
A Psychedelic Renaissance - anythingnonidin
https://www.philanthropy.com/article/With-Government-Skittish-About/246170?key=GCZRFFWJmdWfHIIYJmst8JP0M4DTMThB3J8gWMr73DvMQUzdvlnIckIeopOfeeXEQzk0Y0xhRF9fcWRWUGIyYTctTklFRXFZdTRyRVA1aFUwbGdhN0hPUk9tOA
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tomhoward
This recent interview [1] with Jamie Wheal, co-author of _Stealing Fire_ [2]
is worth watching if you're interested in this topic.

He's observed the psychedelic "revolution" in recent years, and has both
positive and negative things to say about it, but on the whole he's deeply
pessimistic about where it seems to be going.

His observations about fashion-driven, Instagram-performative "enlightenment",
and the propensity for a little bit of enlightenment to lead one down
dangerous paths (including charging big money to lead others down the same
dangerous path), are resonant for me, having been through the journey myself
and seen it from both sides.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkPB33bD3hQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkPB33bD3hQ)

[2] [https://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Fire-Maverick-Scientists-
Rev...](https://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Fire-Maverick-Scientists-
Revolutionizing/dp/0062429655)

~~~
puranjay
I really wonder if anyone ever really does anything for themselves anymore.
Every experience, even the most intimate and introspective ones, seem to be
telegraphed and advertised as a part of your "branded identity"

~~~
KineticLensman
Some of us are not focussed on building our brand identity. I enjoy
photography and back in the day my Flickr portfolio had 500k views. I still
take photographs, but don’t now post them online because I want to enjoy the
craft of creating them, not help others maximise engagement or similar

~~~
sutterbomb
But you do want to point out to strangers that you’re above sharing your
photos.

It’s easy to be super cynical about everyone’s motivations, and it’s turtles
(or signaling) all the way down

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sharkweek
I would love to try a psychedelic trip with a trained therapist guiding me
toward facing my fears.

I’m generally a pretty anxious person (diagnosed with OCD, managed with ERP
therapy), and I feel pretty confident that it would force me to face that part
of me. I have no doubt that it’d be a beneficial experience.

Buuuuut... part of me is super nervous about what I might also find. It’s like
part of my mind wants to explore it, and the other part doesn’t, which creates
a lot of inner conflict. I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do with
two parts of my brain fighting with itself.

Side note: How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan is a fantastic book and
worth a read.

~~~
h2odragon
Trained therapist? Nah. Good, trusted friend. Someone who will be willing to
clean up embarrassing bodily functions for you type of friend.

You can't pay somebody to discover you, you're going to have to do that
yourself. Having a companion is just to help keep things from getting messy.

~~~
llamataboot
Different roles. Having some good friends to help prop you up, tell you when
you're being an ass, wipe your tears, etc - good and nec.

Definitely not the same as a trained therapist who actually knows how to hold
the mirror for you to see yourself in a different way.

~~~
h2odragon
Everybody's different and perhaps having someone do that role is a good thing.
I'm not so sure. If you set out to discover yourself with someone else, then
thats what you get, yourself with someone else. When they leave are you still
the same? We're social animals, expecting to interact with someone is a
different state. (yeah I'm not expressing this well but its been nagging at me
for hours so I'm trying)

Personally my favorite mushroom experiences involve a full moon spring night,
a coon hound, and square miles of wild woods. That's the trip I recommend; but
so few people are blessed with good coon hounds now.

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tlb
The funding discussed here is for scientific studies. But it's not clear what
important question is still open and needs further study. From what I've read
[1, 2, 3, 4], the psychological benefits are well-established and powerful if
used in the right mindset, and the health risks are also well-established and
rare or minor if used carefully.

So science seems to have answered the questions it can answer. The obstacle to
wider use is policy and regulation.

Is funding scientific studies where the answers are already known an effective
way to change government and social policy? It could be, but I hope everyone
involved understands whether they're doing Science or Advocacy.

[1] Michael Pollan, _How to Change your Mind_

[2] James Fadiman, _The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide_

[3] Ayelet Waldman, _A Very Good Day_

[4] Dozens of popular articles

~~~
blendo
Here's one scientific question I'd like to see answered: If a patient is
currently taking anti-depressants (or other meds) for the treatment of PTSD,
depression, or addiction, and if a physician thinks a psychedelic treatment
might help, how should they understand the interaction between the psych meds
and the hallucinogen?

Since we're dealing with ill people, a larger amount of care is warranted.

~~~
filoeleven
It depends on the meds. MAOIs have a strengthening effect with every
psychedelic, as far as I’ve read.

Anyone going for an ayahuasca treatment needs to know that an MAOI is part of
that brew, so they’d have to stop their medication some weeks beforehand or
risk potential death if already taking one.

The places running medical studies like Johns Hopkins probably have good info
on interactions, unless they’re turning away study participants who take
medication. Since they’re specifically looking at treating depression,
anxiety, addiction, I suspect they’re accepting people who are already on a
variety of medications.

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mapcars
From my experience, everything mentioned in the article can be "treated" with
meditation. I say treated in quotes because all this is self-caused and
treatment is only to realize that it's actually me is the one who is causing
stress and anxiety to myself. Once this is realized these things disappear in
a matter of days.

Meditation is long-established, safe, legal, available to everyone regardless
of any status or condition (excluding only severe damage in brain/spine areas)
and does not require billion dollar research.

~~~
fartcannon
Have you tried it? Perhaps there words aren't doing justice to the experience
and what you're writing off as the same as some other act might be missing the
target.

For example, having never tried meditation nor psychedelics, both yours and
ops experiences seem barely believable. But I haven't tried either so I
wouldn't go out and say that.

