11 ms·

Psychedelics May Ease Cancer Patients’ Depression, Anxiety

113 points by andrewl 5y ago

emilfihlman 5y ago
Fuck. Cancer and dying are fucking scary. On the other hand why should we take away ourselves in the end, on the other hand if they are dying anyways, it's easier on drugs. I just hope that this doesn't turn death less meaningful.
TruthIsHeresy 5y ago
As someone who has received a tremendous amount of healing and comfort from psychedelics (in particular psilocybin mushrooms), I sincerely hope that legal psychedelic treatment becomes available before it’s too late for the depressed, anxious, and law abiding loved ones in my life. My Dad has a lot of health issues and struggles with depression and anxiety that becomes quite crippling at times. It has caused a great deal of pain for my family and I over the years. I’ve always thought that he would be an excellent candidate for psychedelic treatments but the legality and negative stigma attached ensures he will never become one.
- 52-6F-62 5y ago
  It’s legal in Canada in a limited fashion to licensed suppliers and therapists. I’ve had similar experiences and I’m excited about the possibilities. The stigma might take a while to go away for some people who have been so conditioned that “drugs” are for “burnouts” and “frying brains”, but there is real work being done in the space by compassionate and very smart people. I’m sure it’s a growing field elsewhere too.
  - paskozdilar 5y ago
    One of two things will happen, depending on whether a drug is inherently harmful or not: 1) if a drug is inherently harmful, its (ab)users will not be able to reach any influential position in society, and the stigma will stay 2) if a drug is not inherently harmful, a certain percentage of its users will reach influential positions and thus remove the stigma by being the proof of its harmlessness For some drugs, like meth and heroin, 2) will most likely never happen. Those drugs are very hard to control and have a tendency to take over users' lives, rendering everything else in their lives irrelevant. For other drugs, like marijuana, we are already seeing 2) happening in many countries around the world, including USA and European Union.
    - novok 5y ago
      Meh meth is prescribed for some adhd cases today and those people are totally functional and fine. Same with their other cousins. Same with painkillers. Its just they have abuse potential, especially opioid’s, and that is why you have to be careful about it. Its the entire schedule 1 bullshit that prevents usage of some, and those are political.
      - throwaway684936 5y ago
        Methamphetamine is perfectly safe when used correctly. The problem, obviously, is trust and self-control. Because it's so potent and crosses the blood-brain barrier easier, IIRC it has less intense physical side effects compared to the equivalent (in terms of mental effects) D-amphetamine dose. https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-many-surprising-health-benefits-of-meth https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-many-surprising-health-...
        burner556 5y ago
        Desoxyn (meth) works the best out of all adhd meds for me. Magically light and effective touch.
        travisjungroth 5y ago
        It has the best patient rating of any drug. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines?s=r https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines...
        throwaway684936 5y ago
        How exactly do you go about asking your doctor to try meth? Even asking for D-amphetamine (superior to Adderall imo, because Adderall contains L-amphetamine which has unpleasant physical effects) is already a tall order. I've read of doctors getting "flagged" for prescribing it.
        deleted 5y ago
richardfey 5y ago
What if they work on any human being in that way and not just cancer patients?
- Epiphany21 5y ago
  They do. But the only way to get legislators to budge is by appealing to their owners directly. Psychedelics will never be legalized unless it benefits big pharma.
  - embedded_hiker 5y ago
    Psilocybin for mental health treatment has been legalized in Oregon though a voter initiative. The new law requires a lot of administrative setup and therapy is not yet available however. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PREVENTIONWELLNESS/Pages/Oregon-Psilocybin-Services.aspx https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PREVENTIONWELLNESS/Pages/Orego...
    - Der_Einzige 5y ago
      If you have a 20$ bill and decent friends, bootleg therapy is available pretty much anywhere and anytime you want it.
  - blueprint 5y ago
    or maybe we should stop playing a rigged game and install real representatives but what the hell do i know
  - stadium 5y ago
    There is momentum growing in Washington State (US). A therapeutic use bill SB 5660 didn't leave committee but led to some funding for additional studies. [1] Separately, ADAPT-WA filed a ballot initiative and will be gathering signatures to get it onto the ballot. [2] If someone was inclined to do mycology research there is a plethora of information here: https://www.shroomery.org/ https://www.shroomery.org/ [1] https://www.marijuanamoment.net/washington-state-legislature-approves-200000-in-psilocybin-research-funding-in-budget/ https://www.marijuanamoment.net/washington-state-legislature... [2] https://adapt-wa.org/ https://adapt-wa.org/
state_less 5y ago
It’s a travesty magic mushrooms are classed schedule 1. It’s difficult to abuse them, since tolerance builds rapidly. There is evidence of medical use for treatments and they can be taken safely under medical supervision.
