr. Humphreys says there’s no evidence they work—it’s probably a lot more marketing than science. There are some things you can do to help avoid a hangover before you start drinking, though. The first one? Eat, says David Seitz, MD, medical director for Ascendant Detox, a drug and alcohol treatment center in New York. “Eating food while drinking can help slow the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream and reduce the severity of a hangover the next day,” Dr. Seitz tells SELF.Some people say that high-fat or high-protein meals are better, but Dr. Humphreys says what matters most is that you eat a full meal, and that you keep eating as the night goes on. (Those gingerbread men aren’t going to eat themselves!)Another huge must: Drink water, Dr. Seitz says. “Alcohol consumption can lead to dehydration, so it is important to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water and other non-alcoholic beverages,” he says. That’s true before you go out, but also while you’re drinking and after you get home.How to prevent a hangover as you drinkYou’re less likely to get a hangover if you don’t drink much and don’t have drinks back-to-back. Keep an eye on both the number of drinks you’re having, as well as the frequency. One serving of alcohol (which is 12 oz. of beer, 5 oz. of wine, or 1.5 oz. of liquor) or fewer per hour will give your liver a better chance of keeping up, Dr. Humphreys says.

Paula Zimbrean, MD, a psychiatrist and associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine, tells SELF that there are a handful of other factors that can influence hangxiety. These include how well your body metabolizes alcohol, if any other mood-altering substances or medications are in your bloodstream, how much and how quickly you drank (the faster you drink, the quicker your blood alcohol levels rises, and the more active your GABA receptors get), and how well you slept afterward (which, if you’re like me after I drink, probably wasn’t all that great).12People with underlying mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety disorders, are more likely to experience anxiety after drinking, Dr. Schacht adds.13 “These issues can essentially shift your brain’s ‘set point’ and make it easier for alcohol to ‘tip’ the brain into anxiety,” he explains.How to prevent and cope with post-drinking anxietyPay attention to your alcohol habits.According to Dr. Schacht, the single best thing you can do is monitor how much alcohol you’re drinking. “The more you drink, the more your brain reacts to the dose of alcohol it is receiving,” he says—so having a cocktail or two is way less likely to cause anxiety the next day than, say, five or six vodka sodas. Big note: If you’re dealing with an alcohol use disorder, stopping at one or two drinks may feel impossible. If you think you might have a drinking problem and you’re interested in seeking help, here’s SELF’s guide to substance use disorder treatment.)Identify your motivation for drinking.Dr. Schacht recommends checking in with yourself about why you’re drinking. Is it because you’re genuinely enjoying time with your friends or family, or are you trying to relieve taxing feelings you’ve been dealing with? Many people reach for alcohol when they’re stressed out, he says, but this can actually exacerbate their issues and trap them in a vicious cycle (e.g., you’re feeling stressed, you pour yourself a drink, and though it may provide temporary relief, it makes you even worse the next day, and then you want to want to drink even more).14 If you want to drink to lower your stress levels, do another activity that might make you feel better in the moment and the next day, Dr. Schacht says. Have a sober hang with friends, go on a hike or walk, read a book, or host a movie or Netflix night. Rely on mindfulness tools.If you’re in the depths of hangxiety and need fast relief, Dr. Greenfield recommends working through it with meditation, grounding activities, calming yoga poses or stretches, or deep breathing exercises. “A lot of the uncomfortable emotions we have, when we try to push them away or avoid them, they just get worse,” Dr. Greenfield says. When you turn toward your feelings, they often become less unpleasant.Tend to your physical symptoms.Treating the physical effects of drinking can help with the mental ones, too, according to Dr. Schacht. Drink water, eat a nourishing meal, take a cat nap, and try to get a good night’s sleep the following evening. All of these self-care strategies can help your body (and mood) recover from a hangover faster, says Dr. Schacht. Because exercise can boost and normalize neurotransmitter activity in the brain, including hangxiety perpetrator GABA, Dr. Schacht also recommends squeezing in some physical activity (maybe a brisk walk or a 10-minute workout)—if your hangover can handle it.15Know that your hangxiety will pass.Sometimes, no matter what I do, the only thing that abates my post-drinking anxiety is waiting it out. At the very least, I find comfort in remembering that my shaky-emotional-ground feeling, no matter how intense, will dissipate soon enough. Anxiety tends to build and peak then crash back down like a wave. As Dr. Greenfield puts it, “Time is on your side.” Just breathe, take care of yourself, and remember that hangxiety isn’t forever.

