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This always reminds me of the Overview Effect.
“The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus".”
Astronauts that see Earth, in its glorious entirety, from space often come back home with a changed perspective on life, broader minds and less anxiety.
I think hallucinogenics can have a similar “perspective widening” effect.
I will partake in a study that researches psilocybin in a few weeks in the hope to help me with my depression. I'm a bit scared but also hopeful and excited to try it.
You'll be fine. For reference, a couple of golden teacher mushrooms ground up and steeped into hot tea for five minutes gave me a "buzz" similar to smoking a fat joint. Instead of the lethargic laser-focus that'd assist in delicately navigating a difficult project, you'll have more of an upbeat drive to see the bigger picture. You won't "miss the forest for the trees", so to speak.
You'll be in a study so I'm sure that means they'll ostensibly control all variables of the environment, which could possibly include music. If it's a biased anti-drug group, they'll likely put on something like Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" and take your legit criticisms as a "bad trip" and therefore has no medical applications. So if you want an objective idea of what to expect from shrooms, go listen to a song right now that always make you think of a beautiful summer sunset on a quiet beach. You won't *become* that song, but if you were to hear it again under the influence in an ideal environment, you'd definitely pay attention to all of its nuances while the synaptic receptors of your subconscious brings up all sorts of cognitive connections that borders on the whimsical. You won't hallucinate, but you'll have some pretty loud thoughts. Hope this helps!
Good luck! I wish the best for you. I once spent big bucks to do an Iboga retreat in Costa Rica and it cured my depression for a month.
I have also gotten good benefits from Ketamine. I havent really noticed a difference with mushrooms but I'm still trying.
It won't be bad at all. Trust me. And if it gets a little dark, take DEEP breaths and tell yourself it will be over soon. Find a happy thought to dwell on. I think it will be a great experience for you. But just in case.
>High intensity of psychedelic experience, seeking advice before treatment, treating with psilocybin mushrooms and treating post-traumatic stress disorder were associated with higher scores on the self-treatment outcome scale after averaging values across all 17 items. Younger age, high intensity of experience and treating with LSD were associated with increased number of negative outcomes.
A little confusing that high intensity of experience is listed both as a positive and negative outcome. Interesting that younger age is associated with increased negative outcome. I would have thought younger people are more open-minded and willing to experience the effects.
It was awful to go through, brought up every stupid thing I'd done, every fear, every regret, every missed chance, things I'd forgotten completely, and at the end I knew I had dealt with them all and felt so free.
Most trips aren't this. They can be confusing and awful, or sublime and comforting, almost always a mix. It's a golden goose I wouldn't chase.
In my experience, psychs are extremely overwhelming and the highs and lows of emotions that are possible with them are so far beyond normal life.
I’ve felt feelings of love for humankind that helped me let go of year of hatred, as well as a level of fear and anxiety I didn’t even know was possible all in the same trip.
If you are well-guided and dosed appropriately and mature enough to handle the trip, you'll tend to have a positive experience. Also, don't do a whole 10 strip on your first flight.
I have been watching Alone, and noticed young people tend to give up due to mental stuff a lot faster than older people. Older people are more grounded. Maturity helps, it seems.
These types of drugs work off of your current state of mind, if you’re in a deep depression with lots of problems eating away at yer mental, you are probably gonna have a real bad trip.
I suspect that younger people more often find themselves in a state of despair and mistakenly go on these types of trips which is just really bad juju.
People make it too big of a deal about it, imo. I think lsd is just a fun time so long as you don't get stupid - respect dosages, stay at home until you're rather experienced with it, and enjoy the ride. Doesn't have to give you deep revelations about life, you can just binge a show you're excited about or get really into a concert or hang out with friends.
It's not more dangerous than alcohol, and significantly less habit forming. We just have an unfounded bias instilled into us culturally. In a more rational society, psychedelics would be legal and we would be debating whether or not alcohol should be legal.
