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LSD-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety with a life-threatening disease
- Aaronneyer 12y agoIt's awesome that these kinds of studies are finally able to happen again. Scientists had already determined the usefulness of LSD and other psychedelics in Psychotherapy of this sort back in 1950 (http://www.psymon.com/psychedelia/articles/busch.htm http://www.psymon.com/psychedelia/articles/busch.htm), but since the controlled substance act in 1970, it hasn't been possible to do any real science in this area. Good to see this finally starting to change.
- mpg33 12y agoAs a person who has an anxiety problem I'd be worried about having a bad trip. I have never done LSD though..
- csorrell 12y agoThe benefit of using LSD in a psycho-therapeutic environment is the opportunity to work through the anxiety that comes up during the trip. For a lot of people, an emotional breakdown can act as the catalyst for a life changing emotional breakthrough. edit to add: 'bad trip' is a subjective term.
- thbbht 12y agoYou're certainly right in the subjective use of "bad trip". I think the term has been applied to maybe too wide a spectrum of psychedelic experience, I've usually seen it manifest itself as one of these two: A. An unpleasant experience where the user is forced to confront uncomfortable realities about themselves and the "world". This is usually a feature of most trips, it could last a few minutes or hours. This can often be a net-positive experience as the user navigates their way out of it and realize the baselessness of some of their more troubling assumptions. B. An experience where the user entirely loses touch with "reality". Sometimes this resembles the symptoms of a very strong panic-attack. It includes feelings of imminent death or the feeling that the user has permanently altered their psychology forever or has gone irreparably insane. This can last for the entire duration of the trip and have permanent, lasting effects long after the drug has worn off. As someone mentioned further up the thread, "A" can sometimes spiral out of control into "B".
- colordrops 12y agoJust an anecdote... I've had several "A" style bad trips, and they all ended up being net-positive for me. I've had one "B" style bad trip in the late 90s, and still haven't gotten 100% over it.
- kaoD 12y agoShouldn't be a problem in a safe environment, specially when you're well informed about what's going to happen. Most bad trips are due to fear of the unknown, too high dose or a bad environment.
- tptacek 12y agoIf you have a problem with anxiety, don't mess around with this stuff without the oversight of a professional.
- colordrops 12y agoThe term "professional" should be taken euphemistically here. You will likely have a much better time with someone highly experienced with hallucinogen usage rather than a scientist in lab conditions.
- tptacek 12y agoI would be concerned that a lot of people feel like they're a lot more capable of tripsitting someone with an anxiety disorder than they really are.
- colordrops 12y agoThat may be true, but scientific and academic credentials do not qualify anyone any more than direct experience. Would you trust a spelunking guide that has 100 trips down a cave, or someone who got a PhD in spelunking without taking any actual trips?
- tptacek 12y agoAre those my only two choices? I might instead choose not to cave at all.
- VLM 12y agoOn hacker news we are only allowed binary decision making no matter how analog the situation, but obviously the optimum solution is to talk to / work with both, although I'm guessing they aren't going to literally work with each other at the same moment. Which is really too bad. I could totally see a GP, Specialist, and Patient relationship developing.
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- mgmeyers 12y agoHaving a bad trip is definitely a possibility, but it's not something that's very predictable, as the entire experience is completely foreign. You can significantly reduce the chance of a bad trip by putting yourself in a comfortable and safe environment, however. Also, I've found "bad" trips to be just as valuable psychologically as "good" ones, though they can seem life threatening in the moment.
- thatswrong0 12y agoLower dose = lower probability of having a bad trip, FWIW.
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- anonbanker 12y agosmoke an indica first to lower your anxiety.
- curiousDog 12y agoDoes weed actually lower anxiety? I've heard the opposite. Sorry, total nooob here :).
- nsxwolf 12y agoYMMV. When I used to have serious anxiety, it would sometimes make me have a full on panic attack. I don't know if it was indica or sativa. But I know people who have sworn by it as a treatment. Now that legalization is becoming a reality, maybe we'll get better science on this issue and find out the what, when, how and whom of its effects on anxiety.
- anonbanker 12y agoI'd put money on your anxiety coming from a sativa. I've had Sativa panic attacks before (even on a 50/50 hybrid) from half a joint, whereas I could smoke massive bowls full of indica and not have a problem.