Opioids are a powerful, pain-relieving class of drugs—but they’re controversial for a reason. Historically, “street opioids” like heroin have been largely responsible for mounting opioid overdose deaths, but recent data show that prescription opioids, like oxycodone and hydrocodone, also play a role in this crisis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s a big reason why the agency’s influential prescribing guidelines for these painkillers were rather strict. Those recommendations, originally released in 2016, were just updated to better reflect the need for individualized, compassionate care.The CDC issued new opioid prescribing guidelines for health care providers in early November; specifically, the recommendations detail when opioids should be considered for “appropriate pain treatment, with careful consideration of the benefits and risks.”The agency’s 2016 guidelines, a well-intentioned step in combatting the opioid epidemic, were criticized by many experts. Doctors, insurance companies, and pharmacies sometimes didn’t interpret the previous guidelines correctly. As an “unintended effect,” many people suffered from “untreated and undertreated pain, serious withdrawal symptoms, worsening pain outcomes, psychological distress, overdose, and suicide ideation and behavior,” the CDC notes.Misinterpretations of the 2016 guidelines “often created a barrier for people who could have benefitted from opioid medications,” Jamie Alan, PharmD, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, tells SELF. Though “the rationale for stricter guidelines was clear,” she says, it also “created a culture of fear, where physicians were afraid to consider and/or prescribe opioids for patients.”O. Trent Hall, DO, an addiction medicine physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, agrees. He tells SELF that the previous guidelines were “widely misunderstood and misapplied,” noting that government regulators and insurance companies were “desperate to turn the tide in the opioid overdose crisis.” The hope, he explains, was that by cutting back on opioid prescriptions, the number of deaths from accidental overdoses would drop. Unfortunately, largely due to the introduction of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, accidental drug overdose deaths increased from 63,000 in 2016 to 108,000 in 2021, Dr. Hall says.The new prescribing guidelines open doors for more personalized pain management.The CDC’s new recommendations will be widely considered by health care providers—but they’re not set in stone policies, laws, or, as the CDC puts it, “inflexible standards of care.”To be clear, opioids should not be a first-line treatment for pain in many cases—but the updated guidance will, hopefully, pave the path toward individualized treatment and better quality of care for people who have exhausted other pain relief options. Specifically, the guidance “emphasizes the importance of person-centered care, and the provider and patient developing a plan that adequately addresses pain,” Sarah Cercone Heavey, PhD, MPH, a clinical assistant professor at the University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions, tells SELF.When appropriate, the CDC says opioids may be prescribed at the lowest effective dosage as needed; the new guidelines no longer specify prescription dosage or duration limits but still warn against prescribing above a threshold in which the risks may outweigh the benefits—basically, it’s up to health care providers to map out what’s best for their patients.

