LSD Offers Anxiety Relief for Dying Patients: The First Study on the Drug in 40 Years

There is huge progress going on in the field of psychedelic research. The first study with the psychedelic drug, LSD, has just taken place – after a 40-year halt in research opportunities. In 1968 LSD was banned in the US, leading to a suspension of the busy, vast and promising LSD studies that were going on…

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Antidepressants and Suicidal Thoughts: A Tragically Ironic Connection

You wouldn’t think that an antidepressant, a medication which is supposed to alleviate depression, would cause someone to want to end their life. However, since antidepressants have been on the market, we have seen a marked increase in self-harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and completed suicides associated with their use. This mostly applies to SSRIs…

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Body Image Issues: An Examination of Anorexia, Bodybuilding, and Cosmetic Surgery

In modern society, we are constantly bombarded by media images portraying a certain standard of ‘beauty’. We idolise models, celebrities and actors who look all seem to look a certain way – thin women and muscular men. This archetype of beauty can become so ingrained within a culture – and therefore within people’s minds –…

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The Negative Effects of Facebook: Addiction, Social Isolation, and Depression

Facebook is great for communication, networking and planning events. It is a social media platform that was designed to connect people and clearly, it achieves this in a number of ways. However, Facebook’s utility and popularity often mask its more psychologically damaging aspects, of which there seems to be three: addiction, social isolation and depression.…

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The Implications of Fully Immersive Virtual Reality

The whole concept of virtual reality – especially full immersion in a virtual, artificial world – has been a favourite topic of many science fiction writers. The idea has also featured in many speculative and philosophical questions, such as: What is reality? How do we distinguish reality from illusion? And so on. Loosely defined, virtual…

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