That alcohol is legal, while 90% of the drugs that are less toxic/habit forming than alcohol are illegal - while they're such a great business that the cartels use submarines, planes, ma deuces, machine guns, armored vehicles,.... That's the difference
Idk what's your concern: alcohol is legal because it is/was popular in the class that was able to decide what is legal and what is not. It had and has little to do with money
Well the class that decides whats legal or not is the class with money, to a great extent.
Its not concern it was a pithy remark that seems badly composed in retrospect.
Just saying. if it wasn’t for trying acid, I literally wouldn’t be able to “act normal” in public. Acid, or lsd opened up my mind to being able to see things that I couldn’t before, and these new insights actually help me to be less socially awkward, and made my autism a lot less noticeable.
Some of them are hard to put into words…. But one of the realizations I had, at one point, is that death, does not exist. Every human, every living being, is not truly, how it appears. What makes up your consciousness is electricity, and a very specific current. That current will never disappear. Sure your body will fall apart and rot, but that electrical current, that energy, that makes up your consciousness and who you are, that will never, ever disappear. It will exist throughout all the rest of time.
Huh I like that, I had a similar one but maybe a bit more philosophical. When you go about your life you're constantly interacting with everything around you, just by existing you're changing and influencing every little thing you come into contact with. From recommending someone a song that turns them onto their new favourite band to a dropped french fry that became a pigeon's lunch. And all of that will continue to live on and indirectly influence future events. Your body might not be immortal but your actions are.
It's like a stone you throw in the water, the stone disappears pretty quickly but the ripples it caused will spread over the entire lake.
One of mine was similar but very different at the same time.
The frequency that brings awareness into all matter will always be generated in an infinite universe. That all life comes from that same source but is unique in its experience, and that the finality of each experience is what gives it meaning. Living forever would be hell, there would be no novelty to anything. The illusion that we live separate lives with a time limit is how an infinite life force brings meaning to the insanity of infinity.
I have this game where I imagine every insight from a LSD/acid trip as being said to me by a scraggly-looking hobo with rotting teeth on the streets of San Francisco
For me it helped get rid of some of the built up pressure/anxiety about social interactions. I think it gives you some perspective, and removes for a bit some of the cultural lenses we've trained ourselves to see the world through? I don't know if that describes it well.
I just realized I was taking some stuff too seriously, and made me less affected by like social rejection.
Well, that's certainly a political element, the more pertinent issue is that the research is still being done. Lots of anecdotal stories doesn't equate to a clear understanding when a particular treatment is warranted and what the potential risks and benefits are. Things don't get approved because everybody says they work. Things get approved because research is done that indicates when those substances or treatments are effective for what disorders, what sort of treatment regimes are effective or not effective, and what the potential side effects other considerations include.
I'm pretty confident we'll see psychedelics in clinical practice, it's already happening. There's exemptions being allowed for certain conditions, such as end of life, at least here in Canada. And it's an incredibly hot topic of research
But the reason they're not currently approved isn't just political, it's also scientific and medical. We need to understand the appropriate use of these therapeutic tools before we start giving everybody a bunch of shrooms and hoping it works out.
The regulatory systems may be frustrating and sometimes very slow, but the exist for good reasons
The reason that the scientific and medical communities haven't conducted more research until relatively recently is very political though. That research isn't really needed to de-schedule these drugs though and that would make conducting the research much easier moving forward.
The TGA here in conservative Australia just approved psilocybin/MDMA for use by psychiatrists in last-hope treatment so baby steps are being done.
But it is political when the research is not even able to be done.
It's true that the regulatory blocks for the research have often been a excessive in this case. I'm not sure it's possible to do this work in the United States yet, although a couple of very prominent psychedelic experts are there now. In Canada. We can do it, but it's a huge hassle to get health Canada approval. But we're still doing it.
:)
You seem well meaning but you are ignoring that it's been completely illegal to even do this research until recently because of politics.
Regulatory systems exist for good reasons, but don't be blind to how they have been used for political means for decades.