Friends star Matthew Perry has written about his experience with addiction—including details of a time when his colon burst from opioid use, nearly killing him—in a new memoir. The book, called Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, is out November 1, and Perry spoke to People about why he wrote it ahead of its release.The 53-year-old said he struggled with addiction for decades—including throughout his time acting on Friends—explaining that he’d relied on both alcohol and opioids. But it all came to a head when his colon burst from an opioid overdose five years ago, at age 49. He was put on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which is a form of life support. At the time, “the doctors told my family that I had a 2% chance to live,” Perry told People. “There were five people put on an ECMO machine that night and the other four died.” He spent two weeks in a coma, five months in the hospital, and had to use a colostomy bag for the better part of a year afterward.But the experience ended up helping him in a significant way. Perry told People that his therapist advised him to reflect on how difficult the healing process had been anytime he thought of relapsing. “A little window opened, and I crawled through it, and I no longer want OxyContin anymore,” he said.Perry previously told People that he first became addicted to Vicodin, a different prescription opioid, after a jet ski accident in 1997. “It wasn’t my intention to have a problem with it,” he told the outlet in 2002. “But from the start I liked how it made me feel, and I wanted to get more. I was out of control and very unhealthy.” At one point during his career on Friends, he was taking 55 Vicodin a day.In 2016, Perry said he didn’t remember three years of the show due to his addiction during a BBC Radio 2 interview, per Prevention. He said his costars offered support while they worked together on the show, from 1994 to 2004. “It’s like penguins,” he said. “Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up. They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That’s kind of what the cast did for me.”Perry said it took him a while to start working on his memoir, explaining that he needed to be in the right headspace to begin. “I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober—and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction—to write it all down,” he said. “And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people.”He also held nothing back during the writing process. “It’s a little scary to tell all your secrets in a book, [but] I didn’t leave anything out. Everything’s in there.” He expects readers will be surprised by the depths of his addiction—and how close it brought him to death—even though it’s something he’s lived with for decades.Now, Perry said, he’s living and working from a place of gratitude—and thankful to be sober. “Everything starts with sobriety…. If you don’t have sobriety, you’re going to lose everything that you put in front of it. So my sobriety is right up there,” he said. “I’m an extremely grateful guy. I’m grateful to be alive, that’s for sure. And that gives me the possibility to do anything.”Related:

Be aware that fentanyl—a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine—may be hiding in plain sight. “Rainbow” fentanyl, which looks a lot like candy, has been seized in multiple states, according to a statement from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The pills are being manufactured in bright colors in what the agency calls an “alarming emerging trend.”Schools across the country, including Pennsylvania State University and some school districts in Florida, are now warning students and their families about the risks of rainbow fentanyl. Law enforcement found the pills in at least 18 states in August alone. “Rainbow fentanyl—fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes—is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” a DEA representative said in the statement.In addition to pills, rainbow fentanyl may be sold as powder or blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk, per the statement; there have been rumors that some colors of the drug are more potent than others, but the DEA’s lab testing suggests that’s not the case. Fentanyl can also be disguised as fake prescription pills, according to the US Department of Justice. In May, the deaths of two Ohio State University students prompted the school to warn of fentanyl-laced Adderall, as SELF previously reported.People can overdose after ingesting incredibly small amounts of this stuff, which is one reason why fentanyl—especially when it’s masked to look like something else—is currently the deadliest drug in the US. Just 2 grams of fentanyl, which is about 10 to 15 grains of table salt, can be deadly. Because of this, it’s crucial to recognize the symptoms of an overdose, which can include skin that looks pale or feels clammy; limp muscles; purple or blue-ish fingernails or lips; vomiting or gurgling noises; an inability to wake or speak; and a slow heartbeat or trouble breathing. If someone you know has any of these symptoms, it’s crucial to call 911 and seek help immediately.Unfortunately, experts say the country is not doing enough to fight the opioid epidemic, which is, in turn, driving up fentanyl-related health risks. “The overdose crisis has been going on for two decades and seems to be intensifying,” Sheila Vakharia, PhD, deputy director of the department of research and academic engagement at the Drug Policy Alliance, previously told SELF.That’s why everyone—especially parents of young adults, college students, and people who have opioid use disorder—needs to be aware of rainbow fentanyl right now. There’s no way to tell what, exactly, is in a drug that has not been recommended to you by a health care provider. The director of Penn State’s Health Promotion and Wellness program emphasized this in the university’s recent warning to students: “Unless a drug is prescribed by a licensed medical professional and dispensed by a legitimate pharmacy, you can’t know if it’s fake or legitimate.”If you believe you’ve come across any form of fentanyl, do not handle it and call 911 immediately, the DEA said in its statement: “Every color, shape, and size of fentanyl should be considered extremely dangerous.”Related:

The first naloxone vending machine in Austin became operational this week, thanks to organizers from the NICE Project, allowing people in the region to access the lifesaving medication for free. Austin isn’t the first city to offer its residents 24/7 access to naloxone (first manufactured under the brand name Narcan). These vending machines have been installed at community health centers across the country in recent years, including in Battle Creek, Michigan; Las Vegas; and South Bend, Indiana. New York City is also reportedly planning to install 10 of the machines in various neighborhoods.Naloxone vending machines are crucial public health tools that can help combat the effects of the opioid crisis, in part because the medication can be very difficult to access, Sheila Vakharia, PhD, deputy director of the department of research and academic engagement at the Drug Policy Alliance, tells SELF. “Currently, it is a prescription medication, and that’s where the challenge is,” Dr. Vakharia says. Below, what you need to know about naloxone vending machines, including who they help and how they can save lives.How does naloxone work?Naloxone is a medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose; opioids are a highly addictive class of drugs that include prescription painkillers like OxyContin, the synthetic drug fentanyl, and the illegal drug heroin.“The overdose crisis has been going on for two decades and seems to be intensifying,” Dr. Vakharia says. In fact, opioid overdose deaths have spiked at least 400% since the turn of the century. In 2020, 91,799 people died of a drug overdose death in the US, and nearly 75% of those deaths involved opioids, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Naloxone works by essentially halting a potentially fatal side effect linked to opioid overuse, Dr. Vakharia says. When a person takes an opioid, the drug will sit on specific opioid receptors in the brain, inhibiting your brain from telling your lungs to breathe, she explains. This is when naloxone can be lifesaving: If administered at the right time, naloxone can travel to those receptors and block them from becoming activated. “When you put naloxone in your system, it’s so strong it knocks off the opioid, takes its place, and the brain tells the lungs to start breathing again,” Dr. Vakharia explains.Given the devastating impact of the opioid crisis, some experts say naloxone should be more widely available. “It should not be a prescription medication,” Dr. Vakharia says, explaining it isn’t dangerous to keep in your house. “Accidental exposure has not been shown to have any sort of adverse effects.” Naloxone isn’t a controlled substance and is safe to keep on hand, she stresses.Why is it difficult to access naloxone?As with any other prescription drug, getting naloxone usually requires seeing a doctor—and this can be easier said than done for people living with an addiction, Dr. Vakharia says. A number of factors may persuade someone not to visit a provider to get a prescription for naloxone. For example, “There are some states where people have actually been denied life insurance policies because [providers] see naloxone and see you as an overdose risk,” Dr. Vakharia says. Additionally, some people may be self-conscious about seeing a provider and getting a naloxone prescription given the stigma associated with it, she says.

Scott Mescudi, also known as Kid Cudi, talked about his experiences with anxiety, depression, and substance use at a fundraising dinner for New York–Presbyterian Hospital’s Youth Anxiety Center earlier this week. The rapper, 38, talked about how events during his childhood led to yearslong mental health struggles and explained how he finally got help.“My father passed when I was 11, and things started to slowly get bad after that,” Mescudi said. He added that, as the youngest of four siblings, he often felt like an only child and rarely confided in his mother. “I was alone a lot, not really talking to my mom about what I was feeling. How do you come up to Mom, who’s dealing with four kids and your dad died and she’s taking care of everybody on her own?” Mescudi said. “My mom did a great job; there was just a lot for her to handle.”Mescudi said that because he never opened up about his feelings, he got “really good [at] masking the madness over the years, being the youngest of four, staying in my place, being quiet, entertaining myself. It was almost like I was an only child, so to speak, at the time.”Mescudi said he partied as a teen, but his substance use got worse after his music started getting more and more recognition. “It wasn’t scary until later on in my life, as I was Kid Cudi,” he said. Eventually his drug use became so overwhelming that he started considering suicide. “I was suicidal. I was darker than I ever had been in my life,” Mescudi said. “I’m thinking about, ‘How could I do this without my family finding out, without my friends finding out?’ Like I’m actually plotting my death.”But this served as a turning point in Mescudi’s life, prompting him to seek help before acting on his plans. “That was what really scared me straight to the point where I said I needed to go get help…I want to live for my daughter, for my family, for my friends, for my fans. I want to live, I want this for myself. So, I made the choice for the first time in my life to go get help for what I didn’t understand.”Mescudi entered rehab at age 32, after bringing up the idea to his manager, who was immediately supportive. There were a few bumps in the road—he said he tried to leave rehab three times while recovering—but eventually found ways to cope with his emotions without relying on substances. “It was a really good staff,” Mescudi said. “They made me feel really comfortable, and I didn’t feel crazy.”In addition to helping Mescudi change his relationship with substances, rehab helped him set healthy boundaries around work. “Since rehab, I’ve been pacing myself with work. For example, I don’t drop an album every year anymore; I do it every other year,” he said. “That was one of the things that drove me mad up until 2016, because I was dropping an album every year and that took its toll on me.”

