Is Psilocybin and/or Ayahuasaca and/or any other DMT source legal anywhere in the world? I would expect at least _some_ places make it legal, possibly have hundreds/thousands of years of experience that might be interesting to read alongside modern studies.
Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
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Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#52Assuming that psilocybin is effective at treating depression, I find myself wondering whether actual conscious experience (that is, being high) is an essential part of its effectiveness or not. To put this another way, imagine someone takes whatever dose of psilocybin and then is rendered unconsciousness until the perceptual effects wear off. Will there be any difference in its effectiveness as a treatment for depres…
I believe we already have an answer for this - which is that most of the benefits of psilocybin on depression (and most other things) rely on the patient being conscious so that they are able to have a 'mystical-type experience.' In almost all psilocybin studies, the effect is mediated by the degree to which the participant has a 'mystical-type experience.' I don't imagine this could be experienced while unconscious,…
> In almost all psilocybin studies, the effect is mediated by the degree to which the participant has a 'mystical-type experience.'
> I don't imagine this could be experienced while unconscious, and so assuming that's correct, then it would be substantially less effective if someone was unconscious.
It's correlation, but to determine causation one would have to undergo simultaneous mystical-inducing-quantity psilocybin and be "naturally" unconscious (because e.g. stuff used for general anesthesia is likely to interfere with other brain processes). I have no idea how such an experiment could actually be carried out.
Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#53Heroin, BTW, helps from cough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin#History
> From 1898 through to 1910, diamorphine was marketed under the trademark name Heroin as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant.
Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#54Heroin, BTW, helps from cough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin#History > From 1898 through to 1910, diamorphine was marketed under the trademark name Heroin as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant.
>heroin
>non-addictive
I'm confused.
Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#55Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd definitely advise anyone thinking about this to do their research but the risk doesn't seem to be as large as often suggested. There was a large US study that showed no correlation between lifetime psychedelic use and mental health problems. "[...] lifetime use of LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, or peyote, or past year use of LSD, was not associated with a higher rate of mental health problems." https://www.nature.co…
“Life time use” and “one time use triggering latent psychological conditions” are very different. Of course those who use over a long period of time aren’t showing adverse conditions. The ones who were triggered stayed away.
From the linked article:
> Of those, 14% described themselves as having used at any point in their lives any of the three ‘classic’ psychedelics: LSD, psilocybin (the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms) and mescaline (found in the peyote and San Pedro cacti). The researchers found that individuals in this group were not at increased risk of developing 11 indicators of mental-health problems such as schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, anxiety disorders and suicide attempts.
Emphasis on "at any point in their lives".
Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#57Is Psilocybin and/or Ayahuasaca and/or any other DMT source legal anywhere in the world? I would expect at least _some_ places make it legal, possibly have hundreds/thousands of years of experience that might be interesting to read alongside modern studies.
I believe Psilocybin is legal enough (decriminalized?) to purchase in Amsterdam right? I remember watching a Vice piece on truffles.
Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#58Assuming that psilocybin is effective at treating depression, I find myself wondering whether actual conscious experience (that is, being high) is an essential part of its effectiveness or not. To put this another way, imagine someone takes whatever dose of psilocybin and then is rendered unconsciousness until the perceptual effects wear off. Will there be any difference in its effectiveness as a treatment for depres…
I’m not going to look for references right now, but there is current research into the anti-inflammatory effects of classical psychedelics. Anecdotally, it has been speculated by researchers that it is in fact this effect that produces many of the observed benefits, apart from the psychedelic experience itself. And so people are looking at analogs that can have some of the same receptor affinity profiles without caus…
I had a friend who had a historical condition caused by a spinal trauma in her childhood, while professionally practicing ballet.
It would be externalised as random pains associated with her back.
She went through several prescription painkillers when her doctor told her to try sub-recreational doses of shrooms to treat the pain (obviously not prescribed).
It worked well until I believe she tripped hard, which I suppose happens with street-quality drugs and specifically with mushrooms which if not extracted have a relatively large variablity in concentrations between mushrooms bodies.
So here's both the lesson of why she stopped doing them and the obvious fact of some doctors actually knowing of the effects; but they can not advise since there no specific research on this could be used as a medication this and whether that could even be regularly prescribed as a medicine.
Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#59I still don't have the words to explain how, but I insist that psilocybin played a major role in the most successful period of my life. I am generally a highly skeptical person and remain a little frustrated that I can't articulate better such an impactful correlation.
Re: Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms [pdf]
#60Is Psilocybin and/or Ayahuasaca and/or any other DMT source legal anywhere in the world? I would expect at least _some_ places make it legal, possibly have hundreds/thousands of years of experience that might be interesting to read alongside modern studies.
I believe Psilocybin is legal enough (decriminalized?) to purchase in Amsterdam right? I remember watching a Vice piece on truffles.
Mushrooms were made illegal in the netherlands a few years ago, but "magic truffles" are a loophole in the law because they are not mushrooms, so they are still for sale. It's a bid of a shady distinction.