I think we're approaching the peak of the hype cycle for psychedelics. Articles like this one glorify LSD as a wonder drug without exploring any of the associated risks.
Readers skim over the details of the associated intensive guided therapy sessions. They assume that they can get the same exaggerated results by dosing darknet-sourced LSD at home, alone, without the concomitant therapy sessions used in clinical research studies. The articles are so focused on the drug that the associated therapy sessions feel like a neglected footnote.
Meanwhile, journalists and internet commenters both ignore the very real risks of framing psychedelics as a DIY miracle cure for people with difficult to treat mental health issues. Before this current phase, the universally accepted advice for psychedelic experimenters was to never use psychedelics if you had underlying mental health issues and to always have a sitter present to monitor and guide your trip. The reframing of psychedelics as a miracle cure has triggered a wave of people ignoring that advice, dosing alone at home without any form of supporting therapy to frame their trips.
If you spend some time browsing Reddit, it's not hard to find bizarre stories of people triggering week, month, or even year long episodes of worsened depression, derealization, PTSD-like symptoms, or HPPD from psychedelic experimentation. If "big pharma" produced a drug with possible side effects like that, we'd be hearing a very different story. Yet LSD and other underground treatments get a free pass in the media at this point in the hype cycle.
Psychedelic research is very interesting and potentially promising, but I hope the current wave of one-sided glorification comes to an end soon. If we want to see proper psychedelic research continue and for the field to be taken seriously, it's important that we stay grounded in our reporting of the topic.
I think what we're seeing is similar to what we were seeing during the push for legalization of marijuana- a crowdsourced P.R. campaign that highlighted the positives and neglected the negatives in an effort to try and counterbalance the negative inertia that decades of "reefer madness" hysteria had wrought.
While all of this is true, there's an incredible amount of guesswork in other medications that impact mental health. Many drugs come with warnings of suicidal ideation and other dangers.
In my own experience as a patient it was always a case of "let's see how this one works for you."
My point is simply that every drug carries some risk and that every one of us can react differently to them (including ourselves as we age).
I'm pro-psychedelics but agree that they should be treated with utmost respect.
>Before this current phase, the universally accepted advice for psychedelic experimenters was to never use psychedelics if you had underlying mental health issues
That advice was an overly broad crock and some of the most promising applications of psychadelics are for treating things like treatment resistant depression.
In regards to always having a sitter I do think there is a ton of temptation to forgo this step yet I think the drug is simultaneously less effective and more dangerous if you forgo this step. Still I rarely hear anybody fail to stress the importance of a sitter.
It's a repeat of what happened in the 1950's and 60's. New psychedelic drugs are discovered -> some people (e.g. Leary) claim it's a miracle cure for what ails you -> gets used extensively -> people have bad reaction -> gov't makes it illegal.
Similar to what happened with opioids. Opioids are addictive, don't use them ever -> opioids aren't that addictive, give them to everyone -> Opioids are addictive, don't use them ever.
> browsing Reddit, it's not hard to find bizarre stories of people triggering week, month, or even year long episodes of worsened depression, derealization, PTSD-like symptoms, or HPPD from psychedelic experimentation.
I'm skeptical of this claim, every bad story seems to go along with some terrible decision making, "this was my first time doing lsd i was peaking hard and smoked a 1g blunt" or "i locked my self in my room so my parents wouldn't find me"
I'd probably try LSD recreationally if I could buy it from credible sources. But I can't understand people who buy synthetic drugs from street dealers and take them. How the hell do you know what you are actually ingesting?
If you use the proper websites for your purchases, via TOR, you'll find that there actually exist rating systems that can already tell you a lot regarding the trust you can have in a specific vendor (if you spend a couple of minutes thinking about how the given rating system works and if you take the numbers into account - hint: you need big numbers). The second step will be an LSD test you can buy online on conventional websites. Never buy on the street - those people have absolutely not reputation to lose.
If it's not real, the dose size is so small (micrograms), that you aren't likely to experience anything at all.
But yeah, you don't buy it from a street corner dealer, you get it from a friend, who tells you they tried it and it's real. If you don't have friends that do this kind of thing that you trust, I wouldn't bother.
Guided meditation therapy provided me with all the benefits that are attributed to psychedelic therapy. It helped me let down my guard and make true progress. The benefits continue, years later. I'm still alive, and I probably wouldn't be without it.
The psychedelics aren't necessary. It just appeals to people because everyone wants a magic cure.
As an added bonus, it made achieving a meditative state much easier for me.
Society is too preoccupied with the conscious mind. It's not meant to be running and in control all the time. Through meditation I've learned to communicate with my sub/unconscious mind. I can query it and it responds not with words, but more with feelings/emotions. It really kinda scared me the first time. Now, it is how I figure out what is really going on with me, what environmental factors are causing me malaise.