~~~
mapcars
Yes, I'm saying this only because last 1.5 years I'm doing my kriya practice
which includes meditation, breathing technic and few other things and it has
been working wonderfully - since I "got it" I never had a single bad day. I am
comparing this to having occasional bursts of depression, loneliness, self-
doubt for a few years before.

I did not try strong psychedelics but the problem with them as with any kind
of drug is the effect wears off inevitably. If you feel great for some time,
going back becomes even more terrible than staying there, because now you know
there are better states. What sets meditation apart is that it is a process
which (at a certain level) lasts through the day and even becomes permanent.
This is something you can not get with outside help because you will just
become dependent on the source of that help.

~~~
easymodex
>I did not try strong psychedelics but the problem with them as with any kind
of drug is the effect wears off inevitably. If you feel great for some time,
going back becomes even more terrible than staying there, because now you know
there are better states.

This is hard to claim if you've never tried it. Personally when I do a shroom
trip I don't even feel like doing it again until months later. I've done it
like 8 times in my whole life, usually for fun with friends but it always ends
up enlightening and spiritual. The effects are permanent in a very good way.
It's a trip, same as you travel to a different exotic country and explore a
different world, the memories, the feelings you experienced and the knowledge
you gained will stay with you.

~~~
mapcars
>The effects are permanent in a very good way. It's a trip, same as you travel
to a different exotic country and explore a different world, the memories, the
feelings you experienced and the knowledge you gained will stay with you.

You just said yourself that effect is not permanent

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chinarulezzz
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Thanks.

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cerealbad
any link between the melted art visual neural networks produce and the visuals
that are reported during various psychedelic sessions? how plausible is the
theory that what is occurring is just various networks in the brain
deteriorating while the drug is being flushed through the system?

a type of audio-visual anesthesia experienced in an otherwise conscious semi-
lucid waking state.

~~~
erikpukinskis
I think this is pretty accurate. I think psychedelics are basically like the
electrical box in your house, but for your brain. You can flip the breakers
and see what happens with different circuits disabled. Since normally
everything in your brain operates simultaneously this can be very instructive
for learning what's happening.

Once you come back to sobriety, you can then use what you saw to start
training yourself to move your attention between those circuits, giving you
basically better brain control.

Neural nets are trained on the tiniest tiniest slices of human experiences so
their feedback has a similar character to partly disabled brains.

------
GreaterFool
When did we forgo

> Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

?

"Modern" mentality seems to be that everything is illegal unless government
specifically approves. Any substance that emerges and becomes popular enough
gets banned immediately (unless there's a huge backlash; I can only recall one
case like that, kratom. Don't know much about that substance though).
Meanwhile invasive questionable medical treatments and supplements are
marketed as safe (government stamp of approval) all the time.

I recall how green tea extract destroyed someone's liver because the dosage
was just crazy high. But it's green tea, so must be good for you? Or how about
alcohol or tobacco or opioids which are literally killing people?

I think psychedelics should be unbanned first, because it's the _right thing
to do_. The need for more research to treat specific conditions is a separate
manner.

At the very least this should apply to mushrooms and perhaps LSD. MDMA can be
great even in self-administered setting but I think it has more potential for
(unintentional) abuse.

But mushrooms can be abused right? Sure. What about people who died in water
drinking or hot-dog eating contents then? Are we going to ban those?

~~~
GreaterFool
Also, psychedelics make you face your inner demons. Perhaps not right away
because the wonders of the experience can be captivating, for a while. But
sooner or later they will. Many people I talked to tried something like LSD
once or twice and while they enjoyed the fun part they didn't like what
they've seen once the party was over and they were left alone with their own
thoughts. This is where the benefits are but it's work and it's not easy.

Just imagine something like cannabis lounge where you could take mushrooms in
safe setting and if you feel overwhelmed you could talk to a trained staff
member. Not necessarily a psychologist, just someone who can guide you through
the experience. I really believe it could unleash incredible well-being for
the society.

But then who'd gobble up those anxiety or depression or ADHD or sleeping^`
pills?

^1 Wasn't there a severe warning issued by FDA on sleeping pills just few days
ago? Risk of injury or death? I had some Ambien to sleep on a plane but I
thrown that stuff away.

~~~
grawprog
>Just imagine something like cannabis lounge where you could take mushrooms in
safe setting and if you feel overwhelmed you could talk to a trained staff
member. Not necessarily a psychologist, just someone who can guide you through
the experience. I really believe it could unleash incredible well-being for
the society.

I like idea of this, but I don't think I'd like to do mushrooms in a place
like that. I tend to alternate between getting strong urges to wander and
urges to just sit and do nothing and i'm not a big fan having people around
not also on mushrooms. I couldn't hand sitting in a cafe like that for the
duration of a trip. That would probably make it worse for me.

~~~
katzgrau
Yeah and I don't think talking to a stranger, trained staff or not, is going
to be anyone's cup of tea when they're on mushrooms. It should be an
experience for friends whose company you truly enjoy - and trust to keep you
cool if you get anxious.

~~~
beenBoutIT
The whole bit about needing other people around is leftover hype from anti-
drug propaganda films. Nobody really takes a psychedelic and leaps out of a
window or fries their child in a pan.

~~~
blotter_paper
Ehh, I have enjoyed taking psychedelics alone many times, but I think it's
probably clever to start with somebody more experienced who can keep their
cool enough to remember where the towels are and help guide you to another
area if something in the environment is overwhelming. Once you've been there a
few times you can pretty much do this yourself, but without understanding how
much set and setting affect the experience it can be difficult to remember
that walking into the next room over can change _everything._ It's not about
keeping you from jumping out of a window, it's about managing messes and mood.

