Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change • Hacker News Board

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#151

Post by wellsaid » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 7:32 PM UTC

Radix wrote: post #121

hartror wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded, thanks for sharing Mark. A number of friends have gone through life altering trips such as you describe, there appear to be positive things that can be gleaned from psychedelics about oneself. That said I had one friend who didn't come back and ended up in an institution for a period of months. He had a number of underlying issues that the drug brought to the fore. It was a horrible experience for all invol…

Would you elaborate on this? Did he come out of it twelve months in? it's rare to find negative commentary on psilocybin on the internet. Only a couple warnings in the thread now.

Unfortunately I think the Internet is biased toward good feedback about psychedelics because those who had problems either:

- lost interest in psychedelics,

- hate to write about it,

- are not able to write about it,

- don't want anyone to know they were "mad" once

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#152

Post by wellsaid » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 7:37 PM UTC

throwaway7-2521 wrote: post #50

MarkPNeyer wrote: post #10

i took mushrooms once, and documented my experience. i've gone back and re-read it several times, and each time i do so, i both laugh like crazy and realize i was getting glimpses of ideas i'm only now starting to understand. if you want to read it, here it is: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9465583/ShroomReport.pdf

Somewhat odd to have used OJ as the mixer; vitamin-C is often considered to accelerate the breakdown of psychoactive substances (especially those like MDMA and LSD), so would normally be avoided until you feel you're 'done' and want things to end.

I agree, orange juice is a must-have on any trip.

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#153

Post by bait » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 7:38 PM UTC

tripzilch wrote: post #149

gyardley wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's just one thing I'm going to say, which young people also should know - are you sure what you're buying is what you think it is? The one time I tried 'LSD', it wasn't.

that's LSD. if it's shrooms, you can tell whether something looks like mushrooms right? that means there's three options: 1) it'll kill you 2) it'll do nothing or make you nauseous 3) it's the real thing nobody's gonna sell you poisonous mushrooms or they'll be in big trouble and be out of clientele really fast. shrooms that look like proper shrooms but do nothing, I don't know if they even exist. in both (unlikely)…

"shrooms is shrooms."

This is dangerous advice. The range in dosage between species of psychedelic fungus varies by around 10x, and a lot of them look fairly similar.

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#154

Post by wellsaid » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 7:50 PM UTC

throwaway33422 wrote: post #35

I once had a single, very high dose Psilocybin experience which lead to a lasting change that was very much for the worse. Having had my perception of reality profoundly changed by the experience I began to question my senses on a regular basis, with associated anxiety and panic. Then there were also the nightmares where I was tripping, would wake up, have something weird / trippy happen have a "world is ending" anxi…

Not fun :( I've had two months of depersonalization after a psylocybin take. Lowered intellect, unability to stop the flow of thoughts, anxiety of being schizophrenic, no emotions except for art, seeing a monster when looking at the mirror. Sensorial defects became readily apparent which is annoying but useful. I still see coloured points sometimes.

The next experience was entirely positive though (outdoor, friends).

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#155

Post by kragen » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 8:54 PM UTC

lansing wrote: post #130

michaelochurch wrote: post #96

A few things I'm going to say. First, these drugs aren't "hallucinogens". They're psychedelics (mind-revealing). A hallucination is a false perception which the person believes to be real; visuals are perceptions that the person knows are not real, such as "light shows". Except at very high doses, these drugs don't produce hallucinations per se . Other drugs can, but LSD and psilocybin generally do not. Ok, that may…

Non-experience is not the only "failure mode" possible in meditation. Most practitioners find that, as with many spiritual or psychological practices, things get more difficult before they improve. Having partial insight into the nature of reality, without the non-identification that comes with awakening, can make one's suffering a lot more apparent and "real" feeling. For more in depth discussion of the kind of insi…

> Well, I've practiced at a number of meditation centers in the U.S. and Asia, and I've certainly heard plenty of stories of what happens when psychologically unstable people come to do an intense period of practice...

The rest of us haven't. What do the stories say?

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#156

Post by shabble » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 9:24 PM UTC

sophacles wrote: post #142

shabble wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be confusing the OJ/vitamin C with the properties of grapefruit juice, which is well-established to alter the properties of various liver enzymes, particularly those which typically metabolise psychedelic / hallucinogenic drugs. Wikipedia has a brief blurb about it: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_drugs... Actually, it does mention orange juice as containing flavonoids which may have…

Fair enough, but doesn't Grapefruit Juice contain a high vitamin C content also?

