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Psychedelic drugs take on depression

nature.com

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Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#31

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 »

colechristensen wrote: post #26
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #3

Ketamine is a magical drug, I've told this story a hundred times on HN but it cured my depression overnight. I was given a large hit of it by a doctor after a horrible accident, I went into a K-hole and had a spiritual experience, but even more profound was the effect it had for 4 to 6 months after. It was like a veil had been lifted from my mind, the simplest pleasures of life made me happy, like smelling fresh coff…

Here's a reminder: "Depression" is just a label put on a cluster of symptoms to make diagnoses consistent across medical providers. It is definitely not a singular condition with one cause and a consistent treatment across patients. It is likely a multitude of conditions which will respond differently to many treatments. Some people with a depression diagnosis will be very disappointed with ketamine treatment.

Yes, your mileage may vary, as they say. Our bodies are all unique and so are our responses. It was a miracle for me, it might be completely ineffective for someone else.

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#32

Post by colechristensen »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #31
colechristensen wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a reminder: "Depression" is just a label put on a cluster of symptoms to make diagnoses consistent across medical providers. It is definitely not a singular condition with one cause and a consistent treatment across patients. It is likely a multitude of conditions which will respond differently to many treatments. Some people with a depression diagnosis will be very disappointed with ketamine treatment.

Yes, your mileage may vary, as they say. Our bodies are all unique and so are our responses. It was a miracle for me, it might be completely ineffective for someone else.

I think it is more, or different than "our bodies are unique" and something else entirely.

Saying someone has "depression" is like saying someone has "a stomach ache". The stomach ache might be Crohn's, an ulcer, food poisoning, or the aftermath of too many hot wings. All would show at least a somewhat similar cluster of symptoms, different based on the person, but all "stomach ache". Imagine the same for depression, but we don't necessarily have the labels or causes pinned down very well.

There probably are many conditions under depression that we'll eventually have good diagnoses for and consistent treatments for, just not yet.

It's not a matter of "everybody is unique" but that the science and testing is quite primitive so far and only some of the distinctions and treatments have been worked out.

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#33

Post by Overtonwindow »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #3

Ketamine is a magical drug, I've told this story a hundred times on HN but it cured my depression overnight. I was given a large hit of it by a doctor after a horrible accident, I went into a K-hole and had a spiritual experience, but even more profound was the effect it had for 4 to 6 months after. It was like a veil had been lifted from my mind, the simplest pleasures of life made me happy, like smelling fresh coff…

Ketamine also has the effect of creating neuroplasticity in the 24 hours or so following administration. Even the nasal spray.

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#34

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 »

mathgladiator wrote: post #12
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #3

Ketamine is a magical drug, I've told this story a hundred times on HN but it cured my depression overnight. I was given a large hit of it by a doctor after a horrible accident, I went into a K-hole and had a spiritual experience, but even more profound was the effect it had for 4 to 6 months after. It was like a veil had been lifted from my mind, the simplest pleasures of life made me happy, like smelling fresh coff…

Been there, and I just did a booster. I'm now very happy as I plug along on my project without any negative judgement: https://www.adama-platform.com/2022/07/02/the-path-of-the-mo... I'm doing silly things for silly reasons, and I've never been this happy and at peace. It let me heal from the moral injury of working in big tech for a decade.

Very interesting. I've long sought the divine in the machine but haven't found a satisfactory avenue to pursue it so I went back to Catholicism instead. It provides answers to our suffering that hedonism ignores.

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#35

Post by TaupeRanger »

whiskyagogo wrote: post #5
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #3

Ketamine is a magical drug, I've told this story a hundred times on HN but it cured my depression overnight. I was given a large hit of it by a doctor after a horrible accident, I went into a K-hole and had a spiritual experience, but even more profound was the effect it had for 4 to 6 months after. It was like a veil had been lifted from my mind, the simplest pleasures of life made me happy, like smelling fresh coff…

It replaced my lifelong fear (terror?) of death with what I can honestly say is now curiosity. You can experience only so many deaths in your mind before you learn to be comfortable with the idea.

