7 ms·

I really appreciate the mature tone this article took towards the discussion of a psychedelic compound

fsckboy 1y ago
>produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD, which is used to treat conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction yes, such incredible maturity, didn't even mention that these are not the reasons that most LSD is sold, bought, and consumed... although, "self-medication" probably does adhere pretty well.
- worik 1y ago
  >...these are not the reasons that most LSD is sold, bought, and consumed Yes To be clear most LSD users, who've done LSD for years, do it for fun. Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view...
  - NewJazz 1y ago
    For me the last time I took a trip I was alone for most of the trip and I cried a lot and my heart felt physically pained. I felt sorry for my heart that it had to keep beating and could not rest. It was a really challenging trip. I haven't been on another trip since.
    - worik 1y ago
      > I haven't been on another trip since Good choice. It is not fun, unless it is
    - hollerith 1y ago
      That would be good subject matter for a poem.
    - candiddevmike 1y ago
      Set and setting?
      - NewJazz 1y ago
        If setting includes the people you are with, or lack thereof, then yeah.
  - LoganDark 1y ago
    I am a frequent LSD user and I do it for fun and healing. I don't know about PTSD (although it did help me after I got hit by a truck, and also after I hit my head and nearly died), but it helps me get through stressful times. It also helps me become productive again when I feel like I'm too burnt out to work. I don't know how exactly this happens, but I assume it's something like giving me enough tunnel vision to forget about background/subconscious anxieties.
    - balamatom 1y ago
      >but I assume it's something like giving me enough tunnel vision to forget about background/subconscious anxieties counterpoint: it might be said that one's "tunnel vision" is made out of anxieties pushed to the background, disrupting the default mode network allows the person to consciously process them. ofc i can't say whether this tracks with your experience
      - LoganDark 1y ago
        It pushes more than just anxieties to the background. During the peak of an LSD trip, I can be so distractible that I can barely keep more than one thing in my head at a time, and it's incredibly easy for any new thought to overwrite everything prior. I do know that spending some time in that state of mind does tend to help me. With that said, I don't think I can speak much on the default mode network because I haven't developed an intuition on how that affects me.
        esseph 1y ago
        Do you have or suspect you have ADHD?
        LoganDark 1y ago
        I definitely have ADHD.
        balamatom 1y ago
        i do now realize i've been unclear in my previous post; this "tunnel vision" we both speak of (hopefully we're indeed referring to the same phenomenon!) is, in my view, the culturally expected default day-to-day state of the neurotypical mind; as in, one is expected to have acquired these mandatory blinders early on, regardless if they're actually harmful to individual health and collective flourishing it completely makes sense that a person with neurophysiological parameters that result in adhd diagnosis might experience these effects differently (different valence to same phenomenon; or, entirely different phenomenon from same preconditions). either way, imo the important thing (confirmed by what you say about the hyper-distractible state which you experience) is for one to spend as much time as needed in the headspace that is appropriate to their neurobiological makeup, rather than that headspace which other people want one to be in as if it's any of their goddam business. ofc not to be taken that reaching "the personally good headspace" is trivial; a core part of "the blinders" is the assumption that no other stable non-pathological mind-states exist in the first place! (the premise of neurotypical supremacy?) hence the utility of altered states which demonstrate the opposite and thus provide the introspector with a basis for comparison thanks for sharing your experiences!
  - gavinray 1y ago
    > "Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view..." On the other hand: "If you get the message, hang up the phone." - Alan Watts
  - nkrisc 1y ago
    > Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view... I spent a long time trying to decide if you were referencing licking the windows, or something more poetic. I decided to let both interpretations occupy my mind, as it seemed greater than the sum of its parts.
    - worik 1y ago
      Huxley
fnord77 1y ago
I feel like it overhyped it for being a treatment when that hasn't been validated yet
- larrled 1y ago
  The use of LSD in psychiatry is one of the less wacky things about the state of psychiatry at that time. Arguably psychiatry is still wacky, and still overhypes novel compounds without knowing how or why they work exactly. LSD was very rigorously studied compared to say today’s use of ketamine.
  - hx8 1y ago
    Yes, there was a ton of psychiatric research on LSD. However the bar of required to perform pharmaceutical testing on humans is much higher now, and the quality of the data is much higher because of improved testing standards.
    - larrled 1y ago
      For sure. But if you read some of that wacky stuff from way back, you can start to see how parts rhyme with aspects of contemporary psychiatry. They too had much better standards and data than their predecessors. The hype around LSD back then, and a bit of the kookiness, was similar to the current emphasis on trauma, ketamine therapy, etc… Stuff that works and is new gets overhyped.
uncircle 1y ago
After the discovery of a psychedelic compound, there are two pipelines for release: - the academic way, where it's studied in labs by "serious people", and after FDA approval a big pharma with worldwide licence sells it for one million $ per kg. - the black market way, where it's manufactured in quantity by shady RC companies and sold on the internet, until someone tries too large a dose, gets it put in Schedule I and banned. I guess this one went the first route, unlike LSD.
- jampekka 1y ago
  LSD was discovered in and extensively tested and produced by the giant medical company Sandoz for about 20 years. It was also extensively studied in academic settings. The black market production started a lot later, mostly due to the War on Drugs.
  - herbst 1y ago
    Sandoz still produces LSD
    - krispyfi 1y ago
      Source? Their patent expired, and Wikipedia says they stopped making it on the 60s. Occasionally a sealed bottle of Delysid will surface somewhere, but I think that they are all vintage.

>produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD, which is used to treat conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction yes, such incredible maturity, didn't even mention that these are not the reasons that most LSD is sold, bought, and consumed... although, "self-medication" probably does adhere pretty well.

worik 1y ago
>...these are not the reasons that most LSD is sold, bought, and consumed Yes To be clear most LSD users, who've done LSD for years, do it for fun. Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view...
- NewJazz 1y ago
  For me the last time I took a trip I was alone for most of the trip and I cried a lot and my heart felt physically pained. I felt sorry for my heart that it had to keep beating and could not rest. It was a really challenging trip. I haven't been on another trip since.
  - worik 1y ago
    > I haven't been on another trip since Good choice. It is not fun, unless it is
  - hollerith 1y ago
    That would be good subject matter for a poem.
  - candiddevmike 1y ago
    Set and setting?
    - NewJazz 1y ago
      If setting includes the people you are with, or lack thereof, then yeah.
- LoganDark 1y ago
  I am a frequent LSD user and I do it for fun and healing. I don't know about PTSD (although it did help me after I got hit by a truck, and also after I hit my head and nearly died), but it helps me get through stressful times. It also helps me become productive again when I feel like I'm too burnt out to work. I don't know how exactly this happens, but I assume it's something like giving me enough tunnel vision to forget about background/subconscious anxieties.
  - balamatom 1y ago
    >but I assume it's something like giving me enough tunnel vision to forget about background/subconscious anxieties counterpoint: it might be said that one's "tunnel vision" is made out of anxieties pushed to the background, disrupting the default mode network allows the person to consciously process them. ofc i can't say whether this tracks with your experience
    - LoganDark 1y ago
      It pushes more than just anxieties to the background. During the peak of an LSD trip, I can be so distractible that I can barely keep more than one thing in my head at a time, and it's incredibly easy for any new thought to overwrite everything prior. I do know that spending some time in that state of mind does tend to help me. With that said, I don't think I can speak much on the default mode network because I haven't developed an intuition on how that affects me.
      - esseph 1y ago
        Do you have or suspect you have ADHD?
        LoganDark 1y ago
        I definitely have ADHD.
      - balamatom 1y ago
        i do now realize i've been unclear in my previous post; this "tunnel vision" we both speak of (hopefully we're indeed referring to the same phenomenon!) is, in my view, the culturally expected default day-to-day state of the neurotypical mind; as in, one is expected to have acquired these mandatory blinders early on, regardless if they're actually harmful to individual health and collective flourishing it completely makes sense that a person with neurophysiological parameters that result in adhd diagnosis might experience these effects differently (different valence to same phenomenon; or, entirely different phenomenon from same preconditions). either way, imo the important thing (confirmed by what you say about the hyper-distractible state which you experience) is for one to spend as much time as needed in the headspace that is appropriate to their neurobiological makeup, rather than that headspace which other people want one to be in as if it's any of their goddam business. ofc not to be taken that reaching "the personally good headspace" is trivial; a core part of "the blinders" is the assumption that no other stable non-pathological mind-states exist in the first place! (the premise of neurotypical supremacy?) hence the utility of altered states which demonstrate the opposite and thus provide the introspector with a basis for comparison thanks for sharing your experiences!
- gavinray 1y ago
  > "Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view..." On the other hand: "If you get the message, hang up the phone." - Alan Watts
- nkrisc 1y ago
  > Once you've polished the windows, it is fun to go back and look at the view... I spent a long time trying to decide if you were referencing licking the windows, or something more poetic. I decided to let both interpretations occupy my mind, as it seemed greater than the sum of its parts.
  - worik 1y ago
    Huxley

fnord77 1y ago

I feel like it overhyped it for being a treatment when that hasn't been validated yet

larrled 1y ago
The use of LSD in psychiatry is one of the less wacky things about the state of psychiatry at that time. Arguably psychiatry is still wacky, and still overhypes novel compounds without knowing how or why they work exactly. LSD was very rigorously studied compared to say today’s use of ketamine.
- hx8 1y ago
  Yes, there was a ton of psychiatric research on LSD. However the bar of required to perform pharmaceutical testing on humans is much higher now, and the quality of the data is much higher because of improved testing standards.
  - larrled 1y ago
    For sure. But if you read some of that wacky stuff from way back, you can start to see how parts rhyme with aspects of contemporary psychiatry. They too had much better standards and data than their predecessors. The hype around LSD back then, and a bit of the kookiness, was similar to the current emphasis on trauma, ketamine therapy, etc… Stuff that works and is new gets overhyped.

uncircle 1y ago

After the discovery of a psychedelic compound, there are two pipelines for release: - the academic way, where it's studied in labs by "serious people", and after FDA approval a big pharma with worldwide licence sells it for one million $ per kg. - the black market way, where it's manufactured in quantity by shady RC companies and sold on the internet, until someone tries too large a dose, gets it put in Schedule I and banned. I guess this one went the first route, unlike LSD.

jampekka 1y ago
LSD was discovered in and extensively tested and produced by the giant medical company Sandoz for about 20 years. It was also extensively studied in academic settings. The black market production started a lot later, mostly due to the War on Drugs.
- herbst 1y ago
  Sandoz still produces LSD
  - krispyfi 1y ago
    Source? Their patent expired, and Wikipedia says they stopped making it on the 60s. Occasionally a sealed bottle of Delysid will surface somewhere, but I think that they are all vintage.