Psilocybin 'promising' for depression • Hacker News Board

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#321

Post by standardUser » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

junon wrote: post #310

standardUser wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we point to any data showing that mushrooms or acid (for example) are more dangerous than, say, a coronavirus vaccine or driving a car? Because generally speaking, unless something is concretely documented as dangerous we don't just assume it is dangerous "because". Especially when that "because" is because of a well-documented, decades-long propaganda campaign by the federal government.

You haven't had any negative experiences with drugs, have you?

I have had plenty of negative experiences with the many, many drugs I have done. But the most danger I have ever been in due to drugs has been being the passenger of a drunk driver. That's maybe the only real physical danger I have encountered. I have a hard time even imaging how mushrooms would lead to physical danger.

Did you have a point to make?

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#322

Post by bigfudge » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 2:07 PM UTC

Leparamour wrote: post #241

bigfudge wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, it's not at all clear this was caused by psychedelics, so much as psychedelics and the lifestyle that goes with it shape the sort of dysfunction we observe. If they had been in the midwestern USA would they also be dysfunctional but taking prescription painkillers? Mental health problems are common, and confirmation bias is real. There is also the danger of reverse causation — and this may apply to cann…

>so much as psychedelics and the lifestyle that goes with it shape the sort of dysfunction we observe. I wondered about this myself. I think it is hard to pinpoint exactly since festival-goers often also consume a mix of different substances (the infamous "candy flipping") including alcohol instead of just straight mushrooms or LSD.

Funnily enough, I just came across a study of ecstasy use in Mormon kids who didn’t take alcohol or other drugs... not sure if they were staying up all night raving but my prior is not. Apparently they didn’t suffer the same cognitive deficits found in other ecstasy users.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#323

Post by jonesn11 » Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 4:20 PM UTC

The confidence intervals don't seem to imply that Psilocybin is "promising" given that for a subset of patients, there were worse effects.

Re: Psilocybin 'promising' for depression

#324

Post by JesseMReeves » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 1:31 PM UTC

Japan had magic mushroom vending machines until they were banned in 2002. The Japanese were concerned about what image they display to the world ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2002, which led to this ban.

Many different explanations are possible, but I do wonder whether there is any connection to their increased rates of depression after 2000. Antidepressants were not accepted in Japan for long time.

To verify it would be good to see some statistics on their usage prior to that. Checking out Super Marios game mechanics, it seems they were in the nations discourse at least ;)