3 ms·
Effectively they are giving drugs that alter ones perception of reality Like over the self painkillers do? Personally I don't see the philosophical difference
by fsloth 6y ago
Effectively they are giving drugs that alter ones perception of reality
Like over the self painkillers do? Personally I don't see the philosophical difference in alleviating physical pain from alleviating psychological pain.
Of course, if the psychological pain is caused by a condition that can be fixed the fixing the condition itself is of course better. But in many cases of depression and anxiety there is no clear root cause that could be fixed.
Anecdotally speaking, there's a lot of people in this world that think drugs make their lives better when an objective observer would pretty strongly disagree.
Substance abuse and addiction are a problem, sure.
But that is entirely a different thing from providing substances that reduce anxiety and depression.
- treis 6y agoPainkillers are temporary. The drugs we are talking about are meant to effect a permanent change on the user. And pain killers, at least OTC ones, don't alter someone's psyche. We can, more or less, rely on their judgment that painkillers are helpful. You can't necessarily say the same for mind altering drugs.
- fsloth 6y agoYou can't necessarily say the same for mind altering drugs. All things are bad if not taken in moderation. My experience (personal and thus merely anecdotal) on mind altering drugs has been only positive. My SSRI medication was very welcome when I needed it, and I am very happy they 'altered my mind' and helped through some very dark times. If I was hit by depression again I would not mind trying a psilocybin based medical regimen.
- Noos 6y agoThe problem is we are talking about something that is orthogonal to the effect. An example is more like getting prescribed anti-depressants for back pain. I hear it helps with the pain, but you are getting personality alteration as a side effect with it. Like if im suffering pain, I don't want to get drug-induced quasi religious epiphanies from psychedelics. I Just want the pain managed. And what's really annoying about LSD is how it keeps getting promoted as a wonder drug here. What happens when docs start prescribing it for back pain too?
- didibus 6y ago> Like if im suffering pain, I don't want to get drug-induced quasi religious epiphanies from psychedelics That's you buddy. Then don't take it. Others who have chronic back pain might be totally fine with this.
- jgwil2 6y agoIt's not just about pain management - it's about accepting and making peace with dying. If there's a possibility that a drug can make this process easier for terminally ill patients, why would you object to its use by people who choose it?
- eikenberry 6y ago> The drugs we are talking about are meant to effect a permanent change on the user. You'd only say someones judgement about themselves is unreliable if they will contradict themselves later. But if it is a permanent change, then you are talking to the "new" person who is capable of judging this as well as anyone.