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Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

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Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they know if what they’ve taken is actually LSD-25, and not some research chemical? Research chemicals pawned off as LSD is more common than ever. They are dangerous psychotic inducing deugs.

How do they know if what they’ve taken is actually LSD-25, and not some research chemical? Anyone who has become an ‘acid casualty’ was dosed with these dangerous research chemicals, and everyone who was just fine had legitimate LSD?

Are you suggesting that’s impossible or improbable given the prevalence of fake LSD as well as research chemicals being sold as LSD-25?

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#102
post #96

Counterpoint for shrooms 1. I took magic mushrooms (well truffles, Amsterdam, sold in smartshops, i.e. legal) and I felt a bit uncomfortable in my body and I felt like a kid. 2. I took magic truffles again (again Amsterdam) and I felt a lot uncomfortable in my body and was contemplating suicide. Fortunately I had on gray brain cell left that said "you can kill yourself, but only if you agree on it when you're sober a…

I can echo this sentiment, as a normally soft-spoken guy who was arrested while completely out of his mind on psilocybin. My perception of reality was utterly shattered; I thought I had died and that my mind was transported into a realm of eternal torture. I'll never forget the dread I experienced while being forced to the asphalt and handcuffed by police officers on the side of the road. They took me to a hospital w…

Sober trip sitters are a requirement, in my experience. Like, cigs and alcohol at most for them

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#103
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they know if what they’ve taken is actually LSD-25, and not some research chemical? Anyone who has become an ‘acid casualty’ was dosed with these dangerous research chemicals, and everyone who was just fine had legitimate LSD?

Are you suggesting that’s impossible or improbable given the prevalence of fake LSD as well as research chemicals being sold as LSD-25?

My implicit suggestion was that the viewpoint expressed in my comment (as a question) is a ridiculous logical fallacy.

Reading the other comments I see that others have expressed the same thought.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#104
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can echo this sentiment, as a normally soft-spoken guy who was arrested while completely out of his mind on psilocybin. My perception of reality was utterly shattered; I thought I had died and that my mind was transported into a realm of eternal torture. I'll never forget the dread I experienced while being forced to the asphalt and handcuffed by police officers on the side of the road. They took me to a hospital w…

Sober trip sitters are a requirement, in my experience. Like, cigs and alcohol at most for them

Agreed about the trip sitter!

In fact, my downward spiral was instigated by another person who was tripping with me. He told me we were severely dehydrated (no, we were just severely high) and needed water asap. This prompted frantically running to a residential area asking people for water, and the rest is hell.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#105
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, one of the biggest misconceptions that i had was that it would be "fun" to try psychedelics. it wasn't fun, and it wasn't not-fun. it was different, and it was a learning experience. the long lasting effects were negligible for me. the biggest change was that i realized i might be "on the spectrum" but it isn't as though it was a life-changing realization. i agree regarding your final point. i do think that psy…

Any time I am given the opportunity to learn something new unexpectedly, I have fun.

There is a certain amount of enjoyment from learning.

I wish that I had not had to see out how badly my drinking impacted my marriage with my second wife when she unexpectedly left me, but it was a thing that I needed to learn.

So I take your point, and I am glad to learn things. In general I find learning an enjoyable experience. There are a certain amount of life-altering, important facts about ourselves that are painful to encounter in any situation.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#106
post #23
post #2

Current antidepressant drugs are garbage by comparison but we're stuck with them for profit and stupidity reasons. In the meantime millions who could potentially be helped suffer and die. It's truly hard to justify the current situation on this research and the government's position in letting people suffer and die from such a horrific condition as depression when there might be a solution right before our eyes. Futu…

If you have a neurotypical person, therapy, or psychedelics can bring a lasting result. But for a certain subset of population, with messed up serotonin pathways, antidepressants are the cure. Just like for a diabetic an insulin shot is.

I read "Lost Connections" by Johann Hari[1] a couple weeks ago. He spends much of the first section on the research and history of antidepressants. One particularly interesting thing is that drugs that decrease serotonin levels are just as effective as those that increase serotonin. The same goes for drugs that alter levels of dopamine. It seems that a great majority of the effectiveness of antidepressants comes from the placebo effect, and the remainder is somewhat of a mystery. Also, doesn't cure imply something that is permanent and not just a temporary measure?

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/17/lost-connectio...

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#107
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you cite research that backs that up? I have a friend who it brought out/caused his schizophrenia. I understand it may have occurred naturally eventually because he has a family history but having it occur when he was 20 is much worse than later in life. It’s incredibly irresponsible to say it has no negative impacts without more research being done in the area.

http://www.iflscience.com/brain/new-studies-fail-find-associ...

This study seems to suggest classical psychedelics do not cause mental illness which I will not argue against. However, as someone diagnosed as schizophrenic in 2012 and now considered bipolar with pyschotic features my last use of LSD caused a pyschotic break. I had a great trip, but I took the drug at 9pm before a festival and by the time I made it to 6am I could not slow down the frentic pace of thoughts in my brain and calm down enough to sleep and my pyschosis manifested itself despite my experience with hallucinogens and previous pyschotic episodes. I was in a stable state and it was the night of lsd that destabilized me. I haven't experimented with psychedelics since even though I have had some of the most powerful and positive experiences on lsd and mushrooms. It is not worth the risk of ending up in handcuffs again. I do not wish the mental ward on anyone. So my advice is respect these substances and your body because altering your mind opens you to possibilities beyond considerations of sober thought. People like me should not use these substances, and you may not realise you are like me until you do. I knew I probably shouldn't but my experience led me to believe I could handle any trip, that an lsd trip is a drop in a bucket compared my psychosis, but I learned that drop was all my body needed to propel me into another episode.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#108
post #23
post #2

Current antidepressant drugs are garbage by comparison but we're stuck with them for profit and stupidity reasons. In the meantime millions who could potentially be helped suffer and die. It's truly hard to justify the current situation on this research and the government's position in letting people suffer and die from such a horrific condition as depression when there might be a solution right before our eyes. Futu…

If you have a neurotypical person, therapy, or psychedelics can bring a lasting result. But for a certain subset of population, with messed up serotonin pathways, antidepressants are the cure. Just like for a diabetic an insulin shot is.

Messed up serotonin pathways. What does that even mean? The chemical imbalance theory of depression has zero proof behind it and is just something told to patients to alleviate their concerns and sell them on these drugs that many will eventually become dependent on (1). No one knows what the mechanism of depression is or how to treat it. It's just a guess as to why and how these chemicals work or don't. Cure my ass. They don't even know how it works or what is wrong with the patient and you're taking about cures.

1: http://www.afterpsychotherapy.com/chemical-imbalance-in-your...

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#109
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entirely possible that LSD uncovered or accentuated an underlying flaw in your friend's psyche...

This is the common response from proponents of LSD. To them, it's never the LSD, and instead the adverse reaction must be because the person had a mind that was predisposed to some sort of mental illness. Even if it's true that someone has some kind of latent / dormant condition that is ultimately triggered by the LSD, then the act of taking the LSD itself was the catalyst, and the person would have been far better o…

>The drug is illegal,

Only in certain contexts (ie. some instances of interstate commerce).

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#110
I had an acid trip with an agonizing comedown that made me really rethink my life and priorities. As a result of that day I began the path to go to medical school, despite everyone including my parents telling me it was unrealistic. I'm just finishing specialist training in anaesthesiology and my life is great and I pretty much thank LSD for the whole thing.
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