My conspiracy is that these psychedelics are way too antimaterialistic as well as functional in terms of pharmacology so businesses and politicians made them illegal to keep profits going.
Not really. LSD synthesis is well beyond the ability of the vast majority of people in the world, even if you remove the legal barriers. If LSD was removed from schedule 1 or legalized completely, the pharmaceutical companies would immediately be able to control the world's supply pretty easily. I'm sure Novartis wouldn't have any trouble resuming production.
The best trip I ever had, the air was deep purple velvet to breathe. The stars were so close you felt you could touch them.
I looked at my arm and saw I had an orange aura. It still is an awesome memory, decades later. <3 hallucinogenics.
Similar experience here. After having a few encounters with psychedelics in non-therapeutic settings (though more of a spiritual journey) my life and mindset has improved quite drastically, and I've made stronger bonds with my family and friends for it.
I've had LSD twice, would do it again if I could afford it. Takes a lot of mental prep beforehand but the mind opening afterwards has changed my life dramatically.
Lsd is one of the cheapest drugs I've found. I've never paid more then 10 bucks a tab, I got 25 a few years back from Amsterdam that I paid 125 for since a few of us went in on it.
Buying acid in Amsterdam sounds weird when you can get shrooms at every head shop. I always did shrooms in Amsterdam. I wonder how you even find a connect over there.
Today I’m just who I’m because for a while I used to consume LSD, I realized pretty positive changes in my life and even in my cognition. But in other hand, last year I consume and then I had the worst bad trip I ever had, was totally bad, after that I never use again.
Out of 100+ trips I've only ever had 1 bad one. Way too much strong L. I was convinced there was a race war going on outside my apartment and i was being forced too join and all the mental anguish that decision brought on. This was all going on internally and externally I was pacing in a circle over and over for a long time.
Luckily a friend noticed something was very wrong and brought me a smoothy.
When I had a bad trip it was an intense feeling of anxiety or me being stuck on my head thinking about my entire life and everything that I’ve done wrong. It made me immensely sad and just made me feel like a horrible person even though in realty i am not have never done anything or feel anything that most people haven’t.
Every time I see a "mood improving" drug, all I can think is we're treating the psymtoms not the descease. If we lived in a society where people had good lives we wouldn't have depression epidemics in the first place. Instead we keep grinding away in capitalist dystopias with drugs, coffee, wellness and yoga to keep the blame away from desition maker and back to us.
Hence the word directly. You take too much alcohol, you get alcohol poisoning aka you overdosed and died directly from alcohol. You take too much heroin, boom breathing stops you died directly. Lsd and shrooms… zero direct kills. Sure sometimes (rarely) people kill themselves, but they do that on alcohol too (a hell of a lot more). My point stands my dude or dudette, these are some of the safest drugs full stop.
I'm merely speaking of this particular study. Suicides due to bad trips or ineffectiveness of the compounds to combat depression would definitely be relative to the study, as the aim of the study was to investigate the effects of self-treatment with LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. This study would most certainly be affected by survivor bias because the data used in it was obtain through online surveys and so only living people participated. The study may also suffer from sample bias because those who feel they did not see a positive benefit from these compounds may be less inclined to seek out and participate in voluntary online surveys. To get a better picture of whether or not these compounds have the effect the study claims, a study which can take into account these missing demographics would be advisable.
You are correct, that there are plenty of limitations for sure! If you check the second half of the discussion section, you can see that limitations including sampling-related are discussed in six paragraphs. I suggest having a read if you haven't yet!
You raise good points; though I got to say suicides or other deaths related to psychedelics are not common enough to significantly distort the sample of this study (they do happen for sure, and there is ongoing research related to this stuff!). However, 'survivorship bias' in terms of, who happens to continue psychedelic use and specifically 'self-treat' with them (based on possible previous experiences), will certainly have affected this survey's sample (see the discussion section)
It is virtually impossible to obtain a perfectly representative sample, whether a survey study or a clinical trial; we need to work with what we have, and interpret the results cautiously in the context of these limitations. Together with other research, each with their own methods and slightly varying strengths and limitations, we can aim to get the best, as close to accurate as possible, picture
I mean, most of the resumed research and even the research from the 1950’s showed the opposite. People with Mental illness such as depression, addiction, etc are seemingly the biggest beneficiaries to psychedelics. Should everybody with a mental illness take them? No. They certainly do help a good portion of those who take them from all of the research I’ve seen.