- stocknoob 5y ago
  It’s infuriating that something helpful to so many suffering people was made, and continues to be, illegal. Imagine meditation is made illegal, on the off chance someone may have a psychiatric breakdown when doing some introspection. It changes your perspective on the government and its actual role in society (dismissed as counter-cultural thoughts), which may be another reason they are banned. You realize you’re in a fairly constrained and random system where might (money, status, power) makes right. Sure, fine, it may be true, but let’s not pretend there’s some deep moral justification for the forces in power to be there. They got in first.
travisjungroth 5y ago
> In the past, I might have said to her, “Dying is natural; it’s part of the human experience,” but without this experience, it would not have landed well. She had to feel this in her whole person, not just as an intellectual or philosophical exercise. This seems to be a big part of the magic of psychedelics. So many mental issues are cognitive. It’s not always happening at the chemical level. Why would it be in a person who has a healthy brain, but their depression came on with their terminal cancer diagnosis? The problem is cognition is really hard to change. Especially in adults and especially when things are going badly. The overall effectiveness of talk therapy is not great. Psychedelics break down our normal barriers so we can truly know the things other people have been telling us and we’ve been telling ourselves. (Or they put us in contact with spirits that gift wisdom. Six of one, half a dozen of another). I talked with someone with OCD who finished a trip thinking “just because my hand touches my phone doesn’t mean it’s dirty”. A simple statement, but he had contact OCD and this had been a huge problem. Something about the message “coming from inside the house” made it work. One thing I almost never see mentioned in these articles about terminal patients with psychedelics is the concept of the afterlife. Mushrooms are so Earthy, it’s like they tell you that heaven is returning to the soil. Other psychs (DMT, ayahuasca) can give you a picture of where your spirit goes after it splits from your body. Aside from whether these spiritual beliefs are right they’re certainly less depressing than what the average American is walking around with. There’s “sleep and never wake up”. There’s “heaven, maybe, I think. But lots of people going to hell I guess”, and then, probably the most common case: “who the fuck knows?”. A bit anxiety inducing, really.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  >So many mental issues are cognitive. It’s not always happening at the chemical level. As a biochemist with a passion for neuroscience, I entirely 100% do not agree The statement doesn't even make sense to me. All cognition is based on the dynamics happening at the biochemical level. All of it is chemical All of our thoughts and behaviors are the product of chemical reactions and interactions which determine the behavior of individual neurons and their networks. You literally cannot separate those things.
  - 5y ago
turing_complete 5y ago
How about better treatments for cancer? Not dying might help with anxiety too.
- scarecrowbob 5y ago
  Not dying in general is an admirable goal; yet even if you can fix the cancer part of the equation those of us who don't get cancer will eventually die. Could just be an assumption on my part. Maybe we will fix the "dying" part of the issue as well.
  - LocalH 5y ago
    I don't think we want to "fix" dying. Some evil, sociopathic human somewhere would figure out a way to use that to harm people in a very profound way. I would also have to imagine that immortality would eventually become quite boring, even absent something like that.
    - scarecrowbob 5y ago
      I agree.
    - inkblotuniverse 5y ago
      You can always kill yourself.
      - LocalH 5y ago
        Honestly, not everyone has the ability to do that.
- adamredwoods 5y ago
  I agree. As someone who is dealing with a loved one with metastatic cancer, the depression and anxiety for everyone involved is off the charts. The idea around this solution, is it is something available now, so not a lot of research or costs need to be invested to get it going. Whereas immunotherapy or CAR T-cell therapy is still ongoing research and investment.
john-doe 5y ago
https://archive.ph/6rUUC https://archive.ph/6rUUC
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dakom 5y ago
I know it's uncool to take the contrary view on this, but I've had enough bad trips from ludicrous fleeting thoughts... Actually dying seems like the worst possible "set and setting" if it goes bad I don't think we really have the tools to know how it will affect a person, and it's a bit risky imho. (Fwiw, although I don't imbibe anymore and it's been somewhere around a couple decades, I do think it's a personal choice, and should definitely be available to someone on their deathbed. I am just saying I'd personally abstain, especially in that situation)
- ada1981 5y ago
  This is why being with an experienced sitter is so important. They can help you face the feelings underneath the thoughts and hold you in the experience. I’ve sat for hundreds of hours of trips; including being the first person to do so on National TV in an underground setting; and I run a Breathwork group called BioMythic.com - having a sitter who can support you is a key part of a healthy set & setting.