Therapy and medication are currently the most powerful tools we have to treat mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety, among so many others. But for some people—especially those who do not respond to these conventional treatments—researchers are discovering a promising new pathway to transformative mental health care: psychedelic therapy.This isn’t the free-for-all glory days of Woodstock psychedelics that you might be imagining. We’re specifically talking about psychedelic-assisted therapy, which is practiced under the careful guidance of a trained clinician, who administers a controlled amount of a psychoactive substance to induce a person into an altered state of consciousness. In theory, this type of therapy encourages you to mentally explore the underlying roots of certain mental health issues.1It’s important to understand which drugs fall under the psychedelic umbrella: lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD, a synthetic chemical with hallucinogenic properties),2 psilocybin (the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms),3 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, often referred to as ecstasy or molly),4 and ayahuasca (a mind-bending brew made from specific plants, which originated from Indigenous people in the Amazon Basin).5 Because these are Schedule I drugs in the U.S., they are illegal at federal level due to their high potential for misuse and dependence, as well as having no accepted medical uses currently.Then there’s ketamine, a Schedule III substance that is not typically seen as a genuine psychedelic. Instead it is viewed as a “dissociative anesthetic.” Currently, ketamine is the only substance with psychedelic properties with legalized, medically-accepted uses in the U.S.6Psilocybin is also on the path to legalization for therapeutic use, at least in Oregon, where it has already been decriminalized. Practically, that means the Oregon Health Authority will be responsible for licensing and regulating the manufacturing and sales of psilocybin products, as well as creating the country’s “first regulatory framework for psilocybin services” by January 2023.The type of research experts have been able to do with these drugs has historically been limited—but significant strides are being made. In new and ongoing clinical trials, these substances have shown promise in treating everything from PTSD7 to treatment-resistant depression8 to substance use disorders.9Generally, in the future, once these drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for specific mental health conditions, psychedelic-assisted therapy might be considered when other largely effective treatments haven’t worked well for a person.“We are entering a period where we can do expanded access treatment or compassionate use,” Monnica Williams, PhD, a clinical psychologist and training director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinic in Tolland, Connecticut, and a leader in the field of psychedelic science who has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, tells SELF. “That’s when a drug is made available in advance of final approvals to people for whom nothing else has worked.” (We’ll dive more into this below.)The experts SELF spoke with estimate it could take between 4 to 10 years for these drugs to receive FDA approval. But you shouldn’t let that timeline discourage you. Here’s everything you need to know about exploring this type of therapy right now.What’s the safest way to access psychedelic-assisted therapy?There are still a lot of hoops to jump through, but you have some options.1. Ask your doctor if ketamine may be right for you.Ketamine is an injectable anesthetic that has traditionally been used for short-term sedation and anesthesia. But due to its dissociative and hallucinogenic effects, it’s been lumped in with other exploratory psychedelic research in the mental health space.