- marincounty 12y agoI tried the cbd type of weed that's suppose to be good for anxiety and found no benefit. I'll note the dispensary did not have any means for testing for chemical components, other than a pen that detects counterfit currency. I found for my constitution less is definetly more. I found it slightly helped with depression--sometimes--at a very low dose(like 1/2 a small puff). I sometimes think most of the benefits claimed are Placebo? That said--it's easy to get a prescription for. In the Bay Area, getting a doctor to write a script(good for one year) cost $100.00. When I got my script, the doctor was seeing a patient every 3-5 minutes, and only took cash. What a business?
- soylentcola 12y agoI think a lot of it depends on the individual and I've been told several times that the variety and strain can make a big difference. Anecdotally, it used to make me relaxed and only occasionally a little anxious if I had to unexpectedly play "straight" while under the influence. Nowadays it's like a 50/50 shot whether it will just give me a "buzz" or whether it will make me incredibly anxious. I've mostly chalked it up to the stronger stuff I'm more likely to come across now that I'm not a broke college kid buying the cheap stuff but I also think a large part of it is that I'm a different person that I was 15-20 years ago and perhaps I just don't react as well to it anymore. Either way, I mostly abstain these days except when I'm in a situation where the potential for anxiety is incredibly low.
- jackthetripper 12y agoI have an anxiety problem and I did LSD before it was diagnosed (but not before I had been suffering anxiety issues for years). My trip was pretty normal, but I freaked out in the weeks and months afterwards. I knew next to nothing about LSD, and managed to whip myself up into an anxious (also ignorant) frenzy about the dangers of the drug, the possibility that I would now go insane, etc. These were not pleasant or productive times. So, two bits of advice for anyone with anxiety thinking about hallucinogens: - Know the facts. - Be aware of possible negative interactions with popular meds (e.g. SSRIs, etc.) Note: I haven't done LSD again. I'd like to try Ectasy, but I'm on meds for anxiety/depression that don't mix well with MDMA.
- cnp 12y agoI would try to find pure mdma, plan on getting off your meds a couple weeks in advance, and then give it a spin with a friend you can really talk honestly with. I've known two people who have completely eliminated their anxiety after one dose which subsequently cured their depression (address the cause (anxiety) and the problem goes away).
- anigbrowl 12y agoLSD is widely understood to be benign when used in a controlled setting (even recreational aficionados' discussions of it focus heavily on the importance of establishing a safe context under the rubric of 'set and setting'). However I think it will take another 15-20 years to see it legalized; drug warriors will harp on the crazy-making potential while paranoids will dredge up fears of gubmint mind control - both of which have roots in reality, since LSD is a powerful hallucinogenic that can lead to confusion or injury if consumed in excess or carelessly, and since the CIA did experiment with psychedelic drugs on unwitting subjects back in the 1960s. Even limited rescheduling allowing medical treatment would be a good thing IMHO, but the reality of the US medical system is such that that the <$5 dose of LSD is likely to be dwarfed by a $3,000+ bill for clinical oversight and additional fees for administrative compliance with drug scheduling protocols.
- webkike 12y agoAs much as I love LSD, I have no idea in what capacity it could possibly be legalized, other than in heavily controlled settings.
- api 12y agoAs someone with some experience, and who ran around in counterculture circles where such things were common years ago, I would offer a more tempered view. LSD is not chemically addictive and is basically non toxic in that there is no known LD50. On a pure physical level it is very safe. Psychologically the reality is more mixed. If used in moderation with some sense of responsibility, it can be neutral or even beneficial. But "acid casualties" really are a thing. Heavy, irresponsible abuse of LSD and similar drugs can really destroy a person's mind. I've seen people who really abused these things and sort of never came back. While there appears to be no conventional toxicity, it would not surprise me to learn later that there is some potential for harm at the neurological level. If so it might be more a result of trauma or stress due to the effects of abuse than direct toxicity. In any case the abusers I saw did seem mentally impaired, in some cases never recovering. So when someone asks me about these things, I always tell them to do a lot of homework on them and to be very careful. I say the same thing to people who want to play with stimulants or nootropics. In general extreme care and self awareness should be exercised when putting anything into your body, especially if it affects your mind. Most of the people from the psychedelic world who seem to have their heads screwed on seem to advocate their use rarely, under careful setting, with at least one other experienced person that you trust, and a lot of introspection and time in between to integrate the experience. Anecdotally harm seems to occur when recklessness precludes integration, as if not processing the experience leads to some kind of overload and trauma. It may be a form of burnout leading to something like PTSD, which can actually manifest physical brain damage. Look up some of the stuff on child abuse and PTSD victims and neurological effects. On the upside, I have seen dramatic evidence that these things can lead to deep positive breakthroughs. They might also be able to act as "steroids for creativity," allowing extreme feats of lateral integration that are hard to even imagine in ordinary consciousness. These compounds are fascinating and powerful tools that should be studied with care. They should neither be marketed recklessly as enlightenment in a pill or ignorantly banned by fear-mongering reactionaries.