root_axis 5y ago
I am skeptical of this. I have personally witnessed psychedelics enlightening minds, but also destroying them. I am also concerned with the reliability of evidence from psychedelic trials since I'm not clear on how a double-blind study could be conducted. At the end of the day, I'm fully in support of continued research, but I am hesitant to accept the kind of dramatic outcomes suggested by these studies.
- throwaway684936 5y ago
  > I have personally witnessed psychedelics enlightening minds, but also destroying them. As with any drug. Any drug that can heal can also hurt. All drugs are a risk. Compare the rare side effects of psychedelics to the horrible (and also rare) side effects like Stevens-Johnson syndrome that you'll see in pharmaceuticals, the same ones that save people's lives.
  - root_axis 5y ago
    > Compare the rare side effects of psychedelics I don't know if we have enough scientific data to say how rare they are. My anecdotal experience (including my own as an individual afflicted by HPPD) makes me believe they are not as rare as is often suggested.
- ada1981 5y ago
  Has this been in the care of an experienced sitter or guide?
  - root_axis 5y ago
    These are subjective credentials, but IMO yes, and I've seen on several occasions an experienced sitter fail to prevent a bad trip. I don't blame the sitter for this, and we were always aware of the importance of set and setting, but it's my opinion that we are far less in control of the outcome of a trip than I think most pyschonaughts are willing to admit.
    - 5y ago
whalesalad 5y ago
Psilocybin is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If you are at the lowest of lows and don't know where to turn, I highly recommend it. You can grow them yourself at home. The experience of turning spores into fruits is rewarding in and of itself, let alone the powerful medicine you will have a virtually limitless supply of.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  In my opinion this is very poor advice Please do not use psychedelics of any sort if you are suffering from depression without the oversight of a medical professional such as a psychiatrist or psychologist A negative mindset can be heavily amplified through the use of serotonergic 5ht2a agonists, this can lead to disastrous consequences
  - beaker52 5y ago
    This is worth saying again. DO NOT use psychedelics without medical oversight if you're at rock bottom. You ideally need to be strong enough to take some unexpected punches, and be in charge of an open, welcoming mindset. I'm bullish on the potential of psychedelics. I'm interested in finding work in this area to support it.
  - whalesalad 5y ago
    I disagree with the notion that all things must be "left to professionals" - I have been let down by others more times than I can count. There are ton of abusive and incompetent therapists/psychs out there.
    - netizen-936824 5y ago
      Its not about being left to professionals. This advice is to prevent suicide attempts by individuals who are feeling extremely negative with no hope. Psychedelics amplify your current state of mind. This means negative thought patterns are amplified, so an individual who may not have been suicidal previously may become so especially if they are alone. Personally I think psychedelics should be freely available to any human that wants them, however I'm also aware of the dangers that these compounds can present and as a society we need to be aware and prepared to face these things. That includes the awareness that one should be careful about their mindset when they decide to use such a powerful tool. I also agree that there are incompetent professionals, but this isn't about competency. Its about preventing suicide.
benevol 5y ago
This has been known for literally about 2 decades. (Keywords: Dr. Gasser, LSD, Switzerland, depression, cancer, study, 1998)
cf141q5325 5y ago
Kicked my alcoholism and depression almost 3 years ago on accident with a recreational mushroom trip on holiday. Still doing great in both regards. Two short bits of information. First dont screw around wit this. Set and setting. Understand what will happen and better get an experienced trip sitter you trust. Give at least The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide a read. And while my urge to drink is still completely gone you have to do some work when it comes to depression. From personal experience i can say it works on multiple layers. There is * Giving you a short term point of reference you can later aim for (experiencing how not being depressed looks like) * Making changes to your entrenched thought patterns more easy in the short term * Allowing for more self reflection (i later learned the cognitive behavioral therapy aims at something similar) First point also got me to look into meditation. Eckhard Tolles Power of Now describes the same experience through meditation. In the end its no surprise that Timothy Leary found the Tibetan Book of the Dead a great trip sitting manual. See Sam Harris Waking up for a rational explanation. edit: After talking with a few people who had bad trips my personal pet theory is that your likelihood drastically increases if you are overly attached to your own perspective. To the degree that you cant really imagine that your perspective on reality could be wrong. Not that this is safe otherwise, but be very very careful if that describes you. You are the kind of personal for whom anything on the spectrum to ego death might be very unpleasant.