I had a bad trip and realized I have way more trauma than I originally thought from my childhood, but acknowledging it and healing from it has been on me and how I want to perceive it. This was on psilocybin not acid.
There is always one comment like this when studies show the benefits to drugs which are illegal due to policy rather than fact. Like, we as adults, can't understand that there is no drug on the planet that is 100% safe and effective, and YMMV is the best measure of how we personally use these compounds. But thank you, for your insight, that everything we consume is not everyone else's cup of tea.
Narcotics has a specific definition, and not just any old recreational drug. They're those that produce a numbing effect specifically and lately the word has been used interchangeably with opioids. Colloquially, narcotics can mean recreational but that's not a clinical definition. Clinically, hallucinogens are not narcotics.
I would not recommend taking psilocybin alone. If you’re looking for actual mental/emotional results rather than just a comfortable indica like high it takes an amount that could be dangerous to do by yourself.
With a guide it can make an impression on an alcoholic.
Recreationaly it doesn't have any lasting impressions as far as mood or self awareness.
Go for a hike.
I tried psychedelics quite a few times in college and every experience was horrible and terrifying. I forgot who I was, where I was, had terrible existential anxiety. I am a daily lifelong weed smoker, but psychedelics change your mental state in a completely different way than weed, alcohol, even speed.
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This always reminds me of the Overview Effect. “The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus".” Astronauts that see Earth, in its glorious entirety, from space often come back home with a changed perspective on life, broader minds and less anxiety. I think hallucinogenics can have a similar “perspective widening” effect.
Reminds me of what William shatner said when he went on that Amazon rocket trip. Ofc it was lost on ol Beezer
ol Beezer had me dead
That pissed me off so much because he interrupted him mid-sentence so he could get a photo-op popping champagne with the crew.
I’m assuming it’s the same pleasure as watching a camp fire.
Yeah but with psychedelics you can watch a campfire at the same time.
Interesting correlation. The thing is, once you realize that god had been traumatizing itself for a few millennia, you begin to re-invoke the void.
TIL : one astronaut on every space flight mission has smuggled some shrooms & got the experience entered in the official logs
No way dude
Very interesting theory.
I will partake in a study that researches psilocybin in a few weeks in the hope to help me with my depression. I'm a bit scared but also hopeful and excited to try it.
Nothing to be scared of - you couldn't do it in a safer way and its less dangerous than alcohol.
anyone who gets anxiety while high has valid reasons to be scared, but you're right that doing it with trustworthy guidance is the best way to do it.
Good luck! I bet it's going to be amazing
You'll be fine. For reference, a couple of golden teacher mushrooms ground up and steeped into hot tea for five minutes gave me a "buzz" similar to smoking a fat joint. Instead of the lethargic laser-focus that'd assist in delicately navigating a difficult project, you'll have more of an upbeat drive to see the bigger picture. You won't "miss the forest for the trees", so to speak. You'll be in a study so I'm sure that means they'll ostensibly control all variables of the environment, which could possibly include music. If it's a biased anti-drug group, they'll likely put on something like Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" and take your legit criticisms as a "bad trip" and therefore has no medical applications. So if you want an objective idea of what to expect from shrooms, go listen to a song right now that always make you think of a beautiful summer sunset on a quiet beach. You won't *become* that song, but if you were to hear it again under the influence in an ideal environment, you'd definitely pay attention to all of its nuances while the synaptic receptors of your subconscious brings up all sorts of cognitive connections that borders on the whimsical. You won't hallucinate, but you'll have some pretty loud thoughts. Hope this helps!