I'm watching the Netflix doc "How to Change Your Mind" about this subject. They use similar language: e.g. that psilocybin causes terminal cancer patients to view death with "curiosity". I find that really interesting, because implicit in this "curiosity" must be the idea of consciousness existing after death...otherwise what would be curious about it? You just die and there's nothing otherwise. So I wonder if, e.g. atheists or non-spiritually inclined folks have the same experiences in these drugs.

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#36

Post by askafriend »

staticassertion wrote: post #16
whiskyagogo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It replaced my lifelong fear (terror?) of death with what I can honestly say is now curiosity. You can experience only so many deaths in your mind before you learn to be comfortable with the idea.

That sounds frightening. What do yo mean by 'experience only so many deaths' ?

As they say, "Six million ways to die, choose one"

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#37

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 »

whiskyagogo wrote: post #5
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #3

Ketamine is a magical drug, I've told this story a hundred times on HN but it cured my depression overnight. I was given a large hit of it by a doctor after a horrible accident, I went into a K-hole and had a spiritual experience, but even more profound was the effect it had for 4 to 6 months after. It was like a veil had been lifted from my mind, the simplest pleasures of life made me happy, like smelling fresh coff…

It replaced my lifelong fear (terror?) of death with what I can honestly say is now curiosity. You can experience only so many deaths in your mind before you learn to be comfortable with the idea.

After my spiritual experience 2 years ago, my latent worry / conceptual fear of death was also replaced with curiosity. But I was coincidentally faced with death recently and was disappointed to see my primal terror is still alive and well.

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#38

Post by fragmede »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #15
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #3

Ketamine is a magical drug, I've told this story a hundred times on HN but it cured my depression overnight. I was given a large hit of it by a doctor after a horrible accident, I went into a K-hole and had a spiritual experience, but even more profound was the effect it had for 4 to 6 months after. It was like a veil had been lifted from my mind, the simplest pleasures of life made me happy, like smelling fresh coff…

> but even more profound was the effect it had for 4 to 6 months after. It's important to note that this is an atypically long duration. In clinical studies, the duration of effects is more around 1-2 weeks. It's possible that the overall experience (including surviving an accident and getting a "second lease on life") was the trigger for 4-6 months of improvement, not just the medication you were given once. That's…

Therapy is really key to sustainable improvement from ketamine, and I worry that it's just being given to patients without the therapy aspects, and what are they doing to do when it stops working for them?

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#39

Post by mathgladiator »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #34
mathgladiator wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been there, and I just did a booster. I'm now very happy as I plug along on my project without any negative judgement: https://www.adama-platform.com/2022/07/02/the-path-of-the-mo... I'm doing silly things for silly reasons, and I've never been this happy and at peace. It let me heal from the moral injury of working in big tech for a decade.

Very interesting. I've long sought the divine in the machine but haven't found a satisfactory avenue to pursue it so I went back to Catholicism instead. It provides answers to our suffering that hedonism ignores.

For me, I found the purpose as my role is to solve puzzles. Ketamine gave me a sense of spirit that we are all connected in this life, and gave me insights that are hard to describe. However, I believe there is value in waking up and solving puzzles for the sake of solving puzzles and it may not be time to leverage it in the commerce (if at all).

Re: Psychedelic drugs take on depression

#40

Post by mathgladiator »

programmarchy wrote: post #24
mathgladiator wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been there, and I just did a booster. I'm now very happy as I plug along on my project without any negative judgement: https://www.adama-platform.com/2022/07/02/the-path-of-the-mo... I'm doing silly things for silly reasons, and I've never been this happy and at peace. It let me heal from the moral injury of working in big tech for a decade.

Cool project. You seem like a fun and interesting person. I genuinely mean that!

Thanks!
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