
Magic mushrooms, illegal in most places, may have therapeutic uses - johnny313
https://www.economist.com/international/2019/06/08/magic-mushrooms-illegal-in-most-places-may-have-therapeutic-uses
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sharkweek
I never really had much of an interest in psychedelics for two (and a half)
reasons.

1) I’m a child of the DARE era, which scared me about the big, scary risks
associated with mind-altering substances!!!

2) I get severely anxious when I smoke even a little bit too much marijuana.

2.5) I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder (specifically OCD) which I now manage
with ERP. But I severely fear losing control of my thoughts.

However, I recently read How To Change Your Mind, and it did reshape my
thinking about a lot of the above.

I’m still hesitant to try shrooms or LSD, but the idea of a guided trip with a
trained therapist, who will walk me through the more fear-inducing moments,
does have an appeal. To think that maybe this would HELP my daily anxieties
seems like a dream.

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shaki-dora
I suffer from severe depression. The surprise with LSD was actually that it
made me happy. I had expected (and got) weird colors etc, but I thought its
emotional impact was somewhere from neutral to negative.

In about 8 trips over as many years, I haven't had a bad experience, except
one that just went on too long and became exhausting.

Yet I have had friends that are far more psychologically stable react
negatively to it.

I've never seen anyone react badly to MDMA, and I think it may actually be
more useful for emotional work. LSD makes me generically happy, but I'm more
likely to develop a fascination with areal mapping than gaining any
introspective.

Marijuana is pure hell. Sleepless nights of mild nausea, intense headaches,
and terror nightmares. And mixing it with alcohol drops my blood pressure to
syncope/sweating/panic levels.

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sharkweek
Thank you for sharing. It’s interesting to hear how happy it made you. If you
don’t mind expanding on that feeling I’d love to read more specifics.

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shaki-dora
It's just a state of extreme bliss, plus (and distinct) an appreciation for
all sorts of suddenly very beautiful things: music, landscapes, people, etc.
Sound especially feels incredibly precise and 3-dimensional.

Long term, the effect is rather small. I didn't have any negative hangover as
some people apparently do, but rather a sort of low-intensity glow that slowly
diminishes. In terms of treating depression, I don't think it made much
difference either way. But since I have been suffering for as long as I
remember, it was actually the first experience of such strong feelings I now
at least know what improvement would feel like.

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shaki-dora
The recent interest in Ketamine/MDMA/psychedelics is long overdue. But I can't
help feeling the optimism is somewhat too high?

I would encourage everyone to try LSD at some point in their lives. There are
just vast parts of culture and humanity that you will suddenly understand.
Most striking for me was seeing everyday scenes on the streets–people in
cafés, parks, etc.–exactly as they are depicted in impressionist paintings.
Or, of course, The Dark Side of the Moon.

But I'm sceptical regarding therapeutic use. Somewhere between 2% and 5% of
people have recreationally tried most any given category of drugs. It was
explored rather thoroughly in the therapist community in the 60s and 70s. If,
indeed, they had the potential to essentially cure any of the diseases we have
so far failed abysmally (depression, schizophrenia), no moralising majority
would have had the power to suppress them.

What's promising are some less-frequent diseases such as PTSD. PTSD is
somewhat unique because it involves memory, a system which we seem to have a
much better chance at influencing compared to the evolutionary ancient limbic
system of emotions.

Another fun aspect is the use of MDMA in talk therapy. For psychiatrist, it's
an absolutely mind-blowing experience. They have often devoted their life to
learning to get people to open up to them. And here you give them a pill and
the effect is, reliably, like that scene of Robin Williams hitting Matt Damon
in Good Will Hunting.

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taurath
I think they provide something no pharmaceuticals do - a rapid and acute shift
in perspective. In the face of trauma which creates damaged areas of the
brain, the perspective shift can allow us to address root problems that would
be otherwise inaccessible.

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toss1911
One of the most powerful benefits of psilocybin I don't see talked about very
often is in the treatment of ADHD. A tip for researchers: The anxiety reducing
effects are probably linked very strongly to emotional regulation which also
receives similar positive benefits.

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dr_dshiv
Sold over the counter in Amsterdam. It's not really a problem here, I suppose,
because the many open canals enforce minimal sobriety

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JumpCrisscross
Mushrooms, cannabis and LSD are each much safer than alcohol [1]. (Objectively
speaking, cocaine, amphetamine and MDMA are, too.) Legalisation for the first
three and decriminalisation for the latter makes sense.

(I’m a wine and whiskey person myself. But my subjective choices shouldn’t
have relevance.)

[1] [https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-rank-
recreational-d...](https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-rank-recreational-
drugs-based-on-how-dangerous-they-are)

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aarpmcgee
No shit.

~~~
Lambdanaut
Yeah like honestly, pretty much anyone that's had them and didn't have a
freakout can tell you that

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warent
Even the freakouts can be therapeutic depending on the individual's
perspective and how they integrate it.

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temp129038
It was just decriminalized in Oakland.

