
LSD – My Problem Child (1980) [pdf] - bookofjoe
https://maps.org/images/pdf/books/lsdmyproblemchild.pdf
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idclip
I once took a “hero dose” of 1500 units, (15 ministamps) as my first dose - i
used LSD 3 times after that.

My first experience was ... very holy. Time stopped. I had hallucinations of
spider webs weaved into my visual space, and it mixed with sunlight. I felt i
was eternal.

I understood what love is, and what grief is, and why (bear with me now ..) if
god would to exist, he would have been the loneliest thing, and in his grief
and loneliness, he gave birth to otherness, and here we are. I was my own
mother, i was my own father, i was everything that ever was, and i did it all
because i had one moment of terrorizing loneliness that i (as god) couldn’t
take.

It was all for me, a show i put on to entertain my eternal self, i thought
about death and i felt immense gratitude, and i suddenly realized how scared
everyone else must really be ... i felt extreme grief and love for my parents.

My other experiments, at much lower doses just made me feel anxious. I watched
the joker on 400 units, and I nearly cried. it was extremely intense and
jarring. I generally find that LSD will amplify your base emotions, sort of
like turning a volume dial to max.

It’s a drug to be respected, the kinds of convictions it can generate in the
human mind are intense and the impression they leave is significant.

Its definitely not something i would lightly take, or take often, but am
thankful for trying.

~~~
dross
I don't know the dose and will ask, but your experience matches my only
experience and I hadn't looked into it before. Everything resolved to one
entity, which was almost nothingness at the same time. As a solipsist, the
experience and events leading up to it, including the peers that appeared to
be guides, remain with me today. This was something I read leading up to it,
[http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html](http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html)

This video, during the experience, now defined as my most manic episode, was
...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYWOdtReCVw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYWOdtReCVw)
It's hard to define.

~~~
idclip
Yes! This is how my time loop began! Everything collapsed into one thing.

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chasd00
I've did LSD quite a bit in college. When it goes right it's unlike anything
you've ever experienced, when it goes wrong it's... unlike anything you've
ever experienced.

For anyone thinking about trying it, i'm not going to say you should or should
not. Just understand, you're dealing with something poorly understood and
incomprehensibly powerful.

~~~
mhh__
I think everyone should experience it in some way. I hate the hazy feeling of
being "high"-high, but there's a depth to LSD which I find incredibly
fascinating. I think the mystique and non-communicability of the experience
add to that. Lots of oxymoronic phrases come to mind.

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pmoriarty
Many more related books here:

[https://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/books_online.sht...](https://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/books_online.shtml)

~~~
AngryData
Thanks, anyone considering taking any drugs would do themselves a great
service to look it up on erowid first at the least. It doesn't have all the
information, but it has enough to make a decently informed decision.

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LandR
My experience with drugs is limited to stuff like mdma and cocaine. I've
always wanted to try a powerful psychoactive / hallucinogenic but I have
issues with depression and I've been told if you have mental issues LSD and
their like can make them much worse! But I've also heard they can be great for
people with depression / self asteem issues.

Honestly, despite them being safer than other drugs with regard to things like
addiction... They kinda scare me! In ways that harder drugs don't!

~~~
pmoriarty
_" I've been told if you have mental issues LSD and their like can make them
much worse!"_

That's the usual received wisdom. However, back in the old days there was some
research in to treating various mental disorders with LSD. Here's an example
of treatment of childhood schizophrenia with LSD and psilocybin: [1]

LSD has also been used to treat alcoholism (with the most famous case being
that of Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous).

All of these studies were done decades ago, so I'm sure contemporary
scientists would have lots of objections regarding their methodology, ethics,
and so on. But the early studies do show promise, and I hope one day these
avenues of research will be further explored with modern tools.

Even now there is ongoing research in to using psilocybin to treat depression
and end-of-life anxiety in cancer patients.

Of course, it is important to note that such research was in to using
psychedelics in a therapeutic setting, with trained, experienced therapists,
and not just haphazardly taking psychedelics to "get high", "party" or "have a
good time". The results of haphazard use without proper guidance, particularly
for people with mental health issues, is likely to be far riskier.

[1] - [https://maps.org/news-
letters/v07n3/07318fis.html](https://maps.org/news-
letters/v07n3/07318fis.html)

~~~
gbjw
To add to this, Michael Pollan (author of Omnivore's Dillema and a
Berkeley/Harvard prof) recently published a lucid account of the history of
psychedelics and 'psychotomimetics' (as they were originally named, owing to
their perceived ability to mimic psychosic) with the title 'How to change your
mind' [1].

In the book, Pollan details the recent renaissance in clinical psychedelic
research to treat depression and help terminally-ill patients. The hope is
that the 'noetic quality' of psychedelic trips--a term coined by William James
in the context of religious experiences--can help pierce through the defences
of one's ego. This 'noetic quality' refers to the perception that a
psychedelic trip feels like 'total reality'; a series of 'revealed truths'
rather than drug-induced illusions. This bears resemblance to revelatory
experiences in religious contexts and the two are intimately tied in many
Shamanic practices.

By inducing a long-lasting feeling of transcendence, researchers hope that
psilocybin et al. can act as a more direct way to short-circuit destructive
patterns of thought and help one come to terms with death (as opposed to, or
in conjunction with, traditional therapy).

Pollan writes that in controlled settings with a trained guide, 'bad trips'
are quite rare, though they can occur.

[1] [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36613747-how-to-
change-y...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36613747-how-to-change-your-
mind).

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max_
>Experiments on mice with radioactively labeled LSD have established that
intravenously injected LSD disappeared down to a small vestige, very rapidly
from the bloodstream and was distributed throughout the organism.
Unexpectedly, the lowest concentration is found in the brain. It is
concentrated here in certain centers of the midbrain that play a role in the
regulation of emotion. Such findings give indications as to the localization
of certain psychic functions in the brain.

The Irony...

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egdod
Why would copying an entire book be fair use?

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bookofjoe
>Note: LSD, My Problem Child appears in this library under the "Fair Use"
rulings regarding the 1976 Copyright Act for NON-profit academic, research,
and general information purposes. Readers requiring a permanent copy of LSD,
My Problem Child for their library are advised to purchase it from their book
supplier.

~~~
cpach
I wonder if that really would hold up in court, were the Hofmann estate to
sue.

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webdva
I wrote a comment here attempting to appeal to a specific segment of Anglo-
American intelligence and knowledge. I actually expected to receive upvotes,
social currency, and acceptance, but instead the opposite effect occurred. As
a result of having processed the event after a long amount of time, I decided
to apologize for any disruption of intended human activity and for my
presumptions: I apologize for any disruption of intended human activity and
for my presumptions. I promise to do better next time as I learn to interact
with your valuable Hacker News society and culture.

