Live data from Hacker News

Psilocybin Was the Biggest Mistake of My Life (2021)

medium.com

1–10 of 33 posts

Re: Psilocybin Was the Biggest Mistake of My Life (2021)

#2
I feel quite sorry for this person, however ... even the most well-vetted treatments can have powerfully negative effects on some people. Allergies to penicillin come to mind. I had a manic episode comparatively quite late in life (46). It's a stunner all right. Fortunately within the first week it was recognized and I was hospitalized for a week, given meds that got me to sleep, and I've lived a relatively normal life subsequently. All that said, people advocating psilocybin should be well-informed about mania, and prepared to intervene forcefully if mania gets induced.

Re: Psilocybin Was the Biggest Mistake of My Life (2021)

#4
Imagine being a 'rising star in the medical field', not (by his own admission) doing sufficient due diligence, completely externalizing all his emotional reactions instead of handling them internally, and then saying that 'psychedelics should come with a black box warning of these clear contraindications, as should any articles or books touting their magnificence.' I feel like I just read a story of someone who learned to drive and zoomed around town breaking the speed limit before having an entirely predictable accident, and now wants everyone to know that cars can be dangerous.

Feeling like one is overflowing with enthusiasm and positivity is a common response to psychdelics, indiscriminately foisting it on everyone else is not. It's hard to reconcile this person's impressive career achievements and extensive therapy/psychiatric experience with such a shallow, ego-driven abreaction. All the discourse around psychedelics stresses that it's not risk free, that it's possible to get carried away, and that melting your brain with drugs requires some reflection and time to process the experience.

Re: Psilocybin Was the Biggest Mistake of My Life (2021)

#5

Imagine being a 'rising star in the medical field', not (by his own admission) doing sufficient due diligence, completely externalizing all his emotional reactions instead of handling them internally, and then saying that 'psychedelics should come with a black box warning of these clear contraindications, as should any articles or books touting their magnificence.' I feel like I just read a story of someone who learn…

[flagged]

Re: Psilocybin Was the Biggest Mistake of My Life (2021)

#7

Imagine being a 'rising star in the medical field', not (by his own admission) doing sufficient due diligence, completely externalizing all his emotional reactions instead of handling them internally, and then saying that 'psychedelics should come with a black box warning of these clear contraindications, as should any articles or books touting their magnificence.' I feel like I just read a story of someone who learn…

[flagged]

He's literally a medical professional, and according to himself in the upper percentile of his academic cohort. He has all the intellectual and therapeutic resources to know better.

As for the rest of your comment, my comment history proves otherwise, new signup.

Re: Psilocybin Was the Biggest Mistake of My Life (2021)

#9
So I hear this common refrain. “Don’t use psychedelics if you’re at risk. You need to be in a good place in your life! They’re for healthy people, not everybody”

This logic I hear parroted in every discussion about psychedelics and it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. If you have a great life, why would you take strong drugs that can alter your mind and throw it all away? The hubris that such a hyper successful life as described could be better?

When I took LSD for the first time after being told over and over how dangerous it is because it could even lead to suicide I went “great, it’s either going to make me end all the pain I’m feeling, or I’ll get better”. I didn’t have good set and setting because it wasn’t possible. I took a serious drug because I was literally willing risk death to escape pain and it worked. Because I did this, I got better quickly and I figure I saved YEARS of my youth that a “cautious, sensible” approach would have likely stolen from me. It could have gone bad, but I pushed my chips in anyways.

When I read stories about this, a healthy person who thus can responsibly use psychedelics do shit like this and fuck up at least a year of their life it makes me mad although not at the person suffering, more at this generally this attitude that super healthy and functional people should be taking strong drugs because that means it’s low risk! There’s always risk, which is why you shouldn’t use strong drugs without a strong upside potential.

Re: Psilocybin Was the Biggest Mistake of My Life (2021)

#10
They buried the lead..

"You may not think it will happen to you. But drug-induced mania and drug-induced psychosis are well-documented phenomena. They should not be dismissed or waved off as fear-mongering. This applies to cannabis, cocaine, alcohol, and even antidepressants."

Post reply on HN