113 points by andrewl 5y ago

Fuck. Cancer and dying are fucking scary. On the other hand why should we take away ourselves in the end, on the other hand if they are dying anyways, it's easier on drugs. I just hope that this doesn't turn death less meaningful.

TruthIsHeresy 5y ago

As someone who has received a tremendous amount of healing and comfort from psychedelics (in particular psilocybin mushrooms), I sincerely hope that legal psychedelic treatment becomes available before it’s too late for the depressed, anxious, and law abiding loved ones in my life. My Dad has a lot of health issues and struggles with depression and anxiety that becomes quite crippling at times. It has caused a great deal of pain for my family and I over the years. I’ve always thought that he would be an excellent candidate for psychedelic treatments but the legality and negative stigma attached ensures he will never become one.

52-6F-62 5y ago
It’s legal in Canada in a limited fashion to licensed suppliers and therapists. I’ve had similar experiences and I’m excited about the possibilities. The stigma might take a while to go away for some people who have been so conditioned that “drugs” are for “burnouts” and “frying brains”, but there is real work being done in the space by compassionate and very smart people. I’m sure it’s a growing field elsewhere too.
- paskozdilar 5y ago
  One of two things will happen, depending on whether a drug is inherently harmful or not: 1) if a drug is inherently harmful, its (ab)users will not be able to reach any influential position in society, and the stigma will stay 2) if a drug is not inherently harmful, a certain percentage of its users will reach influential positions and thus remove the stigma by being the proof of its harmlessness For some drugs, like meth and heroin, 2) will most likely never happen. Those drugs are very hard to control and have a tendency to take over users' lives, rendering everything else in their lives irrelevant. For other drugs, like marijuana, we are already seeing 2) happening in many countries around the world, including USA and European Union.
  - novok 5y ago
    Meh meth is prescribed for some adhd cases today and those people are totally functional and fine. Same with their other cousins. Same with painkillers. Its just they have abuse potential, especially opioid’s, and that is why you have to be careful about it. Its the entire schedule 1 bullshit that prevents usage of some, and those are political.
    - throwaway684936 5y ago
      Methamphetamine is perfectly safe when used correctly. The problem, obviously, is trust and self-control. Because it's so potent and crosses the blood-brain barrier easier, IIRC it has less intense physical side effects compared to the equivalent (in terms of mental effects) D-amphetamine dose. https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-many-surprising-health-benefits-of-meth https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-many-surprising-health-...
      - burner556 5y ago
        Desoxyn (meth) works the best out of all adhd meds for me. Magically light and effective touch.
        travisjungroth 5y ago
        It has the best patient rating of any drug. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines?s=r https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/know-your-amphetamines...
        throwaway684936 5y ago
        How exactly do you go about asking your doctor to try meth? Even asking for D-amphetamine (superior to Adderall imo, because Adderall contains L-amphetamine which has unpleasant physical effects) is already a tall order. I've read of doctors getting "flagged" for prescribing it.
        deleted 5y ago

