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LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

nytimes.com

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Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#91

Post by phusion »

biofox wrote: post #29
debt wrote: post #14

I gotta say if you're an expert at something or at least consider yourself an expert at something: take LSD. LSD really dislodges how you view the world; it cleans out your mental system, like moving a fridge and cleaning all the crap that's been swept under there over the years. I would love if some of these prominent intellectuals like Noam Chomsky or any of the nobel prize winners did LSD. I saw a really intense m…

There are at least two Nobel Laureates who have used LSD: Kary Mullis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kary_Mullis Francis Crick http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/science/11book.html?_r=0

And let's not forget the Wired article

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70015?...

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#93

Post by phusion »

snake_plissken wrote: post #23

I've always found it incredibly amazing that psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, DMT etc) were outlawed in responses to forms of massive, peaceful "movements" in which taking psychedelics was something the members of the movement were known to do; that legislators and policy makers were so afraid of the affects these chemicals would have on society that they had to put the serious force of the law behind getting the…

Sorry to parrot hippies and/or Bill Hicks, but they outlawed those drugs because they're not alcohol and cigarettes, they allow you to see how you're being fucked every day of your life, so of course they're outlawed :)That peaceful movement was a threat to the powers that be..

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#94

Post by h1karu »

grmarcil wrote: post #66
epsylon wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can certainly induce a sense of the profound but I'm not sure they actually produce profundity. What's the difference?

One of the classic effects of LSD (happens to many but by no means all users) is a sensation of ego death - ie, your sense of identity and who you are in the world is either eliminated or greatly changed. This, as you might imagine, is an extremely profound feeling ('a sense of the profound'). But, after coming down, does this experience have any grounding in reality? Did it 'actually produce profundity' or was it a…

"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather." - Bill Hicks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0BeLz5blM

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#95

Post by phusion »

RivieraKid wrote: post #81
tothepixel wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The paradoxical thing about LSD is that you simply cannot understand its effects until you've already tried it.

This makes me incredibly curious and eager to try it.

Definitely try it.

It's very difficult to know that you're getting good product though. I'm in the North Bay and have almost always had "real" LSD at my disposal. It's the geek's wonder drug for sure --> http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70015?...

I recommend everyone without serious mental illness try it, then continue to do it every year or every few years to clear out the cobwebs, as it were.

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#96

Post by debt »

mentos wrote: post #76
debt wrote: post #14

I gotta say if you're an expert at something or at least consider yourself an expert at something: take LSD. LSD really dislodges how you view the world; it cleans out your mental system, like moving a fridge and cleaning all the crap that's been swept under there over the years. I would love if some of these prominent intellectuals like Noam Chomsky or any of the nobel prize winners did LSD. I saw a really intense m…

My late aunt was schizophrenic and apparently became so after experimenting with LSD. I've always thought it was coincidence but I remain wary of the cost/benefit. Here's an interesting article on experimentation with LSD by mathematicians, engineers, designers and artists. 'In mid-'60s LSD research study, dosed scientists achieved creative breakthroughs: Over the course of the preceding year, IFAS researchers had do…

Told ya. :) Cool study.

In all seriousness though LSD can have long-lasting effects on your personality. Also, while it seems possible you could develop a serious mental disorder from LSD, it seems unlikely; but I base that on my first-hand experience with it.

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#97

Post by melloclello »

berberous wrote: post #10
zebra wrote: post #2

A friend of mine had very good results in work with micro-dosing - he took 1/10 of trip dose and was more focused and creative. He suffered no hallucinations or giggles. EDIT: Just trying to give second good use of this substance. Easing the suffering of a terminally ill person is good. Enhancing creativity and focus in young person is also good.

I've never tried micro-dosing but those interested in the idea should check out Gwern's lengthy piece on the subject: http://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing

I have tried microdosing. Took a sixth of a tab and disappeared for eight hours. When I emerged from this fugue state there was all this code there that wasn't there before~

In retrospect, that probably wasn't microdosing so much as it was just coding on acid.

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#98

Post by rpearl »

Nursie wrote: post #41
benched wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem particularly motivated to discount the awakening effects of LSD. I never mentioned seeing problems in society, so as far as I'm concerned that's a strawman. Are people wrong to feel profundity in the mundane? Is there another way to interpret the belief that LSD or access to altered states could change society?

I have no evidence such awakenings exist, and nobody can ever really define what they mean by them. What do you mean, exactly? Nobody is wrong to feel profundity in the mundane, but LSD can have you feeling a profound connection to a piece of cheese, or suddenly realising that all humanity's problems would go away if we just wore more purple. As for the problems with society, it very relevant to people who talk about…

Here. I will articulate it.

Each one of us is an unbroken chain of physical interactions since the beginning. There is no universe without conscious subjective experience; there is no conscious subjective experience without the universe. Life--conscious, experiential, intelligent life--is fundamentally intertwined with existence and you cannot have one without the other. The universe as a fundamental process is one that yields life; it is impossible to conceive of a universe where life does not exist, for without the experience, there is no universe.

We are, fundamentally, the universe experiencing itself subjectively from billions and billions of different facets and points of view.

More succinctly, we are all one.

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#99

Post by pazimzadeh »

Nursie wrote: post #55
benched wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're still doing it. You're spouting inanity you contrived out of your own head, and feigning to attribute that inanity to typical LSD use. But do keep promoting your conclusion - I'm sure there's some important insight there.

>> You're still doing it. You're spouting inanity you contrived out of your own head, and feigning to attribute that inanity to typical LSD use. I may as well say the same to you, having started by misquoting me and then failed to answer any questions. >> But do keep promoting your conclusion - I'm sure there's some important insight there. My conclusion is there's no evidence that widespread use of LSD would change…

"Nobody is wrong to feel profundity in the mundane, but LSD can have you feeling a profound connection to a piece of cheese, or suddenly realising that all humanity's problems would go away if we just wore more purple."

I can't speak to your experience on LSD, but for me LSD removes boundaries in my mind and provokes me to realize that we humans are way more similar than we are different. In fact, the same goes for other animals on this planet. LSD makes me realizes things that I technically already knew, but didn't feel.

How does LSD affect you?

Re: LSD, Reconsidered for Therapy

#100

Post by tbirdz »

EC1 wrote: post #15
GuiA wrote: post #9

I'm glad the taboos around psychedelics research, especially as tools for therapy, are slowly falling down- there's some fascinating stuff in there. To people who have never experienced drugs, grown up in a culture that demonizes them all indiscriminately, have a hard time wrapping their head around what they are/do exactly but are curious about them, I recommend this article by Sam Harris, a great neuroscientist[0]…

Before entering the corporate work place I never touched anything. Once my one coworker started talking about it, the whole chain revealed itself, now it's super social to go smoke a joint with my bosses after work and have a beer, I love it. I wonder how much I'm actually destroying my health by smoking weed every day, drinking coffee, and having some alcohol at least in a minor capacity. I feel as if the emotional/…

Personally, I don't use any illicit drugs, smoke tobacco, drink alcohol, or drink coffee. I never have done any of these things either. I used to drink soda pop, but I cut that out of my diet a few years ago. I'm not even really tempted to start any of these things either. Sometimes people give me some flack about it, but I'm used to that by now, and once they get to know me they drop the issue (except for a few people who simply refuse to let it go).

I don't know how much this is positively affecting my health, or if it is at all.

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