4 ms·

What about people taking antidepressants wanting to meditate? Should they go off their medication in order to do so?

bdamm 7y ago
While I am just about to start reading the article, I would expect a difference between microdosing (antidepressant use of psilocybin, certainly consistent with how most antidepressants are used) and a trip or macrodose of psilocybin.
omarchowdhury 7y ago
I don't think so, but this question is for one's doctors and spiritual directors (if one is on that path). With that being said, antidepressants are nowhere near as dramatic in immediate change of perception as psychedelics are.
im3w1l 7y ago
Alcohol and psychedelics have been around for a long time. Religious practice over the millennia has incorporated experience (not as good as careful study but better than nothing) of their use. Antidepressants are too new to get a good answer out of religion.
benevol 7y ago
I would say, try if it works for you. Everybody's case is really different, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. In my case, I had been trying meds for years (pretty much all brands). Suddenly, I had an intuition that there must be other ways. I researched the web during days and days. Result: I reduced the meds over around 10-14 day period down to zero, after I had gotten into daily mindfulness meditation for a couple of weeks (started with 30min, then 1 hour as an advanced practitioner). As soon as got to 0mg, I had the best couple of hours of my life thanks to my 1st trip with LSD (well researched, well prepared, did it outside in nature, playlist carefully selected). It completely ripped me out of my depression, felt 100% connected to the entire universe, felt immense beauty, love, light, peace. Even during 2-3 days after the experience, I was still deeply in love with simple trees, plants, flowers, where everything had been grey and without any interest during years, before. The anti-anxiety effect lasted a couple of months. This was a life-changing event. The best moment of my life. As always, your mileage may vary.
- jaffau 7y ago
  >> I would say, try if it works for you. Everybody's case is really different, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Looks like you really hit a nerve with that one. Downvotes are ridiculous sometimes.
proverbialbunny 7y ago
When it comes to meditation, the tradition I come from has two kinds of meditative practices. One kind of meditation, like Mindfulness Meditation, increases awareness. When your awareness is increased you'll sometimes notice more psychological habits or problems you do not like about yourself. The next kind of meditation is using a handful of techniques like Noting, which is a way to change habits and behaviors, kind of like manually programming yourself. Once you become aware of the cause-effect relationships within your mind, it becomes easy to change what causes your mental stressors and improve yourself. Once you start changing your habits and behaviors and improving yourself into being the person you want to be (Which is what is called: finding your middle ground.) you'll have less of a reason to be on as antidepressants. Usually what happens is you begin to slightly lower the dose and over time and you eventually find yourself not needing antidepressants at all. In short, the goal, in a way, is to get off of antidepressants, but not to banish it. Antidepressants have a side effect of reducing awareness, so while it's not impossible to end all stress (aka enlightenment) while being on an antidepressant, the antidepressant becomes pointless if not eventually problematic.
- jamiek88 7y ago
  Can you recommend any further reading on this?
  - proverbialbunny 7y ago
    What I was talking about in the previous post is two topics. So, it depends what you're looking for. There are tons of books and meditation courses. It depends what suits your style. eg, The Mind Illuminated https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985 https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrati... is the most popular meditation book right now. There is even a subreddit dedicated to it. However, it is quite the read, guiding as one progresses, mirroring how a teacher would do it. Culadasa, who made The Mind Illuminated, is working on another book that goes over the second topic I was diving into (like Noting Meditation). It is incomplete with no eta. It would be a 102 book for after one finishes The Mind Illuminated. There are other resources on the second topic, but right now both topics are ideally taught with a teacher, especially the second topic, so progress can be aided and verified. What goal do you have? I can possibly write a skinny as to what to look at and where to go to achieve that goal, including providing more resources. Also, just in case you do not know CBT, with a good therapist, is, I believe, the only kind of therapy that works well on depression. CBT takes from the techniques in the topics above, and then boils them down into a light version that can be worked through at an accelerated rate.

While I am just about to start reading the article, I would expect a difference between microdosing (antidepressant use of psilocybin, certainly consistent with how most antidepressants are used) and a trip or macrodose of psilocybin.

omarchowdhury 7y ago

I don't think so, but this question is for one's doctors and spiritual directors (if one is on that path). With that being said, antidepressants are nowhere near as dramatic in immediate change of perception as psychedelics are.

im3w1l 7y ago

Alcohol and psychedelics have been around for a long time. Religious practice over the millennia has incorporated experience (not as good as careful study but better than nothing) of their use. Antidepressants are too new to get a good answer out of religion.

benevol 7y ago

I would say, try if it works for you. Everybody's case is really different, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. In my case, I had been trying meds for years (pretty much all brands). Suddenly, I had an intuition that there must be other ways. I researched the web during days and days. Result: I reduced the meds over around 10-14 day period down to zero, after I had gotten into daily mindfulness meditation for a couple of weeks (started with 30min, then 1 hour as an advanced practitioner). As soon as got to 0mg, I had the best couple of hours of my life thanks to my 1st trip with LSD (well researched, well prepared, did it outside in nature, playlist carefully selected). It completely ripped me out of my depression, felt 100% connected to the entire universe, felt immense beauty, love, light, peace. Even during 2-3 days after the experience, I was still deeply in love with simple trees, plants, flowers, where everything had been grey and without any interest during years, before. The anti-anxiety effect lasted a couple of months. This was a life-changing event. The best moment of my life. As always, your mileage may vary.

jaffau 7y ago
>> I would say, try if it works for you. Everybody's case is really different, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Looks like you really hit a nerve with that one. Downvotes are ridiculous sometimes.

proverbialbunny 7y ago

When it comes to meditation, the tradition I come from has two kinds of meditative practices. One kind of meditation, like Mindfulness Meditation, increases awareness. When your awareness is increased you'll sometimes notice more psychological habits or problems you do not like about yourself. The next kind of meditation is using a handful of techniques like Noting, which is a way to change habits and behaviors, kind of like manually programming yourself. Once you become aware of the cause-effect relationships within your mind, it becomes easy to change what causes your mental stressors and improve yourself. Once you start changing your habits and behaviors and improving yourself into being the person you want to be (Which is what is called: finding your middle ground.) you'll have less of a reason to be on as antidepressants. Usually what happens is you begin to slightly lower the dose and over time and you eventually find yourself not needing antidepressants at all. In short, the goal, in a way, is to get off of antidepressants, but not to banish it. Antidepressants have a side effect of reducing awareness, so while it's not impossible to end all stress (aka enlightenment) while being on an antidepressant, the antidepressant becomes pointless if not eventually problematic.

jamiek88 7y ago
Can you recommend any further reading on this?
- proverbialbunny 7y ago
  What I was talking about in the previous post is two topics. So, it depends what you're looking for. There are tons of books and meditation courses. It depends what suits your style. eg, The Mind Illuminated https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985 https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrati... is the most popular meditation book right now. There is even a subreddit dedicated to it. However, it is quite the read, guiding as one progresses, mirroring how a teacher would do it. Culadasa, who made The Mind Illuminated, is working on another book that goes over the second topic I was diving into (like Noting Meditation). It is incomplete with no eta. It would be a 102 book for after one finishes The Mind Illuminated. There are other resources on the second topic, but right now both topics are ideally taught with a teacher, especially the second topic, so progress can be aided and verified. What goal do you have? I can possibly write a skinny as to what to look at and where to go to achieve that goal, including providing more resources. Also, just in case you do not know CBT, with a good therapist, is, I believe, the only kind of therapy that works well on depression. CBT takes from the techniques in the topics above, and then boils them down into a light version that can be worked through at an accelerated rate.