
LSD-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety with a life-threatening disease - aethertap
http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/11/07/0269881114555249.abstract
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anigbrowl
LSD is widely understood to be benign when used in a controlled setting (even
recreational aficionados' discussions of it focus heavily on the importance of
establishing a safe context under the rubric of 'set and setting'). However I
think it will take another 15-20 years to see it legalized; drug warriors will
harp on the crazy-making potential while paranoids will dredge up fears of
gubmint mind control - both of which have roots in reality, since LSD _is_ a
powerful hallucinogenic that can lead to confusion or injury if consumed in
excess or carelessly, and since the CIA did experiment with psychedelic drugs
on unwitting subjects back in the 1960s.

Even limited rescheduling allowing medical treatment would be a good thing
IMHO, but the reality of the US medical system is such that that the <$5 dose
of LSD is likely to be dwarfed by a $3,000+ bill for clinical oversight and
additional fees for administrative compliance with drug scheduling protocols.

~~~
api
As someone with some experience, and who ran around in counterculture circles
where such things were common years ago, I would offer a more tempered view.

LSD is not chemically addictive and is basically non toxic in that there is no
known LD50. On a pure physical level it is very safe. Psychologically the
reality is more mixed. If used in moderation with some sense of
responsibility, it can be neutral or even beneficial. But "acid casualties"
really are a thing. Heavy, irresponsible abuse of LSD and similar drugs can
really destroy a person's mind. I've seen people who really abused these
things and sort of never came back.

While there appears to be no conventional toxicity, it would not surprise me
to learn later that there is some potential for harm at the neurological
level. If so it might be more a result of trauma or stress due to the effects
of abuse than direct toxicity. In any case the abusers I saw did seem mentally
impaired, in some cases never recovering.

So when someone asks me about these things, I always tell them to do a lot of
homework on them and to be very careful. I say the same thing to people who
want to play with stimulants or nootropics. In general extreme care and self
awareness should be exercised when putting anything into your body, especially
if it affects your mind.

Most of the people from the psychedelic world who seem to have their heads
screwed on seem to advocate their use rarely, under careful setting, with at
least one other experienced person that you trust, and a lot of introspection
and time in between to integrate the experience.

Anecdotally harm seems to occur when recklessness precludes integration, as if
not processing the experience leads to some kind of overload and trauma. It
may be a form of burnout leading to something like PTSD, which can actually
manifest physical brain damage. Look up some of the stuff on child abuse and
PTSD victims and neurological effects.

On the upside, I have seen dramatic evidence that these things can lead to
deep positive breakthroughs. They might also be able to act as "steroids for
creativity," allowing extreme feats of lateral integration that are hard to
even imagine in ordinary consciousness. These compounds are fascinating and
powerful tools that should be studied with care. They should neither be
marketed recklessly as enlightenment in a pill or ignorantly banned by fear-
mongering reactionaries.

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researcher88
DMT is easily tolerated by the body and only lasts 10 minutes. There's no
hangover type effect and it doesn't last hours. It's also infinitely more
intense, with an overwhelming sense of love and comfort.

LSD is like riding a bicycle but DMT is more flying in a spaceship that
actually travels through dimensions. There seems to be a much lower or non-
existant risk of a bad trip. (Unlike the version you drink, which can take you
to hell and back.)

~~~
tbastos
You don't seem to know what you're talking about... the chance of bad tripping
with DMT is about the same as with other psychedelics. It's just waaay more
intense and has a shorter duration. And actually, most people argue that
Ayahuasca is more likely to give you an easy ride than pure DMT, which can be
"just too crazy".

~~~
TylerE
Arguably the short duration helps quite a bit... bad trips don't start
instantly....they are more of a gradual building of anxiety that builds to a
sort of panic attack.

~~~
tbastos
If you smoke DMT and don't have a breakthrough you may feel a lot of
discomfort, which may cause anxiety. That's exactly what happened the first
time I tried DMT, and I was already pretty experienced with other
psychedelics...

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leroy_masochist
A guy I served with credits weekly shroom trips with helping him deal with his
PTS symptoms. He was not exactly a tree hugging hippie when we were both in
uniform so it's good to see him being so open minded about solutions to his
problems.

The utility of psychedelics in therapy has been a "known quantity" to the
medical community since the 1950's at least, so it's good to see that
mainstream acceptance of such is gaining ground.

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pazimzadeh
Here is the full text (PDF):
[http://cl.ly/YZzg/download/J%20Psychopharmacol-2014-Gasser-0...](http://cl.ly/YZzg/download/J%20Psychopharmacol-2014-Gasser-0269881114555249.pdf)

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Aaronneyer
It's awesome that these kinds of studies are finally able to happen again.

Scientists had already determined the usefulness of LSD and other psychedelics
in Psychotherapy of this sort back in 1950
([http://www.psymon.com/psychedelia/articles/busch.htm](http://www.psymon.com/psychedelia/articles/busch.htm)),
but since the controlled substance act in 1970, it hasn't been possible to do
any real science in this area. Good to see this finally starting to change.

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theviciousfish
SET AND SETTING. IT IS ALL SET AND SETTING.

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mpg33
As a person who has an anxiety problem I'd be worried about having a bad trip.
I have never done LSD though..

~~~
csorrell
The benefit of using LSD in a psycho-therapeutic environment is the
opportunity to work through the anxiety that comes up during the trip.

For a lot of people, an emotional breakdown can act as the catalyst for a life
changing emotional breakthrough.

edit to add: 'bad trip' is a subjective term.

~~~
thbbht
You're certainly right in the subjective use of "bad trip". I think the term
has been applied to maybe too wide a spectrum of psychedelic experience, I've
usually seen it manifest itself as one of these two:

A. An unpleasant experience where the user is forced to confront uncomfortable
realities about themselves and the "world". This is usually a feature of most
trips, it could last a few minutes or hours. This can often be a net-positive
experience as the user navigates their way out of it and realize the
baselessness of some of their more troubling assumptions.

B. An experience where the user entirely loses touch with "reality". Sometimes
this resembles the symptoms of a very strong panic-attack. It includes
feelings of imminent death or the feeling that the user has permanently
altered their psychology forever or has gone irreparably insane. This can last
for the entire duration of the trip and have permanent, lasting effects long
after the drug has worn off.

As someone mentioned further up the thread, "A" can sometimes spiral out of
control into "B".

~~~
colordrops
Just an anecdote... I've had several "A" style bad trips, and they all ended
up being net-positive for me. I've had one "B" style bad trip in the late 90s,
and still haven't gotten 100% over it.

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tbastos
Related topic: I just finished reading "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality
Without Religion" by Sam Harris and it has become my book recommendation for
people that don't understand psychedelics or meditation. Sam talks about both
in the most lucid way possible. Highly recommended!

~~~
api
IMHO religion has little to do with spirituality. I'm not necessarily saying
it's all bad, just that it's all about politics, philosophy, enforcing a
certain set of norms to allow cooperation, etc. The relationship of religion
to spiritual experience is along the lines of the relationship between space
themed fiction like Star Trek to actual space flight.

~~~
tomsthumb
Religion is a classifying term for a variety of cultural languages in which
the vast majority of spirituality has been framed throughout history. Saying
they have little to do with one another is, at best, uninformed.

One does not necessitate the other, but that does not mean they are anywhere
near as dissociated as you suggest.

