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Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

independent.co.uk

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Re: Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

#21

Post by Rumudiez »

Alex3917 wrote: post #10
allthenews wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safer is arguable. We actually don't know how unsafe psychedelics are in a controlled, professional setting, but people get hurt exercising all the time. If you think the two are anywhere near each other in terms of instantaneous effectiveness, you must be tripping. Exercise can take months to possibly help. A single good trip can fix years of depression, months forward.

> people get hurt exercising all the time. Olympic weightlifting is actually one of the safest sports. But most people who lift are doing body building or more sport-specific training, which is where you see most of the injuries.

Olympic athletes are professionals. Anecdotally, my “yoked” coworkers frequently hurt themselves. Out of twenty people on my team, two hurt their backs so badly in the last month that they can’t sit or stand for more than an hour or two, among other minor injuries.

Meanwhile, I commute by motorcycle exclusively five days a week and have never missed work due to or come to work with an injury. The safeness of any given activity is relative to each individual and their training.

Re: Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

#23

Post by tribune »

kneel wrote: post #9

I've had great experiences with LSD, experiences that may have even changed my trajectory in life. That being said I would never recommend LSD to someone undergoing serious mental health issues. IMO not safe at all, you can really end up in a bad place.

Psychedelics show promise for some mental health conditions (like depression and addiction), but no one would advocate giving a bunch of LSD to someone teetering on the edge of schizophrenia... It's about focusing on the right diseases that are safe to treat with these drugs. Plus, trials would be done under controlled conditions by professionals. That seems the safest possible environment for having a psychedelic experience.

Re: Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

#25

Post by marter »

kneel wrote: post #9

I've had great experiences with LSD, experiences that may have even changed my trajectory in life. That being said I would never recommend LSD to someone undergoing serious mental health issues. IMO not safe at all, you can really end up in a bad place.

This is why they are studying it

Re: Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

#26

Post by rarec »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #13
User23 wrote: post #2

Or one could lift weights, which is even safer and has many positive ancillary effects. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abst...

It also takes a lot of commitment and time that not everyone has, and requires you to by physically capable of lifting weights which not everyone is. On a more nuanced note, different things work for different people, and gyms aren't the optimal mental healing environment for everyone. If you're gonna arrange everyone on a hypothetical comfort spectrum between gym and library, it seems reasonable that some people wou…

>It also takes a lot of commitment and time

It's about half an hour a day, that's all you really need. True, if you can't spare half an hour, then you've got greater issues.

The latter part of your argument I personally have never ever once experienced, nor have anyone I known experience it outside of the gym at high school. People grunt when exerting effort, everyone wears headphones anyway. And even then, you don't need to go to the gym to lift, calisthenics are perfectly fine for those with no access/no desire to go the gym.

Re: Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

#27

Post by jvandyke »

I recommend reading "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan if you're all interested in the history and details of psychedelics. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36613747-how-to-change-y...

Based my reading of that, what these researchers are doing is not prescribing psychedelics to patients with mental disorders and giving the whole "take one time a day with food". What these researchers are finding is that the drugs can be very effective in a therapeutic setting with a guide (trained therapist or otherwise) to coach and conform the experience to reach a goal. In other words to those familiar with these drugs, set and setting. That is, mindset and surroundings are at least as important as the drug itself to achieving anything. Without that, it's just a drug experience. This is very unique compared to the drugs we're used to.

No medication will ever be a miracle drug, and most drugs show a significant decline in effectiveness once they're out of small trials and methods have standardized. However, any drug or therapy that sees orders of magnitude of improvement over existing drugs and therapies is promising and not worth dismissing simply because of a moral panic from the 60s or the Puritan ideals of our Western culture. Given time and the leeway to experiment, hopefully we will find uses for this class of drugs that have gone shunned for decades for no reason other than someone's moral qualms.

Re: Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

#28

Post by collyw »

jonknee wrote: post #16
kneel wrote: post #9

I've had great experiences with LSD, experiences that may have even changed my trajectory in life. That being said I would never recommend LSD to someone undergoing serious mental health issues. IMO not safe at all, you can really end up in a bad place.

A clinical setting is far different than giving someone some tabs and letting them loose at a concert or house party.

I read another article recently (posted on here I think) saying that most of the clinical protocols are borrowed from the rituals and advice of underground new age healer types. These people likely have the most experience in avoiding a bad time.

Re: Psychedelics could heal brain cells in people suffering from depression: study

#29

Post by nonbel »

wincy wrote: post #15

I’m really worried about the subset of the population with preexisting mental disorders such as manic depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and depression who will suffer a psychotic break from the use of these substances. Maybe I’m wrong, but from what I’ve heard and read it seems like there’s no way to know what will happen until you try it. A certain percentage of the population goes to hell in the most literal sens…

>"mental frailty...they begin to question everything"

As opposed to blindly "believe everything"? I would say the ability to question everything is evidence of a strong independent adult mind. The ability to just believe everything you are told isn't really "frail" (which I associate with old age and wisdom), but still weak in a childlike sense.

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