Yeah. Actually, it looks like there is mention in the literature (Simon Wills Drugs of abuse, 2nd Ed, 2005)[1] of vitamin C in fruit juice, or Ammonium Chloride to acidify urine to promote sequestration and removal of amphetamine metabolites.

I'm not sure if/how that translates to other drugs like Psilocybin, but it does raise some interesting questions. Do you by any chance have a source regarding the original "enhances the experience" statement? (for my own curiosity really - I'm not saying that you're wrong or misinformed)

[1] http://books.google.com/books?id=_m7gPani5D4C&lpg=PA124&...

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#157

Post by derleth » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 10:26 PM UTC

jarin wrote: post #52

derleth wrote: post #22

One reason I won't take them, then. I like who I am.

Hey, I like who I am too. But I know that I can be better.

I'm going to get better through work and understanding, not dumping random chemicals into my brain.

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#158

Post by hartror » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 11:25 PM UTC

Radix wrote: post #121

hartror wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded, thanks for sharing Mark. A number of friends have gone through life altering trips such as you describe, there appear to be positive things that can be gleaned from psychedelics about oneself. That said I had one friend who didn't come back and ended up in an institution for a period of months. He had a number of underlying issues that the drug brought to the fore. It was a horrible experience for all invol…

Would you elaborate on this? Did he come out of it twelve months in? it's rare to find negative commentary on psilocybin on the internet. Only a couple warnings in the thread now.

He took some at a party I was at and freaked out. I nursed him for a few hours, he babbled the same phrase over and over until his housemates came and picked him up. I've been told since that he had freaked out before and had been fine once he came down so they treated this incident the same. Took him home and sat with him till he calmed down and put him to bed.

The next morning he was still acting strangely, not making sense etc. They kept an eye on him that day figuring he was just tired and worn out. But the next day he was worse so they got him into a psych hospital after some difficulty (he wouldn't go at first). He was put on anti-psychotics and stayed there for a couple of months.

He was released back into his parent's care, he is from the UK and this happened in Australia. So he went back to the UK and reportedly has found god and is doing fine. (apart from the religion thing ;)

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#159

Post by bherms » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 11:33 PM UTC

GiraffeNecktie wrote: post #84

Angostura wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that your perception, or do the people around you, able to give an unbiased opinion concur? Afterall I'm not entirely convinced that my heartfelt conviction of alchohol's beneficial effects on my singing are universally shared.

If I feel like my life has changed for the better, I don't have to validate it with other people. It's my life, not theirs.

I definitely noticed myself becoming more open (as mentioned in the article), much more laid back and less neurotic (though the article mentioned this not being affected), and just a calmer, more rational, loving person in general. I also noticed a deeper appreciation of nature and art that stemmed from experiences while on hallucinogens. I also like to think I've grown in creativity, but that may be the result of other experiences and goals in my life. As a previous commenter mentioned, the drugs help you start to explore the ideas of how everything is related, how people all have the same experiences of consciousness, etc and you begin to appreciate how tied together our world and ecosystem is. Those are just a few things I've noticed on my part. I really believe more people thinking in this manner would be highly beneficial to humankind, though I'm biased :)

Re: Single psilocybin dose may make lasting personality change

#160

Post by bherms » Fri, Sep 30, 2011, 11:35 PM UTC

petercooper wrote: post #65

bherms wrote: post #9

Psilocybin use definitely changed me for the better. The first time I did it was one of the most eye-opening and impacting experiences in my life. Since my first trip, I've tried to work it into my life at least 1-2 times a year. Every time I feel like I learn something new and/or come out a better person by seeing certain aspects of life in a new light. It's something you only want to try in controlled environments…

(no hidden depression or anything lurking in the back of your mind) Which, by definition, could be rather hard to know about in advance :-(

Certainly true, but I feel like you always know when you have some issues lurking in the back of your mind. I once did some hallucinogens after going through a breakup and a small bout of loneliness in which I wasn't entirely happy with myself. Needless to say, it wasn't a fun trip at all. I tried to convince myself I was fine and in a good place, but with any real introspection, I should have known I wasn't in the right mindset going into it.