I'm now extremely grateful for the challenges I faced, as I wouldn't have been forced to grow otherwise.
I call it guided meditation therapy, but it is also know as hypnotherapy. I didn't use that name because I thought it would receive an immediate negative response from many here. There are quacks out there, but it doesn't invalidate the entire concept.
A closed mind will ensure no mental health progress is made. I'm so glad mine was forced open.
[+] [-] PragmaticPulp|6 years ago|reply
Readers skim over the details of the associated intensive guided therapy sessions. They assume that they can get the same exaggerated results by dosing darknet-sourced LSD at home, alone, without the concomitant therapy sessions used in clinical research studies. The articles are so focused on the drug that the associated therapy sessions feel like a neglected footnote.
Meanwhile, journalists and internet commenters both ignore the very real risks of framing psychedelics as a DIY miracle cure for people with difficult to treat mental health issues. Before this current phase, the universally accepted advice for psychedelic experimenters was to never use psychedelics if you had underlying mental health issues and to always have a sitter present to monitor and guide your trip. The reframing of psychedelics as a miracle cure has triggered a wave of people ignoring that advice, dosing alone at home without any form of supporting therapy to frame their trips.
If you spend some time browsing Reddit, it's not hard to find bizarre stories of people triggering week, month, or even year long episodes of worsened depression, derealization, PTSD-like symptoms, or HPPD from psychedelic experimentation. If "big pharma" produced a drug with possible side effects like that, we'd be hearing a very different story. Yet LSD and other underground treatments get a free pass in the media at this point in the hype cycle.
Psychedelic research is very interesting and potentially promising, but I hope the current wave of one-sided glorification comes to an end soon. If we want to see proper psychedelic research continue and for the field to be taken seriously, it's important that we stay grounded in our reporting of the topic.
[+] [-] RankingMember|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pstuart|6 years ago|reply
In my own experience as a patient it was always a case of "let's see how this one works for you."
My point is simply that every drug carries some risk and that every one of us can react differently to them (including ourselves as we age).
I'm pro-psychedelics but agree that they should be treated with utmost respect.
[+] [-] TheOperator|6 years ago|reply
That advice was an overly broad crock and some of the most promising applications of psychadelics are for treating things like treatment resistant depression.
In regards to always having a sitter I do think there is a ton of temptation to forgo this step yet I think the drug is simultaneously less effective and more dangerous if you forgo this step. Still I rarely hear anybody fail to stress the importance of a sitter.
[+] [-] refurb|6 years ago|reply
Similar to what happened with opioids. Opioids are addictive, don't use them ever -> opioids aren't that addictive, give them to everyone -> Opioids are addictive, don't use them ever.
I hope to live long enough to see another cycle.
[+] [-] tayo42|6 years ago|reply
I'm skeptical of this claim, every bad story seems to go along with some terrible decision making, "this was my first time doing lsd i was peaking hard and smoked a 1g blunt" or "i locked my self in my room so my parents wouldn't find me"
[+] [-] FriendlyNormie|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neonate|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ggm|6 years ago|reply
For example the use of drugs for near death terminally ill patients is not just "get stoned and chill" it's an orchestrated experience.
Strip the hype, retain a clinician with a qualification in mental health and clinical psychology, use metered doses. Why not?
Leary is not the story. Or should not be the story
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] haolez|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] benevol|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] monocasa|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] empath75|6 years ago|reply
If it's not real, the dose size is so small (micrograms), that you aren't likely to experience anything at all.
But yeah, you don't buy it from a street corner dealer, you get it from a friend, who tells you they tried it and it's real. If you don't have friends that do this kind of thing that you trust, I wouldn't bother.
[+] [-] jjtheblunt|6 years ago|reply
https://news.google.com/search?q=tainted%20fentanyl
[+] [-] foolfoolz|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ficklepickle|6 years ago|reply
The psychedelics aren't necessary. It just appeals to people because everyone wants a magic cure.
As an added bonus, it made achieving a meditative state much easier for me.
Society is too preoccupied with the conscious mind. It's not meant to be running and in control all the time. Through meditation I've learned to communicate with my sub/unconscious mind. I can query it and it responds not with words, but more with feelings/emotions. It really kinda scared me the first time. Now, it is how I figure out what is really going on with me, what environmental factors are causing me malaise.
I'm now extremely grateful for the challenges I faced, as I wouldn't have been forced to grow otherwise.
I call it guided meditation therapy, but it is also know as hypnotherapy. I didn't use that name because I thought it would receive an immediate negative response from many here. There are quacks out there, but it doesn't invalidate the entire concept.
A closed mind will ensure no mental health progress is made. I'm so glad mine was forced open.
[+] [-] pmoriarty|6 years ago|reply
Have you actually ever had a powerful psychedelic experience?