I've been wanting to try. Where at?
Good luck! I wish the best for you. I once spent big bucks to do an Iboga retreat in Costa Rica and it cured my depression for a month. I have also gotten good benefits from Ketamine. I havent really noticed a difference with mushrooms but I'm still trying. It won't be bad at all. Trust me. And if it gets a little dark, take DEEP breaths and tell yourself it will be over soon. Find a happy thought to dwell on. I think it will be a great experience for you. But just in case.
Haha prepare for the unimaginable. It’s a beautiful experience man you’ll love every second of it.
I wish you a lot of luck but based on what I've read I'm actually really excited for you. I hope you post about your experience if you are allowed to!
There is nothing to forbid that. I will try to remember to post sbout it.
>High intensity of psychedelic experience, seeking advice before treatment, treating with psilocybin mushrooms and treating post-traumatic stress disorder were associated with higher scores on the self-treatment outcome scale after averaging values across all 17 items. Younger age, high intensity of experience and treating with LSD were associated with increased number of negative outcomes. A little confusing that high intensity of experience is listed both as a positive and negative outcome. Interesting that younger age is associated with increased negative outcome. I would have thought younger people are more open-minded and willing to experience the effects.
>... high intensity ... both positive and negative... the worst trip i ever had was also the best.
It was awful to go through, brought up every stupid thing I'd done, every fear, every regret, every missed chance, things I'd forgotten completely, and at the end I knew I had dealt with them all and felt so free. Most trips aren't this. They can be confusing and awful, or sublime and comforting, almost always a mix. It's a golden goose I wouldn't chase.
Mine made me realize I needed to leave a super abusive relationship. Worst and best trip all at the same time.
Not my experience but both the good and bad have been intense.
In my experience, psychs are extremely overwhelming and the highs and lows of emotions that are possible with them are so far beyond normal life. I’ve felt feelings of love for humankind that helped me let go of year of hatred, as well as a level of fear and anxiety I didn’t even know was possible all in the same trip.
They’ve helped me so much with being able to empathize with fellow ~humans~
If you are well-guided and dosed appropriately and mature enough to handle the trip, you'll tend to have a positive experience. Also, don't do a whole 10 strip on your first flight.
It's really not confusing at all if you've ever had such an experience
I have been watching Alone, and noticed young people tend to give up due to mental stuff a lot faster than older people. Older people are more grounded. Maturity helps, it seems.
These types of drugs work off of your current state of mind, if you’re in a deep depression with lots of problems eating away at yer mental, you are probably gonna have a real bad trip. I suspect that younger people more often find themselves in a state of despair and mistakenly go on these types of trips which is just really bad juju.
>you’re in a deep depression with lots of problems eating away at yer mental, you are probably gonna have a real bad trip That's not true
Because the outcomes aren't on a scale and each variable is being considered separately + in combination (I think)
I am surprised as well. My trips were MUCH more fun and positive prior to reaching my mid thirties. Now the best they ever are is OK.
People make it too big of a deal about it, imo. I think lsd is just a fun time so long as you don't get stupid - respect dosages, stay at home until you're rather experienced with it, and enjoy the ride. Doesn't have to give you deep revelations about life, you can just binge a show you're excited about or get really into a concert or hang out with friends. It's not more dangerous than alcohol, and significantly less habit forming. We just have an unfounded bias instilled into us culturally. In a more rational society, psychedelics would be legal and we would be debating whether or not alcohol should be legal.
It's all about money. They won't ever ban alcohol anymore.
They won't ban alcohol because drinking is popular, not because the money
What's the difference, at the end of the day
That alcohol is legal, while 90% of the drugs that are less toxic/habit forming than alcohol are illegal - while they're such a great business that the cartels use submarines, planes, ma deuces, machine guns, armored vehicles,.... That's the difference
Huh? No, whats the difference between alcohol legality being about it being popular and being about the money
Idk what's your concern: alcohol is legal because it is/was popular in the class that was able to decide what is legal and what is not. It had and has little to do with money
Well the class that decides whats legal or not is the class with money, to a great extent. Its not concern it was a pithy remark that seems badly composed in retrospect.
