Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

cell.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 154 posts

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#111

Post by fiblye »

tranchms wrote: post #7

I’m a huge proponent of safe psychedelic use, specifically LSD. I was massively depressed and suicidal growing up (I had family problems, and two of my best friends killed them selves at 13 and 17). I dropped out of high school. I experimented with LSD and mushrooms around 17/18 years old. And while I didn’t realize it then, my life massively changed for the better. Maybe I grew up. Maybe I took responsibility for my…

It's hard to describe, but I feel like I had a permanent "fog" in my brain. A lot of things just didn't click and I'd re-ask the same question countless times to confirm that I understood something.

Then, one day, I decided to try something and I felt like that fog lifted. That was about 5 years ago and things have been great ever since then.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#112

Post by prolikewh0a »

psychedictic wrote: post #31
rufugee wrote: 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

>but the reality is that such a drug is dangerous and absolutely does hurt people.

With this reasoning, skydiving, base jumping, and even the act of simply driving a car should should also be illegal. We let people do far more dangerous things, yet keep them legal. There is another reason LSD & most psychedelics are illegal. What that is, I don't know.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#113

Post by prolikewh0a »

tranchms wrote: post #39
psychedictic wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone does not need to have a "family history of mental disorders" to become an acid casualty. Some people simply have a bad reaction to the chemical and there isn't a reliable way of knowing in advance how a person might react to it.

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.

I heard LSD is rarely synthesized now and instead people end up with research chemicals (now scheduled) like 2C-B instead. Do you know if this is true?

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#114

Post by firethief »

mikec3010 wrote: post #98
telchar wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your evidence that those people are worse off having taken the psychedelics? You can't know the counterfactual isn't that those people who respond poorly to the drug would have had a similar mental break without it. Until the drug is studied rigorously all we have to go on are conflicting anecdotes. That said in the face of a lack of reliable information caution is warranted.

So if someone takes any medication and strokes out, has an MI, or stops breathing, we can't blame the drug because maybe that was going to happen anyway?

Usually, yes. That's why we haven't banned Tylenol.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#115

Post by erikpukinskis »

sev wrote: post #45
psychedictic wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Care should be taken, like with any substance we ingest. However, I disagree with your premise. We do not know if LSD was in fact the catalyst. We don’t know if the people who got ruined after taking a single tab of LSD actually took LSD or some research chemical (which are quite commonly sold off as LSD).

Yeah, 2CI is for example very dangerous psychologically, and I’m sure it gets sold as LSD when an unscrupulous dealer has excess inventory.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#116

Post by erikpukinskis »

tomerv wrote: post #60
telchar wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your evidence that those people are worse off having taken the psychedelics? You can't know the counterfactual isn't that those people who respond poorly to the drug would have had a similar mental break without it. Until the drug is studied rigorously all we have to go on are conflicting anecdotes. That said in the face of a lack of reliable information caution is warranted.

Even if that person would not have taken LSD and would have had a psychotic episode 5 years later due to the underlying issue, that's still 5 years of good health lost because of LSD.

Or it’s 5 years less of post-treatment life.

We can make random guesses all day about what’s a good outcome but how about we leave it to medical researchers to actually figure out what’s safe and beneficial?

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#117

Post by erikpukinskis »

WalterGR wrote: post #62
tranchms wrote: post #39

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?

It’s a hypothesis.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#118

Post by llamaz »

adrice727 wrote: post #106
kolinko wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I don't know much about human biology, but if the relationship between dopamine/seratonin and depression/anxiety is more non-linear than linear, then the fact that both increasing and decreasing dopamine/seratonin is effective can make perfect sense. This sort of relationship - where small changes shift an equllibrium and result in a qualitative change - are common in nature and a forteriori human physiology.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#119

Post by dgzl »

pdgonzalez872 wrote: post #8
tranchms wrote: post #7

I’m a huge proponent of safe psychedelic use, specifically LSD. I was massively depressed and suicidal growing up (I had family problems, and two of my best friends killed them selves at 13 and 17). I dropped out of high school. I experimented with LSD and mushrooms around 17/18 years old. And while I didn’t realize it then, my life massively changed for the better. Maybe I grew up. Maybe I took responsibility for my…

So how do I get to experiment with this in a controlled and legal way these days?

This isn't legal or controlled, but if you spend some time attending music festivals, you can come across just about and drug you would imagine (speaking about the US). LSD and mushrooms are popular at these shows. Speaking from experience, I would that if you have a personality that can handle finding drugs, then this would be less risky than buying from an online source.

Re: Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity

#120

Post by abrkn »

openfuture wrote: post #84

For those who want to walk this road I'll share some insights that I think would have helped me progress faster. You will need to face every thought that you normally would censor due to shame, those include (usually in this order): sexual thoughts, psychotic thoughts and religious thoughts. Then you will reach true vulnerability and loneliness (which is the prerequisite for truly connecting with others). Any 'spirit…

...and have a trip sitter.
Post reply on HN