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Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

medscape.com

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Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#341

Post by torginus »

I have a theory that the medical community has a somewhat antagonistic view on mind-affecting drugs that work and have genuine positive effects - it's that healthy and/or undiagnosed people will take said drugs willingly, as they provide their positive effects for healthy individuals, and they'll instantly get labeled as abusable drugs, whose consumption is tied to heavy criminal charges. This reputation and the accompanying legal red tape makes medical research into said compounds very difficult.

An ironclad rule for medically approved drugs is that no fun is allowed - approved drugs must not have any positive effects on mood or well-being or must come with such heavy side effects that no sane healthy person would willingly take them.

For some reason, the medical profession considers the enhancement of one's quality of life beyond some arbitrarily chosen 'healthy' baseline to be forbidden, and is in cahoots with the executive branch to gatekeep it at all costs.

Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#342

Post by hnlmorg »

torginus wrote: post #341

I have a theory that the medical community has a somewhat antagonistic view on mind-affecting drugs that work and have genuine positive effects - it's that healthy and/or undiagnosed people will take said drugs willingly, as they provide their positive effects for healthy individuals, and they'll instantly get labeled as abusable drugs, whose consumption is tied to heavy criminal charges. This reputation and the acco…

There are plenty of medical substances out there that are chemically similar to recreation drugs. Particularly in the fields of painkillers and anaesthesia.

Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#344

Post by arizen »

foobiekr wrote: post #196
Der_Einzige wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thoughts on Mescaline/Peyote?

Mescaline is like the angry lover version of mushrooms. I did it once, two years ago to understand why it has been used, traditionally, as the baseline for comparison for psychedelic substances, and it was enlightening; it is certainly a tasting menu of the classical psychedelics, having at different points in the experience the flavor of stimulants, LSD, mushrooms and finally something all its own, but it is also mu…

What would you say about ayahuasca?

Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#345

Post by abhaynayar »

wisemang wrote: post #244
sedatk wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you even go about proper dosing and frequency of psilocybin use? Just random guess?

Anecdotal but whenever I’ve been asked for this guidance (having been around the block, but not a shaman by any means) I ask about the person’s dreams. Do they usually remember them, how intense are they? More intense = start with lower dose (maybe .5g). Less so maybe start with 1 or 1.5g. Of course this is subjective and relative but a rule of thumb that has worked reasonably well. For frequency, that depends on a v…

I don't plan on ever taking psilocybin- but why dreams?- Asking cause I almost never remember any- unless I wake up at a weird time- or sleep in a weird circumstance.

Is it indicative of anything?- I sleep really well, never had any issues with sleep- and wake up well-rested. Is it better to remember more dreams?- if so what are the benefits and how to go about doing it?

Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#346

Post by arizen »

_iaoo wrote: post #183
jorgesborges wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind my asking, what about the experience was so bad? Did it take time or work to process the experience for it to have its beneficial effect?

It's fine, I'm ok with sharing, although some of this might sound gibberish as it's hard to explain. Note, that I am not trying to impart any sort of mystical value to this, or trying to be poetic. It's an incredibly scary experience that makes you feel like you're disintegrating in a metaphysical sense. Your mind, perception, body. Yourself. Like you're falling apart, being disassembled and that you will never be ab…

What you're describing sounds very much like the impact ketamine has on the default mode network (DMN), which plays a central role in your sense of self and how you process thoughts about yourself and the world. The DMN is typically overactive in conditions like depression, leading to persistent negative self-reflection or rumination.

Ketamine temporarily disrupts or disintegrates the activity of the DMN, which is likely where the sensation of "disintegration" or "ego death" comes from. This can feel like a profound loss of agency, as the very part of the brain responsible for your sense of self is being deconstructed. The disorienting part—being left with fragments of yourself—is also consistent with how the DMN breaks down, exposing subconscious thoughts or patterns you may have repressed or forgotten.