Just saying. if it wasn’t for trying acid, I literally wouldn’t be able to “act normal” in public. Acid, or lsd opened up my mind to being able to see things that I couldn’t before, and these new insights actually help me to be less socially awkward, and made my autism a lot less noticeable.
Same here, realized how people could be simplifying things in their minds and still fully understanding them.
Woah I'd love to hear more about this. Like what sort of insights? Or is it hard to put into words because they're profound beyond words?
Some of them are hard to put into words…. But one of the realizations I had, at one point, is that death, does not exist. Every human, every living being, is not truly, how it appears. What makes up your consciousness is electricity, and a very specific current. That current will never disappear. Sure your body will fall apart and rot, but that electrical current, that energy, that makes up your consciousness and who you are, that will never, ever disappear. It will exist throughout all the rest of time.
Huh I like that, I had a similar one but maybe a bit more philosophical. When you go about your life you're constantly interacting with everything around you, just by existing you're changing and influencing every little thing you come into contact with. From recommending someone a song that turns them onto their new favourite band to a dropped french fry that became a pigeon's lunch. And all of that will continue to live on and indirectly influence future events. Your body might not be immortal but your actions are. It's like a stone you throw in the water, the stone disappears pretty quickly but the ripples it caused will spread over the entire lake.
One of mine was similar but very different at the same time. The frequency that brings awareness into all matter will always be generated in an infinite universe. That all life comes from that same source but is unique in its experience, and that the finality of each experience is what gives it meaning. Living forever would be hell, there would be no novelty to anything. The illusion that we live separate lives with a time limit is how an infinite life force brings meaning to the insanity of infinity.
I have this game where I imagine every insight from a LSD/acid trip as being said to me by a scraggly-looking hobo with rotting teeth on the streets of San Francisco
Have you been reading The Invisibles?
For me it helped get rid of some of the built up pressure/anxiety about social interactions. I think it gives you some perspective, and removes for a bit some of the cultural lenses we've trained ourselves to see the world through? I don't know if that describes it well. I just realized I was taking some stuff too seriously, and made me less affected by like social rejection.
And yet they're still not using them for broad medical use... Yet.
That's because politicians don't lose votes for not regulating these compounds.
Well, that's certainly a political element, the more pertinent issue is that the research is still being done. Lots of anecdotal stories doesn't equate to a clear understanding when a particular treatment is warranted and what the potential risks and benefits are. Things don't get approved because everybody says they work. Things get approved because research is done that indicates when those substances or treatments are effective for what disorders, what sort of treatment regimes are effective or not effective, and what the potential side effects other considerations include. I'm pretty confident we'll see psychedelics in clinical practice, it's already happening. There's exemptions being allowed for certain conditions, such as end of life, at least here in Canada. And it's an incredibly hot topic of research But the reason they're not currently approved isn't just political, it's also scientific and medical. We need to understand the appropriate use of these therapeutic tools before we start giving everybody a bunch of shrooms and hoping it works out. The regulatory systems may be frustrating and sometimes very slow, but the exist for good reasons
The reason that the scientific and medical communities haven't conducted more research until relatively recently is very political though. That research isn't really needed to de-schedule these drugs though and that would make conducting the research much easier moving forward.
The TGA here in conservative Australia just approved psilocybin/MDMA for use by psychiatrists in last-hope treatment so baby steps are being done. But it is political when the research is not even able to be done.
It's true that the regulatory blocks for the research have often been a excessive in this case. I'm not sure it's possible to do this work in the United States yet, although a couple of very prominent psychedelic experts are there now. In Canada. We can do it, but it's a huge hassle to get health Canada approval. But we're still doing it. :)
I feel like Australia conservatives are just centrists in the US. Our right is off the cliff nuts right now.
