251–260 of 406 posts
As an outsider, that American obsession with prescripted medication seems maddening. Many of these conditions are caused by underlying societal factors and are nowhere near as widespread outside the US. The American solution is to throw more pills at the problem, or ostracise the patients not willing to take that route. Even children are offered an ever larger number of pills, and are constantly challenged about thei…
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I think that designing the TV layout is not the point, the point is opening yourself to new ideas and empathy, facilitating compromise
This handwaves the problem that two adults cannot reach a compromise without taking a drug. That's a personal problem not being solved, but actually being masked and brushed under the metaphorical rug. Perhaps what they need is relationship counselling? If you anesthetize me, I will protest less when you do something that would otherwise cause me pain, but you haven't taken away my ability to feel pain in the long-te…
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Hamilton's Pharmacopeia has some wonderful exchanges between Hamilton, Sasha and Ann. What beautiful souls, who brought so much light to this world.
If you read Phikal , you will see some not-great comments on Sasha's treatment of his first wife.
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Ok but this isn't really true. The country with the most anti-depressant intake is Iceland , the US is around second or third place, yet the other countries in the "top ten" of antidepressant usage per capita are almost all european nations. The USA isn't an outlier, but I guess we really can't escape the "do americans really, really do X?" even when it is trivially easy to verify. The funny thing is that the reason…
Antidepressants and adderall are very different beasts
But I also personally think that adderall has less side effects and better/smoother withdrawals. SSRIs and other antidepressants usually have a heavier impact on the brain too.
Now I don't doubt that Adderall is probably over prescribed, but I think that it is better to look at entire families of drugs to compensate for differences between markets.
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Yeah, antidepressants are way more complicated, they have more side effects, and have to be monitored carefully to not make the underlying issues that caused the patient to take them worse. Suicidal thoughts plus antidepressants that give you energy can give you the motivation to go through it. And despite not being categorized as addictive you can't stop taking them without wrecking your mental health until your bod…
> While at the same time despite being a controlled substance because they're supposedly so addictive people with ADHD forget to take adderall and with normal use you don't take it every day. This is incorrect: Normal use of stimulant medication is to take it regularly every day. We also have evidence from studies showing that the brain adapts to consistent dosing in order to counter some of the damaging oxidative ef…
Personally, I left tech in large part to become a therapist doing psychedelic-assisted clinical work when it becomes legal. It really does seem like it can be a potent tool for relieving great suffering. You can read a little about my story here: http://glench.com/WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist/
Nice to read your journey. Glad you found a way through. I had a similar experience to the first half of your story. Was so unfulfilled in tech that I ended up quitting and took time off not working, trying lots of different things, getting very frustrated and depressed along the way. I did try LSD (ok, a lot of LSD) and instead of it helping me process/sort through/integrate some of my troubles it added new ones and…
Psychedelics seem to somehow have simply amazing PR: plentiful testimonies of their life-changing abilities, encouraging us to try them, but very little acknowledgement of their dark side. The subculture is very quick to brush away anything that goes against the narrative of the "mind-opening wonder drugs that big pharma doesn't want you to know about."
My experiences with psilocybin over a few months started with awe and wonder and spiritual awakening (or what seemed to be at the time), and ended with horrifying lasting harm. Insomnia, constant vivid nightmares, sleep paralysis, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, tics, and all kinds of weirdness at the periphery of conscious experience that I can't really explain.
It feels like I flashed my brain's firmware with no way to undo it. I took all the precautions I thought I was supposed to. I wish someone had warned me.
Or just do drugs by yourself or with friends and not around some stranger who guides you to state approved answers. Also do mushrooms, not this shit. Only reason they're pushing this brain-melting stuff is because they can make a buck. 'actually drugs are good now. Just give us your credit card and insurance info and step right this way'. Fuck off. Do drugs in the woods and sort your shit out like we've been doing fo…
I get what you're saying, and I've basically only done the "cowboy-style drop acid/MDMA/shrooms in random settings" and sorted my shit out that way (well, some of it, at least) myself, and honestly, it's worked out pretty well for me. But I've also met a few folks that have been deeply traumatized by bad trips - one particularly painful example is someone who saw a friend he loved fall to her death whilst tripping on…
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Ok but this isn't really true. The country with the most anti-depressant intake is Iceland , the US is around second or third place, yet the other countries in the "top ten" of antidepressant usage per capita are almost all european nations. The USA isn't an outlier, but I guess we really can't escape the "do americans really, really do X?" even when it is trivially easy to verify. The funny thing is that the reason…
Iceland and the Scandinavian countries have, let's say, "weather-related" reasons for their depressions. They are introvert societies with the highest percentage of single-person households. The reason for the US being close to them could be the high prescription culture and the social aggression inherent in everyday US life, masked behind curteous words, customer-oriented interaction and polished looks.
(Funny though that you actually say that everyday life is masked behind courteous words in the US, which is one of the those widespread stereotypes about... Scandinavia and nordic countries in general.)
What was that about Swedes not even sharing meals with visitors, and eating in front of them while the visitor sits at the dinner table looking at them eat? Or Denmark kicking out all of their syrian refugees after they have lived there for years, kids included, to send them back to a warzone? See that explains the antidepressant intake!
Personally, I left tech in large part to become a therapist doing psychedelic-assisted clinical work when it becomes legal. It really does seem like it can be a potent tool for relieving great suffering. You can read a little about my story here: http://glench.com/WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist/
Nice to read your journey. Glad you found a way through. I had a similar experience to the first half of your story. Was so unfulfilled in tech that I ended up quitting and took time off not working, trying lots of different things, getting very frustrated and depressed along the way. I did try LSD (ok, a lot of LSD) and instead of it helping me process/sort through/integrate some of my troubles it added new ones and…
I suggest this to people even when they feel they are out of a pit primarily because being out of the pit is the perfect time to get help, as they don't have the usual struggles that makes reaching out feel impossible.
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Nice to read your journey. Glad you found a way through. I had a similar experience to the first half of your story. Was so unfulfilled in tech that I ended up quitting and took time off not working, trying lots of different things, getting very frustrated and depressed along the way. I did try LSD (ok, a lot of LSD) and instead of it helping me process/sort through/integrate some of my troubles it added new ones and…
I'm glad to hear from someone else who's honest about their negative experience. Psychedelics seem to somehow have simply amazing PR: plentiful testimonies of their life-changing abilities, encouraging us to try them, but very little acknowledgement of their dark side. The subculture is very quick to brush away anything that goes against the narrative of the "mind-opening wonder drugs that big pharma doesn't want you…