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US could soon approve MDMA therapy

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Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#341

Post by abyssin »

haswell wrote: post #223
hammyhavoc wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish more people spoke about their negative experiences with psychedelics. It's a sobering and necessary counterpoint to most of what floods these threads of how it changed someone's life, but the "how" is largely ambiguous.

As studies continue, it seems that a key component is a safe and therapeutic environment and a trained guide who can help the person navigate what they experience. People most often get in trouble when they bring a recreational drug mindset, or are predisposed to certain conditions, or have not worked with a therapist to have foundational tools to manage the experience. The risks are absolutely real and should not be…

Interestingly, my recent bad experience was in what I expected to be the safest and most therapeutic environment available to me. What I discovered instead was an irrational culture with an immature fascination for shamanism. My individual experiences, informed by my research, were more beneficial (and cheaper as well). Knowing the topic and a trip-sitter you know might prove a better choice than trusting self-proclaimed guides.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#342

Post by taeric »

Alupis wrote: post #334
taeric wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not wrong, you are just looking to nitpick your way to success here. You are the one poisoning the conversation with supposed mistakes and nitpicks. I could as easily nitpick that arsenic is perfectly fine to feed to people, so that we should not have laws against poisoning. The statement on hollow and incendiary isn't ignorance, it is somewhat flat disbelief that it is typically successful at the things you put…

It's a lot like arguing with a child about why the sky is blue. Facts and realities don't apply. Your comments about HP bullets, and particularly incendiary munitions (lol) are absurd and uninformed. But it doesn't matter, you will not educate yourself on the topic no matter how wrong you may be, and therefore we cannot have a productive conversation regarding gun control. The "I fired a gun once, and now I'm an expe…

I find your insistence that you are the rational one laughable, at best. Pedantic, to the extreme, I would give you. Rational? Nope. Children desperately hanging on to their toys. Everyone's health be damned.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#343

Post by Alupis »

taeric wrote: post #330
OkayPhysicist wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what you're considering "high powered", but hunting rifles actually tend to be on the larger caliber side of things. If you're shooting a large mammal, using something like a 22 is just unnecessary cruelty. You want a round that will kill as fast as possible, so .338 in, .30-06 or 7.62 mm are the calibers of choice. If you're talking about .50 BMG as "high powered", then lucky for you, "high powered" rif…

I'm almost swayed by the animal cruelty argument, at the same time, the best hunters I know are all bow hunters. Such that, yes, it will be harder; but hunting isn't supposed to be easy. Guns are largely fun for most that have them. Little else. Such that I don't think that changes things. I should note that I've probably owned more guns than makes sense. Had friends with desert eagles. There is basically no reason f…

So, please, play the scenario out. You take away all the legal guns... now what? Violence ends? Right? Right?

What's the plan for taking away all the illegal guns? What's the plan to protect citizens that are now disarmed?

Why don't we just focus on taking away all the illegal guns? Oh, right... we have been... for 89 years - yet there's more illegal guns on the streets today than in 1934. What a shock...

Kind of like how there's more drugs readily available to average citizens than before the "war on drugs" started. It's literally an impossible task... have you seen the homemade guns in countries with outright bans? Or worse, illegally imported automatic firearms. Regular Joe - no gun. Criminal Joe, full auto!

People like to point at Prohibition as evidence an outright ban of Drugs can never work. Yet, it's different with guns somehow?

You're looking at an infected wound and deciding the appropriate treatment is duct tape.

Why duct tape? Because you haven't bothered to even learn rudimentary medical knowledge but are a self-proclaimed expert. Duct tape holds things together, so why not? Banning guns means no gun violence, right? Why don't we just make it illegal to hurt or kill people? It's already illegal? Ok, make it double-illegal, that'll show them!

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#345

Post by [deleted] »

Starcrunch wrote: post #256
wnolens wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

[deleted]

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#346

Post by BSOhealth »

I see all the GPT stuff and whatnot, and see that and AI/ML entering so many domains/markets. But psychedelics and the human experience are not something we can automate and I wonder if AI will allow us to deploy more people to help and guide others through life, experiences, and relationships (all IRL).

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#347

Post by augment002 »

pmoriarty wrote: post #284
opportune wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LSD also gave me recurring intrusive thoughts for about 5 years after taking it. I’m better now but I wish more people knew about the potential risks because it wasn’t worth feeling “enlightened” for a few hours while on the drug Based on my experiences I think MDMA likely has much more therapeutic value. To me regular psychedelics merely give the illusion of profoundness rather than actual profoundness, though I’ve…

"LSD also gave me recurring intrusive thoughts for about 5 years after taking it." There are definitely risks, but also ways to minimize the chance of negative effects and to constructively handle them afterwards. All too many people go in strong psychedelic sessions with little preparation, in very poor settings, without experienced people they respect and trust around, and often even without knowing the substance o…

> but also ways to minimize the chance of negative effects and to constructively handle them afterwards.

This is inaccurate. We can reduce the risk but not make it ‘minimal’. Also, we can’t always provide ways to constructively handle negative effects.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#348

Post by waboremo »

wnolens wrote: post #335
waboremo wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you in contact with a therapist you enjoy talking to? They're phenomenal when it comes to helping tackle ruminating and intrusive/impulsive thoughts. If you don't, you'll want to go through the (unfortunately tedious) process of finding one that deals with CBT or ACT. 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…

I've seen 5-6 therapists over the past decade. I'd love to find the right one, but so far my experience is between neutral and strongly negative. My closest friends are far more empathic and life-experienced people, a few quite capable of removing themselves from a conversation for my benefit.

Yeah that's understandable, and that's a low number relatively speaking as this is a problem that really hasn't been solved. There are places like psychologytoday that provide a decent database to finding potential therapists (with good enough filters to really narrow down what you want to get into and feel safe around), but it can still be very tough. Especially when you consider how many people go so long without being diagnosed with issues like OCD as long as they are "productive" enough for nobody to care.

It's fantastic you have really great empathetic friends to help you out, sometimes you really do just need someone to listen to you.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#349

Post by _a_a_a_ »

hammyhavoc wrote: post #142
wnolens wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wish more people spoke about their negative experiences with psychedelics. It's a sobering and necessary counterpoint to most of what floods these threads of how it changed someone's life, but the "how" is largely ambiguous.

> I wish more people spoke about their negative experiences with psychedelics

people do. But just maybe 'negative' doesn't mean catastrophically bad, and just maybe bad experiences are in the minority hence the flood of positives. What your post comes across as, to me anyway, is that you want drugs to be a bad thing.

> but the "how" is largely ambiguous

Does it matter? Or are people just not allowed to have a positive thing happen from psychedelics?

You seem to be bringing a mindset to this discussion without apparently considering maybe drugs aren't always that bad. And you may be right, and you may be wrong, but you do seem determined to look on the darker side of things.

Re: US could soon approve MDMA therapy

#350

Post by coffeebeqn »

toomanyrichies wrote: post #41
52-6F-62 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partners mother was depressed and shut in for years. She had been through every process, medical and otherwise, to try and find an escape hatch, window, anything. She eventually was accepted into a limited program in Victoria, BC for ketamine treatments. 3 large doses rendering intense trips that lasted the course of hours in a clinic under the supervision of doctors and therapists. After the first session she was…

What a great outcome. Glad to hear this and thanks for posting.

It’s certainly not a silver bullet but as these psychedelic drugs are low harm and quite potent/novel they’re extremely worth exploring
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