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From my experience it's incorrect to think of psilocybin as some magic pill that will magically make your depression go away. I'm in the camp that depression i

by tempsy 7y ago

From my experience it's incorrect to think of psilocybin as some magic pill that will magically make your depression go away. I'm in the camp that depression is rarely just some "chemical imbalance" in the brain that you were unlucky to be born with, and yet that is how we currently think of it and treat it. It's most often the case there is something in one's past, very often from one's childhood, that has been avoided, and creates a chronic sense of worry/anxiety/depression that lingers. Psilocybin has the effect of ego death - it feels as though the subconscious hold you have on your brain that pushes down uncomfortable feelings or memories just goes away. This paired with therapy can be very powerful because you naturally become much more open to talk through distressing things that you otherwise normally numb over and helps you process past traumas much more efficiently.

deleted 7y ago
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filoleg 7y ago
Agreed. Imo, psilocybin won't just magically fix a chemical imbalance in your head. But it can open you up (for the duration of its effect) to some thoughts and ideas that could help you resolve your internal issues causing you depression, and those thoughts and realizations are what can help with getting rid of depression, as those realizations can stay with you even after the trip is over. Which is somewhat similar to what i have read about the ketamine therapy, which essentially just makes certain areas of your brain more neuroplastic for a short duration, helping you get out of your routine thought patterns and help create new neural pathways and reshape the existing ones easier. Note: I am not a brain researcher myself at all, so what I said could totally be just some pseudoscientific bs, but that's what I got after reading a bunch on both of the topic in a lot of places, including other HN threads. If you want to correct some misunderstandings in my post, please feel free to reply. I will be very happy to correct my misunderstandings.
- tempsy 7y ago
  yeah not sure why my comment was downvoted tbh. i guess there is a large segment of the population that thinks of illness as something that happens to them, and doesn't want to take responsibility in controlling or mitigating it without a so called magic pill.
freedomben 7y ago
> From my experience it's incorrect to think of psilocybin as some magic pill that will magically make your depression go away. I don't think you are accusing me of saying that, but just to be clear I completely agree with this. Michael Pollan's book also doesn't paint it as a "magic pill." No doubt some people assume that, but I don't believe it exists. I do wonder about the accuracy of Freudian ideas, such as something in ones childhood being the cause or at least playing a role. It's certainly possible. Being raised by depressed people sucks, and there's a lot of scars that probably contribute to why depression seems to be inherited.

by tempsy 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

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filoleg 7y ago

Agreed. Imo, psilocybin won't just magically fix a chemical imbalance in your head. But it can open you up (for the duration of its effect) to some thoughts and ideas that could help you resolve your internal issues causing you depression, and those thoughts and realizations are what can help with getting rid of depression, as those realizations can stay with you even after the trip is over. Which is somewhat similar to what i have read about the ketamine therapy, which essentially just makes certain areas of your brain more neuroplastic for a short duration, helping you get out of your routine thought patterns and help create new neural pathways and reshape the existing ones easier. Note: I am not a brain researcher myself at all, so what I said could totally be just some pseudoscientific bs, but that's what I got after reading a bunch on both of the topic in a lot of places, including other HN threads. If you want to correct some misunderstandings in my post, please feel free to reply. I will be very happy to correct my misunderstandings.

tempsy 7y ago
yeah not sure why my comment was downvoted tbh. i guess there is a large segment of the population that thinks of illness as something that happens to them, and doesn't want to take responsibility in controlling or mitigating it without a so called magic pill.

freedomben 7y ago

> From my experience it's incorrect to think of psilocybin as some magic pill that will magically make your depression go away. I don't think you are accusing me of saying that, but just to be clear I completely agree with this. Michael Pollan's book also doesn't paint it as a "magic pill." No doubt some people assume that, but I don't believe it exists. I do wonder about the accuracy of Freudian ideas, such as something in ones childhood being the cause or at least playing a role. It's certainly possible. Being raised by depressed people sucks, and there's a lot of scars that probably contribute to why depression seems to be inherited.