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California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

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Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know I just had an argument with three union reps at a bar tonight - basically around the idea that "you were lucky..." but the outcome as phrased by one of them was "individual thoughts don't matter, I have no interest in that. Everything is systemic". I've staked my entire life on being an individual who won't support a team, a religion, or a social movement (beyond individual points I agree with). I happen to…

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> And please stop with the peacocking of how good of a person you are by trying to show off how you reach out to these people and all the protests you engaged in. It's just gross.

FWIW, such anecdotes help me understand the writer and where they're coming from. I don't think bringing a gun for self-defense and distributing some beer to a bunch of kids to figure out wtf is going on is "peacocking of how good of a person you are", it's just being a human being. Working with what you have.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#122
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you could benefit from consulting a dictionary on 'to face'.

"confront and deal with or accept a difficult or unpleasant task, fact, or situation." ? Still feel the same. Have something more insightful to add?

People with trauma and mood disorders are by definition in constant contact with what is bogging them down.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#123
post #82
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It strikes me that none* of these are "liberal policies" but rather realities that arose in a few West Coast liberal cities that simply couldn't handle the influx of people who came to SF, Portland, Seattle. * Perhaps no bail, although I think in isolation that's unlikely to be an issue These areas are always unique because transient and the homeless can live with some degree of year round comfort, so they will be na…

These are all liberal/progressive policies enacted across the West Coast - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angelas. Progressives believe in restorative justice not prison or punishment. They believe that justice is actually righting the wrong that caused people to behave this way in the first place . "The infinite perfectability of man". That's a core progressive belief. Thus they "catch and release" for non-vi…

> Suffice to say the experiment has failed entirely.

You've described the justice systems of modern progressive countries and what would you know, they work fine. The US needs a firm hand because it's culturally savage. Folks think about themselves and corporate "culture" is enshrined as something good and expected. Everyone sees the exploitation of other human beings and denigration everywhere, is it any surprise that they cannot behave in a manner that has a little compassion for themselves and everyone else? The entire environment is fundamentally dehumanising. No amount of localised niceness is going to undo decades of absolutely brutal culture.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#124
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about MDMA is that it causes your brain to dump your serotonin reserves into your brain all at once. Doing that too often, without letting your serotonin rebuild, can cause serotonin syndrome. I think psychedelics are safer in that regard. Nobody in the history of humanity has ever physically done "too much acid". Even some people who ingested tens of thousands of micrograms (thinking they were snorting cok…

I think classical psychedelics are among the safest drugs, but honestly, how is that not "too much acid"? If they needed medical care, that implies that if they hadn't received that care they would not have been perfectly fine. Yes, it was an accident caused by irresponsible use, but let's not mince words. The point where a dose is "too much" should be (at the most) the point where you need medical attention, not the…

You might need medical attention because you'd otherwise hurt yourself, not only because your body is hurt. Most likely, this guy simply picked up the other day and went home.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the stupidest replies I've read on HN--well done

An even dumber response does not explain why they thought a reply was stupid. Do you have any trusted sources for your claim?

Why should they explain anything? They're not writing a research paper, right?

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#126
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think this stuff should be sold, say, in a gas station beside the humpty dumpty peanuts... but it does have its place. But alcohol (or tobacco) should? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rational_scale_to_asses...

If you think Tobacco and Alcohol are as dangerous as MDMA you have no idea about drugs. It can escalate far far far more easily and I hate those comparison. I'm speaking from experience.

I think a world without drunk driving would probably make them more equivalent. It's hard to overstate the cost to society drunk driving costs.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#127

Last summer I had a psychadelic-assisted therapy session with MDMA and a guide (along with integration session after the main experience). It was one of the more powerful experiences of my life, and has led to sustained positive change in my life. The experience itself was at a hotel room I had booked. For just under six hours, I lay on the bed with an eye mask and headphones playing instrumental music picked by my g…

Interesting. So you just laid there listening to music? No talking? No physical contact with anyone?

I did something similar with mushrooms some 15 years ago. Laid in the bed, run some nice shamanic music on endless loop, crawled under blanket, closed my eyes and experienced completely out-of-world experience, dissolving into mist of atoms, swirling in the music, and at the end re-composing myself and my senses atom by atom.

At the very end it was even spiritual, which is funny since I am say agnostic and didn't have any form of religious upbringing. This experience didn't change that, in fact it reinforced my opinion on religions and religious matters.

I know its a different type of drug and effect, but I think generally drugs give more inner insight when taken alone (or controlled uninterrupted env which crowd of people is definitely not).

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#128

I have always thought it is hysterical that there are street drugs (MDMA, Ketamine) that have an immediate impact on emotions, yet the global medical establishment only supports drugs that take 2-4 weeks to 'kick in' with a very slight change that a substantial amount of patients do not even get. What is going on when we measure competency that way.

I'm not sure if you're serious or not, but there's a difference between drugs that make you feel good by forcibly triggering your brain's happy paths for a few hours (often followed by severe depression of those paths), and therapies that try to jolt your brain into producing more happy-path-inducing chemicals naturally, without further assistance.

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Addiction and tolerance are related, but distinct.

The outcome is the same no matter the difference. But can I tell you my own brother said he "could not live without Prozac." What does that sound like to you?

My own brother once said to me he "could not live without oxygen." What does that sound like to you?

Re: California study begins screening for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD

#130

Just a point of clarification: pure MDMA (what is used in the study) is often very different from "E", "Ecstasy", and other street preparations. The party drug formulations are often pressed into pills and contain other things (on purpose, to give a different effect). It's often MDA, methamphetamine, cocaine, caffeine[0]. Consider this difference when comparing personal experience or anecdata about pressed pills (or…

Just to add: pill form doesn't necessarily mean it's not pure MDMA; on the other hand, powder or crystal form doesn't mean it's pure MDMA. When buying illegal substances from unknown sources, the truth is you don't know what you are taking, period.
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