Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The life-changing effects of hallucinations

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 123 posts

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#71

Post by DerekBickerton »

From my experience with psilocybin-containing mushrooms, I didn't hallucinate. Rather, my senses grew incredibly sharper and everything was super-vivid. I could see why they would be great for hunting in a prehistoric setting and would give one an unfair advantage. Shrooms are even known to increase visual acuity. It was like watching 4K video for the first time after watching standard definition your whole life.

As for my mind, I had what people call a 'mystical experience' but I was so young (20s) that I didn't have the necessary words to describe it or put it into words. It's only when I read up about Gnosticism and went down various conspiracy-theory rabbit-holes on Youtube that I could piece it all together, and have the right words to describe it (escaping the Matrix etc).

I would never try them again though. Too risky. I value my mental health too much. If I want shroom-like hallucinations though, I use the Lumenate app which everyone should try:

https://lumenategrowth.com/

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#72

Post by blamazon »

On one July 4 years ago I walked alone to a beach on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. I lied down on the sand and put a hat over my face. I listened to the waves.

The beach was busy - I could also hear the ambient sound of many people chattering in different languages. So many languages. It was profound to me that those people came from so far around the world to that place, bringing with them an unimaginable depth of experiences and cultural diversity. Seeking the best for their families. Who did they leave behind? It was emotionally overwhelming. I cried.

After a while of focusing on sounds I started to focus on touch - the individual grains of sand against my fingers, the mass of sand below me. The wind on my exposed skin. The radiant warmth of summer.

As I focused on the feeling of touch, a remarkable thing happened. I felt the boundary between me and the universe start to dissolve. With each crash of the waves, the dotted line between me and the universe receded bit by bit.

Eventually I felt I was no longer separate from the sand, the waves, the air, the people. I was all of those things and I was nothing. I was a clump of cells on a rock.

Then I stood up and walked away, utterly at peace. My life was changed forever. Thanks, LSD.

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#73

Post by nope96 »

cetahfh14615 wrote: post #62
nope96 wrote: post #54

I've never taken hallucinogens, but I had many friends that did: Best friend and his girlfriend did LSD, the girlfriend had an immediate mental breakdown and was hospitalized. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in the following months, has been a life long schizophrenic ever since. The best friend developed "schizoid personality disorder" over the next year and was never the same. Both were normal, happy go lucky teens tha…

Could you elaborate on the girlfriend, best friend, and other friend? How did their experiences play out? What about it changed them?

They are in their 40's now. The girlfriend struggled with mental health and never really held a job. The guy on mushrooms went through years of therapy and anti-depressants, and seemed to have a normal life. The best friend still struggles with what he calls random "dissociation" and " depersonalization" episodes. He's a fairly self-destructive person that clearly has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder#...

It's all anecdotal - maybe the drugs accelerated something that would have happened anyway? Maybe they were more vulnerable as teens? who knows! I do know that none of them would ever touch hallucinogens today.

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#74

Post by kodah »

mistermann wrote: post #44
kodah wrote: post #10

I wouldn't call myself a psychonaut yet, but I do love hallucinations. One thing I think the article didn't touch on that I found profoundly interesting is depersonalization. I had a trip recently where I entirely left my conscious reality behind, temporarily, except by a very thin thread. Some context for those that don't follow the fractals, depersonalization isn't super common on things like mushrooms or LSD, but…

Now that you have been through it, do you think you would be able to reasonably emulate the cognitive aspect of the experience, leaving aside all of the ~emotional/experiential aspects of it? --------- EDIT: I've exceeded my three posts per day limit but am keenly interested in this topic, so will reply here hoping you will see it (if not, I will re-post as a reply tomorrow): > Like, can I observe myself more readily…

Like, can I observe myself more readily without judgement and emotion? Yeah, I think these experiences teach me to do that in new and fascinating ways over time, but it is absolutely iterative.