richardfey 5y ago

What if they work on any human being in that way and not just cancer patients?

Epiphany21 5y ago
They do. But the only way to get legislators to budge is by appealing to their owners directly. Psychedelics will never be legalized unless it benefits big pharma.
- embedded_hiker 5y ago
  Psilocybin for mental health treatment has been legalized in Oregon though a voter initiative. The new law requires a lot of administrative setup and therapy is not yet available however. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PREVENTIONWELLNESS/Pages/Oregon-Psilocybin-Services.aspx https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PREVENTIONWELLNESS/Pages/Orego...
  - Der_Einzige 5y ago
    If you have a 20$ bill and decent friends, bootleg therapy is available pretty much anywhere and anytime you want it.
- blueprint 5y ago
  or maybe we should stop playing a rigged game and install real representatives but what the hell do i know
- stadium 5y ago
  There is momentum growing in Washington State (US). A therapeutic use bill SB 5660 didn't leave committee but led to some funding for additional studies. [1] Separately, ADAPT-WA filed a ballot initiative and will be gathering signatures to get it onto the ballot. [2] If someone was inclined to do mycology research there is a plethora of information here: https://www.shroomery.org/ https://www.shroomery.org/ [1] https://www.marijuanamoment.net/washington-state-legislature-approves-200000-in-psilocybin-research-funding-in-budget/ https://www.marijuanamoment.net/washington-state-legislature... [2] https://adapt-wa.org/ https://adapt-wa.org/

state_less 5y ago

It’s a travesty magic mushrooms are classed schedule 1. It’s difficult to abuse them, since tolerance builds rapidly. There is evidence of medical use for treatments and they can be taken safely under medical supervision.

stocknoob 5y ago
It’s infuriating that something helpful to so many suffering people was made, and continues to be, illegal. Imagine meditation is made illegal, on the off chance someone may have a psychiatric breakdown when doing some introspection. It changes your perspective on the government and its actual role in society (dismissed as counter-cultural thoughts), which may be another reason they are banned. You realize you’re in a fairly constrained and random system where might (money, status, power) makes right. Sure, fine, it may be true, but let’s not pretend there’s some deep moral justification for the forces in power to be there. They got in first.