- researcher88 12y agoDMT is easily tolerated by the body and only lasts 10 minutes. There's no hangover type effect and it doesn't last hours. It's also infinitely more intense, with an overwhelming sense of love and comfort. LSD is like riding a bicycle but DMT is more flying in a spaceship that actually travels through dimensions. There seems to be a much lower or non-existant risk of a bad trip. (Unlike the version you drink, which can take you to hell and back.)
- tptacek 12y agoI did not get an overwhelming sense of love and comfort (5-MeO). I got the opposite. The experience is what taught me that I shouldn't personally be dicking around with my consciousness that way.
- colordrops 12y agoMy understanding is that 5-MeO DMT is very different from DMT. Have you tried both?
- tptacek 12y agoNope. That's why I mentioned the variety, though.
- pcthrowaway 12y ago5-meo-dmt is a completely different beast than N,N,DMT. For one, while 5-meo-dmt is endogenous to many organisms (Bufo Alvarius/Colorado River Toad/Sonoran Desert Toad being one of them) it is not found in the human brain. It's also said to be more intense in an uncomfortable direction than DMT.
- daeken 12y agoFYI, DMT production in the human brain is not supported by any scientific studies. There were studies that found negligible amounts in rat brains, but those have not been successfully duplicated. So it's possible that it's there, but it's commonly stated as a fact when in reality, we just don't know.
- leroy_masochist 12y agoA guy I served with credits weekly shroom trips with helping him deal with his PTS symptoms. He was not exactly a tree hugging hippie when we were both in uniform so it's good to see him being so open minded about solutions to his problems. The utility of psychedelics in therapy has been a "known quantity" to the medical community since the 1950's at least, so it's good to see that mainstream acceptance of such is gaining ground.
- tbastos 12y agoRelated topic: I just finished reading "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion" by Sam Harris and it has become my book recommendation for people that don't understand psychedelics or meditation. Sam talks about both in the most lucid way possible. Highly recommended!
- kristofferR 12y agoHere's the first chapter of the book, read by Sam Harris himself: https://soundcloud.com/samharrisorg/waking-up-chapter-one https://soundcloud.com/samharrisorg/waking-up-chapter-one
- api 12y agoIMHO religion has little to do with spirituality. I'm not necessarily saying it's all bad, just that it's all about politics, philosophy, enforcing a certain set of norms to allow cooperation, etc. The relationship of religion to spiritual experience is along the lines of the relationship between space themed fiction like Star Trek to actual space flight.
- Alex3917 12y ago> The relationship of religion to spiritual experience is along the lines of the relationship between space themed fiction like Star Trek to actual space flight. If you look at actual definitions of the word 'religion' used by academics who study religion, there is actually a pretty tight relationship. E.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM-yinhpOgQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM-yinhpOgQ
- tomsthumb 12y agoReligion is a classifying term for a variety of cultural languages in which the vast majority of spirituality has been framed throughout history. Saying they have little to do with one another is, at best, uninformed. One does not necessitate the other, but that does not mean they are anywhere near as dissociated as you suggest.
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- theviciousfish 12y agoSET AND SETTING. IT IS ALL SET AND SETTING.
- pazimzadeh 12y agoHere is the full text (PDF): http://cl.ly/YZzg/download/J%20Psychopharmacol-2014-Gasser-0269881114555249.pdf http://cl.ly/YZzg/download/J%20Psychopharmacol-2014-Gasser-0...