But this isn’t just a random break—it’s part of why ketamine can be so therapeutic for some people. By breaking the DMN's rigid structure, it allows for a kind of mental reset, where you can reorganize those "pieces" in new ways, often leading to the clarity or "AHA!" moments you described. The months of renewed understanding and hope after the experience fit well with ketamine's fast-acting antidepressant effects.

That said, I understand the hesitation to repeat such experience. While it can be transformative, it can also feel traumatic, precisely because it’s messing with such a fundamental part of how your brain organizes reality. We’re still in the early stages of understanding this, and while it can be deeply healing for some, it’s definitely not something to take lightly.

Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#347

Post by iancmceachern »

torginus wrote: post #341

I have a theory that the medical community has a somewhat antagonistic view on mind-affecting drugs that work and have genuine positive effects - it's that healthy and/or undiagnosed people will take said drugs willingly, as they provide their positive effects for healthy individuals, and they'll instantly get labeled as abusable drugs, whose consumption is tied to heavy criminal charges. This reputation and the acco…

Its not the medical professionals making these decisions. That's like soldiers choose what tanks they drive. They don't. These decisions are made by the hospital/insurance company "complex"

Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#349

Post by sowbug »

sedatk wrote: post #236
anonymouse3112 wrote: post #234

Anecdotally: worked for me, would absolutely do it again. People worry about various side-effects: I work extremely hard and know others who have done psychedelics and continue with b2b saas and similar. That said, it’s serious stuff. I think it permanently increased the amount that I like music; other studies show longtitudinal changes to big-five personality traits. Proceed with caution.

How do you even go about proper dosing and frequency of psilocybin use? Just random guess?

Note that most of the responses you're receiving, while accurate, are in terms of units of dried cubensis mushrooms, not pure psilocybin. A fresh cubensis mushroom weighs about one-tenth its original weight once it's fully dried, and when dried they usually contain about 0.7-1.0% psilocybin by weight. So 2.5 grams of dried mushrooms will contain about 25mg of psilocybin, which is the "25-mg oral dose[] of psilocybin" given in the study under discussion.

A practical approach is to take about 1.25 grams of dried cubensis, wait about an hour to see how you feel, then try another 0.5 grams if you're up for it, and then another 0.5 in half an hour. By that point you'll have ingested enough to notice effects for sure, and you'll have confidence what your personal right dose is.

Beware of tryptamine tolerance: wait 2 weeks between doses to reset your sensitivity.

Each mushroom contains a different amount of psilocybin. You can calibrate a batch by grinding them all up at once in a coffee grinder and trying a sample. (Always be careful taking powdered mushrooms that someone else has ground up, because you don't know whether anything else has been mixed in.)

Also look up "lemon tek" to prevent tummy upset.

Re: Psilocybin bests SSRI for major depression in first long-term comparison

#350

Post by neilquinn »

iancmceachern wrote: post #347
torginus wrote: post #341

I have a theory that the medical community has a somewhat antagonistic view on mind-affecting drugs that work and have genuine positive effects - it's that healthy and/or undiagnosed people will take said drugs willingly, as they provide their positive effects for healthy individuals, and they'll instantly get labeled as abusable drugs, whose consumption is tied to heavy criminal charges. This reputation and the acco…

Its not the medical professionals making these decisions. That's like soldiers choose what tanks they drive. They don't. These decisions are made by the hospital/insurance company "complex"

Nah that’s too recent

This is all due to scientists having to obscure what they are doing to ameliorate the “don’t clone animals or build nuclear reactors” types.

See the majority on the planet are intolerant religious groups. God has a natural plan types. We’re not to muck with it and to get jobs working for the rich God hand picked.

So we had to invent jobs synthesizing drugs to get around stupid religion and the politics the religious controlled. And those innumerate politicians saw it as a way to make up a political agenda.

There’s a whole lot going on in tech and science that’s just dumb jobs role play. Most of it just normalizing the math of relativity as physical science has bounded human story. Whole lot of people freaking out at that.

System is falling apart with generational churn as experience is not evenly distributed; new people never experienced the past highs and feel the demands to not just use shrooms is corny af since no such ban really exists, it was just social paranoia of a prior generation.

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