travisjungroth 5y ago

> In the past, I might have said to her, “Dying is natural; it’s part of the human experience,” but without this experience, it would not have landed well. She had to feel this in her whole person, not just as an intellectual or philosophical exercise. This seems to be a big part of the magic of psychedelics. So many mental issues are cognitive. It’s not always happening at the chemical level. Why would it be in a person who has a healthy brain, but their depression came on with their terminal cancer diagnosis? The problem is cognition is really hard to change. Especially in adults and especially when things are going badly. The overall effectiveness of talk therapy is not great. Psychedelics break down our normal barriers so we can truly know the things other people have been telling us and we’ve been telling ourselves. (Or they put us in contact with spirits that gift wisdom. Six of one, half a dozen of another). I talked with someone with OCD who finished a trip thinking “just because my hand touches my phone doesn’t mean it’s dirty”. A simple statement, but he had contact OCD and this had been a huge problem. Something about the message “coming from inside the house” made it work. One thing I almost never see mentioned in these articles about terminal patients with psychedelics is the concept of the afterlife. Mushrooms are so Earthy, it’s like they tell you that heaven is returning to the soil. Other psychs (DMT, ayahuasca) can give you a picture of where your spirit goes after it splits from your body. Aside from whether these spiritual beliefs are right they’re certainly less depressing than what the average American is walking around with. There’s “sleep and never wake up”. There’s “heaven, maybe, I think. But lots of people going to hell I guess”, and then, probably the most common case: “who the fuck knows?”. A bit anxiety inducing, really.

netizen-936824 5y ago
>So many mental issues are cognitive. It’s not always happening at the chemical level. As a biochemist with a passion for neuroscience, I entirely 100% do not agree The statement doesn't even make sense to me. All cognition is based on the dynamics happening at the biochemical level. All of it is chemical All of our thoughts and behaviors are the product of chemical reactions and interactions which determine the behavior of individual neurons and their networks. You literally cannot separate those things.
- 5y ago

turing_complete 5y ago

How about better treatments for cancer? Not dying might help with anxiety too.

scarecrowbob 5y ago
Not dying in general is an admirable goal; yet even if you can fix the cancer part of the equation those of us who don't get cancer will eventually die. Could just be an assumption on my part. Maybe we will fix the "dying" part of the issue as well.
- LocalH 5y ago
  I don't think we want to "fix" dying. Some evil, sociopathic human somewhere would figure out a way to use that to harm people in a very profound way. I would also have to imagine that immortality would eventually become quite boring, even absent something like that.
  - scarecrowbob 5y ago
    I agree.
  - inkblotuniverse 5y ago
    You can always kill yourself.
    - LocalH 5y ago
      Honestly, not everyone has the ability to do that.
adamredwoods 5y ago
I agree. As someone who is dealing with a loved one with metastatic cancer, the depression and anxiety for everyone involved is off the charts. The idea around this solution, is it is something available now, so not a lot of research or costs need to be invested to get it going. Whereas immunotherapy or CAR T-cell therapy is still ongoing research and investment.

john-doe 5y ago

https://archive.ph/6rUUC https://archive.ph/6rUUC

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

dakom 5y ago

I know it's uncool to take the contrary view on this, but I've had enough bad trips from ludicrous fleeting thoughts... Actually dying seems like the worst possible "set and setting" if it goes bad I don't think we really have the tools to know how it will affect a person, and it's a bit risky imho. (Fwiw, although I don't imbibe anymore and it's been somewhere around a couple decades, I do think it's a personal choice, and should definitely be available to someone on their deathbed. I am just saying I'd personally abstain, especially in that situation)

ada1981 5y ago
This is why being with an experienced sitter is so important. They can help you face the feelings underneath the thoughts and hold you in the experience. I’ve sat for hundreds of hours of trips; including being the first person to do so on National TV in an underground setting; and I run a Breathwork group called BioMythic.com - having a sitter who can support you is a key part of a healthy set & setting.

root_axis 5y ago

I am skeptical of this. I have personally witnessed psychedelics enlightening minds, but also destroying them. I am also concerned with the reliability of evidence from psychedelic trials since I'm not clear on how a double-blind study could be conducted. At the end of the day, I'm fully in support of continued research, but I am hesitant to accept the kind of dramatic outcomes suggested by these studies.

