4 ms·

No, the brain cannot flood itself with serotonin on demand ever. Dopamine, sort of maybe but only in extreme situations. Norepinephrine, maybe, likewise. Endo

No, the brain cannot flood itself with serotonin on demand ever. Dopamine, sort of maybe but only in extreme situations. Norepinephrine, maybe, likewise. Endocannabinoids, nope. Ampakines, way no. Glutamate, only in extreme conditions. Other neuropeptides, likely no. Do not try to weasel out of this statement without providing actual evidence that any "mental" treatment comes close to drug effects. Or other unsourced statements about "scattershot". Research had barely started. (Not efficacy. Efficacy requires also psychological work, which can be enhanced or retarded by drugs. Also to be evaluated.) Experiences are unrelated to efficacy for treatment most of the time, unless they are. I point you to studies of efficacy of prayer - not very.

SomeOldThrow 7y ago
I think a different threads of conversation are conflated here. Both parties are in an agreement, I suspect, that the LSD itself has no long term effect, as least as acute psychological treatment. The therapeutic value is in how you use the time. I think the parent poster who quoted O’Leary was saying that the drug is not necessary for the therapy to happen in the first place. Without that already reliable system of therapy in place, the chemical effects of the drug are not going to give consistently therapeutic results.
- AstralStorm 7y ago
  Do you mean like Prozac? :) Other ergoloids are used for breaking really hard to treat migraines. They work exceptionally well at that. MDMA or analog could be a novel antidepressant. Ibogaine (also a psychedelic) is already used for smoking cessation sometimes. Works relatively well, all things considered, but not without risks (cardiac). Now they're trialing it for alcoholism in Brazil. Maybe a chemical variant that is safer could be devised if not for the dumb prohibitions. And don't even start on THC and CBD.
  - deleted 7y ago
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SomeOldThrow 7y ago

I think a different threads of conversation are conflated here. Both parties are in an agreement, I suspect, that the LSD itself has no long term effect, as least as acute psychological treatment. The therapeutic value is in how you use the time. I think the parent poster who quoted O’Leary was saying that the drug is not necessary for the therapy to happen in the first place. Without that already reliable system of therapy in place, the chemical effects of the drug are not going to give consistently therapeutic results.

AstralStorm 7y ago
Do you mean like Prozac? :) Other ergoloids are used for breaking really hard to treat migraines. They work exceptionally well at that. MDMA or analog could be a novel antidepressant. Ibogaine (also a psychedelic) is already used for smoking cessation sometimes. Works relatively well, all things considered, but not without risks (cardiac). Now they're trialing it for alcoholism in Brazil. Maybe a chemical variant that is safer could be devised if not for the dumb prohibitions. And don't even start on THC and CBD.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]