If you're asking if I can make the same discoveries without LSD now that I've done it once, maybe - but I doubt it. Many of the chains LSD relieves you of you are so accustomed to having that you may not even know they're present.

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#75

Post by echelon_musk »

AnthonBerg wrote: post #23
drcongo wrote: post #12

The life-changing effect of LSD for me was a profound shift in the clarity of my thinking, like gaining a new superpower (compared to my prior, foggy brain) overnight. I'll always be thankful for that first trip.

As far as I understand the science, that clarity is in part the perceived experience of reduced inflammation in the central nervous system. Psychedelics are anti-inflammatory. (Profoundly so. The anti-inflammatory effect is orders of magnitude stronger than the effects on the mind, i.e. a dose orders of magnitude smaller than we can directly perceive has a strong anti-inflammatory effect. Which is fascinating as thes…

I wonder if the anti inflammatory effects explain the mechanism of why Ergotamine is prescribed for migraines and cluster headaches! [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotamine#Medical_uses

(Many years ago I remember a reddit post of a college student who used his school's lab to convert Ergotamine tablets into LSD and lay blotter. The comments were mostly of people congratulating him for his skill and then telling him to remove his post before he was discovered.)

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#76

Post by kodah »

giantg2 wrote: post #49
mod wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After you take the CBD to stop things, what happens?

Along these lines, does CBD stop things?

I honestly haven't had to do it. I try to ride my bad trips out as long as I'm rooted in my reality and feel safe doing so. CBD has anti-psychotic properties, CBD also binds to the very same serotonin receptors that LSD does. From what I've read, benzos are like hitting the emergency brakes - all things stop when the pill takes effect. CBD turns down the volume, which likely makes a bad trip more tolerable or turns it into an okay trip.

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#77

Post by TinyRick »

mtizim wrote: post #66
TinyRick wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dosage matters a lot. 100-200μg of LSD doesn't do much for me, but 400-500μg is just right for a profound experience. YMMV.

This is some absolutely wrong dosage, please don't ever take actual 400ug doses unless you really know what you're doing. Most tabs sold as 200ug are in the 30-80ug range, so people tend to severely overestimate the dosage.

I absolutely agree that non-experienced users should start off with low doses, no more than 100μg. I am very experienced with psychedelics and knew what I was getting into when I took higher amounts. My point was simply that low doses may not result in "life changing experiences", for some to experience that (such as myself) higher doses may be required.

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#78

Post by [deleted] »

nope96 wrote: post #73
cetahfh14615 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on the girlfriend, best friend, and other friend? How did their experiences play out? What about it changed them?

They are in their 40's now. The girlfriend struggled with mental health and never really held a job. The guy on mushrooms went through years of therapy and anti-depressants, and seemed to have a normal life. The best friend still struggles with what he calls random "dissociation" and " depersonalization" episodes. He's a fairly self-destructive person that clearly has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personalit…

[deleted]

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#79

Post by dimgl »

LeonTheremin wrote: post #69
nope96 wrote: post #54

I've never taken hallucinogens, but I had many friends that did: Best friend and his girlfriend did LSD, the girlfriend had an immediate mental breakdown and was hospitalized. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in the following months, has been a life long schizophrenic ever since. The best friend developed "schizoid personality disorder" over the next year and was never the same. Both were normal, happy go lucky teens tha…

Quoted post unavailable.

This is a joke, right?

Re: The life-changing effects of hallucinations

#80

Post by joemi »

cetahfh14615 wrote: post #61

Of the people I've known who did hallucinogens, I knew them all before and after. NONE of them were better off afterward You can read all the "life changing experiences" that people have online, but when you take these you roll a dice. Keep this in mind. There's a lot of people who shill them super hard, and they might've had a positive experience, but consider the risk vs the reward and tread lightly edit: And even…

I wonder how much of that's due to the hallucinogens themselves versus the situations that led them to the hallucinogens.
Post reply on HN