throwaway684936 5y ago
> I have personally witnessed psychedelics enlightening minds, but also destroying them. As with any drug. Any drug that can heal can also hurt. All drugs are a risk. Compare the rare side effects of psychedelics to the horrible (and also rare) side effects like Stevens-Johnson syndrome that you'll see in pharmaceuticals, the same ones that save people's lives.
- root_axis 5y ago
  > Compare the rare side effects of psychedelics I don't know if we have enough scientific data to say how rare they are. My anecdotal experience (including my own as an individual afflicted by HPPD) makes me believe they are not as rare as is often suggested.
ada1981 5y ago
Has this been in the care of an experienced sitter or guide?
- root_axis 5y ago
  These are subjective credentials, but IMO yes, and I've seen on several occasions an experienced sitter fail to prevent a bad trip. I don't blame the sitter for this, and we were always aware of the importance of set and setting, but it's my opinion that we are far less in control of the outcome of a trip than I think most pyschonaughts are willing to admit.
  - 5y ago

whalesalad 5y ago

Psilocybin is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If you are at the lowest of lows and don't know where to turn, I highly recommend it. You can grow them yourself at home. The experience of turning spores into fruits is rewarding in and of itself, let alone the powerful medicine you will have a virtually limitless supply of.

netizen-936824 5y ago
In my opinion this is very poor advice Please do not use psychedelics of any sort if you are suffering from depression without the oversight of a medical professional such as a psychiatrist or psychologist A negative mindset can be heavily amplified through the use of serotonergic 5ht2a agonists, this can lead to disastrous consequences
- beaker52 5y ago
  This is worth saying again. DO NOT use psychedelics without medical oversight if you're at rock bottom. You ideally need to be strong enough to take some unexpected punches, and be in charge of an open, welcoming mindset. I'm bullish on the potential of psychedelics. I'm interested in finding work in this area to support it.
- whalesalad 5y ago
  I disagree with the notion that all things must be "left to professionals" - I have been let down by others more times than I can count. There are ton of abusive and incompetent therapists/psychs out there.
  - netizen-936824 5y ago
    Its not about being left to professionals. This advice is to prevent suicide attempts by individuals who are feeling extremely negative with no hope. Psychedelics amplify your current state of mind. This means negative thought patterns are amplified, so an individual who may not have been suicidal previously may become so especially if they are alone. Personally I think psychedelics should be freely available to any human that wants them, however I'm also aware of the dangers that these compounds can present and as a society we need to be aware and prepared to face these things. That includes the awareness that one should be careful about their mindset when they decide to use such a powerful tool. I also agree that there are incompetent professionals, but this isn't about competency. Its about preventing suicide.

benevol 5y ago

This has been known for literally about 2 decades. (Keywords: Dr. Gasser, LSD, Switzerland, depression, cancer, study, 1998)

cf141q5325 5y ago

Kicked my alcoholism and depression almost 3 years ago on accident with a recreational mushroom trip on holiday. Still doing great in both regards. Two short bits of information. First dont screw around wit this. Set and setting. Understand what will happen and better get an experienced trip sitter you trust. Give at least The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide a read. And while my urge to drink is still completely gone you have to do some work when it comes to depression. From personal experience i can say it works on multiple layers. There is * Giving you a short term point of reference you can later aim for (experiencing how not being depressed looks like) * Making changes to your entrenched thought patterns more easy in the short term * Allowing for more self reflection (i later learned the cognitive behavioral therapy aims at something similar) First point also got me to look into meditation. Eckhard Tolles Power of Now describes the same experience through meditation. In the end its no surprise that Timothy Leary found the Tibetan Book of the Dead a great trip sitting manual. See Sam Harris Waking up for a rational explanation. edit: After talking with a few people who had bad trips my personal pet theory is that your likelihood drastically increases if you are overly attached to your own perspective. To the degree that you cant really imagine that your perspective on reality could be wrong. Not that this is safe otherwise, but be very very careful if that describes you. You are the kind of personal for whom anything on the spectrum to ego death might be very unpleasant.