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"If you scroll the comments in any popular psychedelics-for-depression post on Reddit, there are almost as many negative experience reports (including some long
by pmoriarty 5y ago
"If you scroll the comments in any popular psychedelics-for-depression post on Reddit, there are almost as many negative experience reports (including some long-lasting) as there are positive reports."
Those trip reports are almost never done in a therapeutic context.
Psychedelic therapy is what research has shown to be very helpful with depression.
When people trip on mushrooms outside of therapy, they often do so:
- with a poor set and setting
- without intention
- with little if any preparation (almost certainly without therapeutic preparation)
- while mixing them with other drugs
- without trusted, experienced trip sitters (much less therapists) there to reassure and help out if need be
- without any integration or therapy afterwards
- without being 100% certain that they were getting real psychedelic mushrooms and not something else (like poisonous mushrooms)
- while believing all sorts of myths about psychedelics (which might be cleared up by trained therapists in the pre-therapy preparation)
So no wonder quite a few people have "bad trips".
Even so, just because someone has a "bad trip" (or difficult/negative experience) doesn't mean that their experience couldn't be of value to them.
It's quite common for people to report that their difficult experiences were actually very valuable to them. My own have been more valuable than my good experiences. The good experiences were fun and all, but the bad ones were incredibly insightful.
When done in a therapeutic context, with trained psychedelic therapists and the right preparation, integration, and followup therapy, there should be many more positive outcomes than in the anecdotal trip reports that you'll read from people tripping casually.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago> Those trip reports are almost never done in a therapeutic context. > Psychedelic therapy is what research has shown to be very helpful with depression. Exactly right, which is why I mention it. A lot of people are going to read this thread and head off to do some self-experimentation at home, alone. We need to point out that the research and therapy environment is extremely different than DIY.
- pmoriarty 5y ago"the research and therapy environment is extremely different than DIY" True, but that doesn't mean that the DIY environment couldn't be brought closer to the therapeutic one. I strongly recommend James Fadiman's Psychedelic Explorer's Guide[1]. It has lots of great advice on how to use psychedelics therapeutically. [1] - https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeutic-Journeys/dp/1594774021 https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeut...
- robbedpeter 5y agoA McKenna style heroic dose in silent darkness is something I'd recommend any for human, at least once in their life, if they're not at risk of schizophrenia. The experience is profoundly and deeply human. In a therapeutic context, though, make plans with professionals. Go on a trip to a doctor guided psychedelic session, involve your personal doctors and therapists. Exploratory, experiential uses of psychedelics aren't appropriate when you're depressed, stressed, or anxious. Psychedelics notoriously kick you into positive feedback loops, which amplify your internal state, sometimes in extreme ways. Reddit and erowid and tripsit sites aren't rigorous sources of data suitable for science, but they're great for personally understanding the range of possible effects you can experience.