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Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#121

Post by simonswords82 »

pims wrote: post #116
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?

Your best bet is to find a local friend or acquaintance who does have experience who can talk to you in detail about it and help source etc.

Reddit is a good source of anecdotal information:

https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/7fv5oj/beginner...

https://www.reddit.com/r/microdosing/

This is also good:

https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/microdosing-guide-and-explain...

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#122

Post by Covzire »

internetslave wrote: post #8
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…

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.

Care to give a few anecdotes?

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#123

Post by pjc50 »

vlunkr wrote: post #26

On the one hand, HN is terrified of brain-computer interfaces manipulating our brains and emotions, on the other hand, they're totally psyched about using mushrooms to do the same thing.

Mushrooms don't have an agenda. The owner of the brain-computer interface probably does.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#124

Post by ganzuul »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #43
simonswords82 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get it - a drug is a drug - and like all drugs I am not saying that psychedelics are a cure all for all people. What I am saying is that it is depressing that we are only just seeing reports from formal sources that psychedelics could be useful for some people.

I mean we could just discuss the issue of freedom and making it illegal for people to grow and consume a mushroom and stop making it about just drugs. Marijuana is the same way. If it isn't for someone then they shouldn't do it and we should make as much information available about something available and provide safe environments, but making it illegal especially when plenty of people have experienced positive effec…

Freedom is indeed one narrative. What is being (re-)constructed here is a narrative about plant medicine. The concepts used in each narrative are very different, so if we discussing both at the same time may confound each other.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#125

Post by say_it_as_it_is »

Gatsky wrote: post #15

The study was just published in the most prestigious medical journal in the world [1]. Whatever you think of the study, this is rather significant. If you told me even 2 years ago there would be a randomised trial of magic mushrooms in NEJM, I would not have believed it for even a second. One point not to miss is that they screened 1000 patients to come up with the study population of 59. Nevertheless, I consider the…

The definition of treatment resistant depression is one of the filters that narrows down the list. A subject must have tried at least two different antidepressants for a certain length of time and within the last few years, in addition to therapy. So, someone who has taken antidepressants for years doesn't automatically qualify.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#126

Post by Gatsky »

internetslave wrote: post #8
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…

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.

At least some of this could be the tendency of people with pre-existing mental illness to self-medicate. High smoking rates amongst people with schizophrenia is an example. Smoking seems to ameliorate some psychotic symptoms.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#127

Post by why_Mr_Anderson »

jack_riminton wrote: post #16
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…

This is my experience too. I’ve been microdosing about 1.3mg on and off during lockdown. The effects are subtle and hard to describe but I’d say it’s like ‘opening your mind’ or reframing your point of view on things. Definitely different from other drugs which just pump you with serotonin

I'm honestly surprised that you are able feel any effect from such a dose. Based on what i've heard from my friend's uncle's guardener's grandmother's neighbour, this could very much be just simple placebo effect. You know you are taking mushrooms, which have no effect, but you 'feel' better.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#128

Post by collyw »

krageon wrote: post #64
collyw wrote: post #59

Here in Europe someone gave politicians the idea that they could control a virus. So now we have arbitrary sets of restrictions applied when case numbers of coronavirus go up. If case numbers go down again, they get relaxed. If they go up, add more restrictions are added until they go down. The restrictions are follow the case numbers, but we have convinced ourselves it is the other way around. It's a modern day witc…

Measures to contain COVID-19 exist globally and if you have great cosmic insight into the fact that they don't work, perhaps you could share that instead of sarcasm without any basis.

Well they don't exist globally. Various US states and countries didn't copy China in a blind panic. There seems no correlation between lockdown and the overall outcome, suggesting that they don't "work". Texas opening up a month ago showed no spike in cases.

Considering the massive amounts of suffering these policies are causing, there ought to be a bit of reflection on how effective they are. We have a years worth of data now, and as I pointed out, there seems to be no correlation. There seems to be no consideration of the side effects and harms caused.

Assuming the approach of locking people up works, without taking into account the new data as it comes in is not science. It is faith.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#129

Post by curation »

internetslave wrote: post #8
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…

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.

I collect opinions about what 'minds were ruined by psychedelics' - how do you define that?

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#130

Post by mensetmanusman »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #31
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…

Perhaps, but it is a lot easier to take long term action on your mental tendencies if you don't feel the blackness closing in every second. We have a long century ahead of us to pull out of the mental health slump we are seeing (similar perhaps to the physical health slumps following industrialisation). We will need many tools in the kit.

Interesting perspective that large societal shifts account for shifts in the type of health outcomes.

One problem I see is that if people are too tied to their subjective well-being, then it is a frame of mind that can never be satisfied.

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