Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 324 posts

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#111

Post by vmception »

agent008t wrote: post #106
anonporridge wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It temporarily breaks you out of your established mental framework. It's as if your raw consciousness viewing the world without any of the filters that we all use to tune out the noise. That's why the experience can be overwhelming and chaotic and it's useful to be in a safe place with a trip sitter. I think the magic comes when you discover that something your default mindset was filtering out as noise is actually s…

That is interesting. So it is a bit like reducing your attention, and expanding awareness? What you described sounds very similar to the effects of mindfulness meditation. The idea in a sense is to increase awareness - that is, sensing the world as is, without the filters or influence of mental objects. The theory is that meditation can then help you free yourself of past negative conditioning that is no longer relev…

there is a suspected overlap that both communities talk about

check it out

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#112

Post by the_only_law »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #9

I don’t want to live in a world where the solution to depression (caused by governments, politicians, or general existence in the modern capitalist world) is a drug. Not a good idea. Instead, figure out why depression has increased so dramatically in the last ~century and address that.

You already live in that world now. What do you think think they give your for depression?

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#113

Post by PedroBatista »

pbadenski wrote: post #99
internetslave wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a lot of people whose minds were ruined by psychedelics. It’s something you will see when you spend time in those communities. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but it’s common.

This type of empty fear mongering comment is unhelpful at best. It's a McDonalds of a comment. What's a lot of people? Why are psychedelics so special compared to anything else (sugar, Facebook, gambling). "It doesn't happen to everyone, but it's common" - what does this even mean? "Common" based on what criterion? How should our behaviour as a society change based on your comment?

I don’t know if they are “special” compared to those, but you seem to imply they are the same.

You seem so laser focused on the promising side of things that you completely “forget” each substance is different and it’s use has serious consequences if abused, if not then do heroine.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#114

Post by maxmamis »

rednum wrote: post #92
acchow wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way were their minds ruined?

Not OP, but I've met people that seemed to sort of lost their agency and ambition, because their psychedelic insight was that the universe will sort everything out on its own. Though maybe the causality is the other way round here - they were not ambitious in the first place and psychedelic insight helped rationalise that. Also disclaimer: I'm not trying to discourage or encourage people from psychedelics. Personally…

doesn't sound like their "minds were ruined", but rather that they have different priorities than you and that you're narrowminded and judgemental.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#115

Post by pbadenski »

PedroBatista wrote: post #113
pbadenski wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This type of empty fear mongering comment is unhelpful at best. It's a McDonalds of a comment. What's a lot of people? Why are psychedelics so special compared to anything else (sugar, Facebook, gambling). "It doesn't happen to everyone, but it's common" - what does this even mean? "Common" based on what criterion? How should our behaviour as a society change based on your comment?

I don’t know if they are “special” compared to those, but you seem to imply they are the same. You seem so laser focused on the promising side of things that you completely “forget” each substance is different and it’s use has serious consequences if abused, if not then do heroine.

Oh I definitely don't think it's the same. I would argue the items I have listed above are significantly more damaging to society than mushrooms.

On the subject of heroin, what about more dangerous psychoactive substance - ethanol? See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11660210 and https://www.ias.org.uk/uploads/pdf/News%20stories/dnutt-lanc...

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#116

Post by pims »

simonswords82 wrote: post #7

I have a friend who has experienced magic mushrooms recreationally about half a dozen times in her 20s. After each trip she reported feeling clear headed and more mindful - she described it as though her mind's harddrive had been defragmented. Fast forward 10 years and that same friend felt low during lockdown over the past 12 months. After reading up online she decided to try microdosing mushrooms rather than the ma…

Would your friend have advice or resources on how to give microdosing a try, especially for people who've never done psychedelics?

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#117

Post by fighterpilot »

> In a phase 2, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial

It seems like you can't blind the participants in this case? It should be obvious if you're getting the treatment because psilocybin is a hallucinogen, unless they're giving such a small dose that it reliably doesn't cause any hallucinations?

This is important because most (70-80%) of the effect of existing anti-depressants is known to be placebo, and there's already concern that you can't blind in regular anti-depressant trials because the participant might know they receive treatment due to feeling the side effects of the drug (e.g. insomnia). The problem of being unable to blind participants would seem to be magnified in a psilocybin trial.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#118

Post by jack_riminton »

agent008t wrote: post #106
anonporridge wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It temporarily breaks you out of your established mental framework. It's as if your raw consciousness viewing the world without any of the filters that we all use to tune out the noise. That's why the experience can be overwhelming and chaotic and it's useful to be in a safe place with a trip sitter. I think the magic comes when you discover that something your default mindset was filtering out as noise is actually s…

That is interesting. So it is a bit like reducing your attention, and expanding awareness? What you described sounds very similar to the effects of mindfulness meditation. The idea in a sense is to increase awareness - that is, sensing the world as is, without the filters or influence of mental objects. The theory is that meditation can then help you free yourself of past negative conditioning that is no longer relev…

Yes there are definitely parallels

At a cellular level, it temporarily vastly increases the connections between the synapses. A lot of what your brain does is travel along well worn synaptic pathways, like running on autopilot. This is when you feel like you're in a rut, it's because your brain for efficiency reasons is just doing what it always does. The temporary frenzy of increased synaptic connections allows people to break out of those ruts

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#119

Post by philshem »

yreg wrote: post #101
philshem wrote: post #12

Due to recent decriminalizations and booming medical research, there are also some publicly traded companies one can invest in: https://psychedelicinvest.com/index/ https://www.horizonsetfs.com/etf/psyk (disclaimer: I own shares in many of these companies)

For more discussion on this topic there is /r/shroomstocks[0] And PsilocybinAlpha[1] monitors companies in the sector. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/shroomstocks/ [1] https://psilocybinalpha.com/

> This community is available in the app

https://i.reddit.com/r/shroomstocks/

https://old.reddit.com/r/shroomstocks/

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#120

Post by TriNetra »

beambot wrote: post #38
abgr-y wrote: post #28

I don't believe drugs whether prescribed or recreational can cure Mental disorders. yes they may alleviate the symptoms but they don't really work on the root cause which are basically ones mental tendencies, thought patterns or habits acquired over a period of time. here[0] is a different take on what depression is and gives a high level road map to come out of it, for more details this [1] is a book by the same aut…

> I don't believe... The good news is that studies such as this produce empirical, scientific evidence that supercedes anecdotes and individuals' belief patterns -- whether they're negative or skeptical (as yours) or hyper-positive cure-alls (eg from psychonauts)

Before science can appreciate the mental/causal causes of the depression and related diseases, it needs to find an evidence for and establishes the separation of mind from physical brain. Hopefully an intensive exploration of consciousness and intelligence will lead to some empirical conclusions.
Post reply on HN