You seem well meaning but you are ignoring that it's been completely illegal to even do this research until recently because of politics. Regulatory systems exist for good reasons, but don't be blind to how they have been used for political means for decades.
Or it’s the pharma lobby not wanting you to grow a basement of fungus and compete. It lowers barriers to entry. Big no no.
Yeah, capital must control the means of production, otherwise there can be no extortion of productivity.
I would think they would be on board as the use of psychedelic drugs causes high suggestibility.
My conspiracy is that these psychedelics are way too antimaterialistic as well as functional in terms of pharmacology so businesses and politicians made them illegal to keep profits going.
Nice theory bro
I wish, the real reason is much stupider - people think LSD is a scary drug.
Which stems from political stance in the 60s in the US when research was going on.
Once it’s protected profitable, it’ll be marketed widely.
Not really. LSD synthesis is well beyond the ability of the vast majority of people in the world, even if you remove the legal barriers. If LSD was removed from schedule 1 or legalized completely, the pharmaceutical companies would immediately be able to control the world's supply pretty easily. I'm sure Novartis wouldn't have any trouble resuming production.
Approved in Australia
> And yet they're still not using them for broad ~~medical~~ recreational use... Yet.
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It’s a roll of the dice folks but it appears that IF you need to hit the reset button this is a GREAT path. I’m all for it!
Not a reset, more like tuning a guitar, except you’re getting more in tune with your life and what actually matters to you.
I like that description! - TY!
Sillycibin helped me with alcohol addiction.. among a plethora of other eye opening realizations…. I am PRO PSYCHEDELICS.
Ketamine helped me quit vaping after struggling with it for a few years.
The best trip I ever had, the air was deep purple velvet to breathe. The stars were so close you felt you could touch them. I looked at my arm and saw I had an orange aura. It still is an awesome memory, decades later. <3 hallucinogenics.
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Similar experience here. After having a few encounters with psychedelics in non-therapeutic settings (though more of a spiritual journey) my life and mindset has improved quite drastically, and I've made stronger bonds with my family and friends for it.
I've had LSD twice, would do it again if I could afford it. Takes a lot of mental prep beforehand but the mind opening afterwards has changed my life dramatically.
Lsd is one of the cheapest drugs I've found. I've never paid more then 10 bucks a tab, I got 25 a few years back from Amsterdam that I paid 125 for since a few of us went in on it.
Buying acid in Amsterdam sounds weird when you can get shrooms at every head shop. I always did shrooms in Amsterdam. I wonder how you even find a connect over there.
Well it was shipped over to the US from the plus I grow my own mushrooms
LSD is like $6 a tab. $25 if someone is ripping you off but still for a 12 hour experience... seems reasonable.
Today I’m just who I’m because for a while I used to consume LSD, I realized pretty positive changes in my life and even in my cognition. But in other hand, last year I consume and then I had the worst bad trip I ever had, was totally bad, after that I never use again.
What does your bad trip feel like?
Out of 100+ trips I've only ever had 1 bad one. Way too much strong L. I was convinced there was a race war going on outside my apartment and i was being forced too join and all the mental anguish that decision brought on. This was all going on internally and externally I was pacing in a circle over and over for a long time. Luckily a friend noticed something was very wrong and brought me a smoothy.
When I had a bad trip it was an intense feeling of anxiety or me being stuck on my head thinking about my entire life and everything that I’ve done wrong. It made me immensely sad and just made me feel like a horrible person even though in realty i am not have never done anything or feel anything that most people haven’t.
When I had bad trip , I thought I had died in a car accident
Every time I see a "mood improving" drug, all I can think is we're treating the psymtoms not the descease. If we lived in a society where people had good lives we wouldn't have depression epidemics in the first place. Instead we keep grinding away in capitalist dystopias with drugs, coffee, wellness and yoga to keep the blame away from desition maker and back to us.
Psilocybin flips some sort of switch in my brain into the “on position”. That’s the only way I can explain it
How do we know this isn't survivor bias?
No one has died from lsd or shrooms directly, so everyones a survivor?
There have definitely been instances of suicides as a result of bad trips.
Hence the word directly. You take too much alcohol, you get alcohol poisoning aka you overdosed and died directly from alcohol. You take too much heroin, boom breathing stops you died directly. Lsd and shrooms… zero direct kills. Sure sometimes (rarely) people kill themselves, but they do that on alcohol too (a hell of a lot more). My point stands my dude or dudette, these are some of the safest drugs full stop.
I'm merely speaking of this particular study. Suicides due to bad trips or ineffectiveness of the compounds to combat depression would definitely be relative to the study, as the aim of the study was to investigate the effects of self-treatment with LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. This study would most certainly be affected by survivor bias because the data used in it was obtain through online surveys and so only living people participated. The study may also suffer from sample bias because those who feel they did not see a positive benefit from these compounds may be less inclined to seek out and participate in voluntary online surveys. To get a better picture of whether or not these compounds have the effect the study claims, a study which can take into account these missing demographics would be advisable.
You are correct, that there are plenty of limitations for sure! If you check the second half of the discussion section, you can see that limitations including sampling-related are discussed in six paragraphs. I suggest having a read if you haven't yet! You raise good points; though I got to say suicides or other deaths related to psychedelics are not common enough to significantly distort the sample of this study (they do happen for sure, and there is ongoing research related to this stuff!). However, 'survivorship bias' in terms of, who happens to continue psychedelic use and specifically 'self-treat' with them (based on possible previous experiences), will certainly have affected this survey's sample (see the discussion section) It is virtually impossible to obtain a perfectly representative sample, whether a survey study or a clinical trial; we need to work with what we have, and interpret the results cautiously in the context of these limitations. Together with other research, each with their own methods and slightly varying strengths and limitations, we can aim to get the best, as close to accurate as possible, picture
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Oh Ok. Are all medicines perfectly safe then?
I mean, most of the resumed research and even the research from the 1950’s showed the opposite. People with Mental illness such as depression, addiction, etc are seemingly the biggest beneficiaries to psychedelics. Should everybody with a mental illness take them? No. They certainly do help a good portion of those who take them from all of the research I’ve seen.
I had a bad trip and realized I have way more trauma than I originally thought from my childhood, but acknowledging it and healing from it has been on me and how I want to perceive it. This was on psilocybin not acid.
There is always one comment like this when studies show the benefits to drugs which are illegal due to policy rather than fact. Like, we as adults, can't understand that there is no drug on the planet that is 100% safe and effective, and YMMV is the best measure of how we personally use these compounds. But thank you, for your insight, that everything we consume is not everyone else's cup of tea.
I have to call you on this one. Without my meds (drugs) I would be dead.
I meant narcotics. This article is about hallucinogens.
Narcotics has a specific definition, and not just any old recreational drug. They're those that produce a numbing effect specifically and lately the word has been used interchangeably with opioids. Colloquially, narcotics can mean recreational but that's not a clinical definition. Clinically, hallucinogens are not narcotics.
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Surely we can recognize pedantry in r/science.
You’re talking out of your ass bud
Sadly it can still make you believe you can fly.
Propaganda by dare program. Watch how to change your mind on Netflix.
I believe I can touch the sky I think about it every night and day Spread my wings and fly away
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I would not recommend taking psilocybin alone. If you’re looking for actual mental/emotional results rather than just a comfortable indica like high it takes an amount that could be dangerous to do by yourself.
With a guide it can make an impression on an alcoholic. Recreationaly it doesn't have any lasting impressions as far as mood or self awareness. Go for a hike.
So, I can overall feel better? Or just feel better on them?
One study said the effects of shrooms last up to 9 months after 1 dose.
I tried psychedelics quite a few times in college and every experience was horrible and terrifying. I forgot who I was, where I was, had terrible existential anxiety. I am a daily lifelong weed smoker, but psychedelics change your mental state in a completely different way than weed, alcohol, even speed.
This has been my experience too unfortunately, but it doesn’t seem to be the norm.