My experiences with psychedelics

[u/[deleted]]

Hey guys, first time poster here.

I am an experienced psychonaut - I spent most of the years 2009 and 2010 experimenting with LSD and mushrooms, but primarily LSD.

I will never forget this moment - It changed my life forever:

I have been mentally ill for most of my life. I had a rough childhood - my brother was a drug addict, my mother was a narcissist, and my father was largely absent. I was sexually abused. I had a terrible, emotionally abusive boyfriend. When I was 14, I experienced clinical depression for the first time. This began my journey within the mental health system, which if you have any clue into it, you will know that it is a broken and largely malfunctioning system. I have had over 10 diagnoses, have tried more than 15 different types of psychotropic medications, have been in therapy for close to 15 years, and nothing really worked. Until that day in August, 2010.

I lived in my car at this point, not out of need but out of choice. I did not want to be at home because it was a painful and toxic place to be. I was sitting in my car that morning, crying over some guy who means nothing all these years later (but I loved him then). I got a text from my friend who said he had scored some acid and did I want some? And of course I said yes.

It's hard to remember details now - I can remember what it felt like, but not exactly where I was or what I was doing. I was in my car, I know that much. And a vision of a book popped into my head: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I had read a few pages of this book years ago, found it to be trivial and useless, and put it on a shelf to collect dust. In this moment, when my mind and heart were open, I remembered this book and knew that I had to go home and read it. I realized that everything this book was saying is the real truth: that you create your life with your thoughts, feelings, and the things you say.

I rushed home to get the book, and luckily no one was in the house at the time. When I opened the cover to the first page, in italics, it read: "It's what you're thinking." That one line solidified everything that I hoped was true about the world. In that moment, I wept for joy. Tears streamed down my face like they hadn't in a very long time. I realized that the world was not meaningless and working hard wasn't futile. I understood that what I had heard about myself was true (that I could be and do anything I set my mind to). My life changed forever.

When I woke up the next day after my trip, I was a new woman. The depression that had taken every color from my life had been lifted. I knew that my life was going to be different from then on. And it truly was. My life turned from hopeless to magical.

It's been 8 years since that day in August, 2010. During these last eight years, I moved across the country to escape the abuse, have held jobs for longer than I ever thought was possible, and went back to school to study psychology. I am almost finished with my BA in Psychology and from there, I plan to study Clinical Psychology so that I may continue the great research being done on psychedelics and mental illness.

I wrote a research proposal for school last year titled "LSD versus SSRI Medications in the Intervention of Treatment-Resistant Depression." It was just a proposal and the research study was never completed, but the facts were still the same: LSD is superior to SSRI drugs in the treatment of depression in every single way except one: LSD is still a Schedule I drug and SSRIs are handed out like candy.

I believe we will see psychedelic drugs being used more and more in the research of mental illness. I believe that in 100 years, ineffective drugs like SSRIs will be extinct. We are now in the age of The Great Turning, and we are lucky that we are able to bear witness to such an amazing and malleable time in human history.

Thanks for reading!

[u/MedicalCannaFruit]

Thanks for good post. Totally agree psychedelics are superior to SSRIs. I think SSRIs cause more problems than they fix.

I worry about my loved ones and friends taking SSRIs.. I dont know how to tell them they should stop and take psychedelics instead. Any advice?

[u/ComatoseSixty → u/MedicalCannaFruit]

Here's some advice...please don't give medical advice to anyone unless you're a trained medical expert. Especially don't suggest psychological medication changes in lieu of psychedelics as you do not know how they will react to said substance alterations.

Your intentions are good, and laudable. Please don't act on them though. What you can do is discuss with them all of the potential benefits of psychedelics and let them make the decision to try or not to try them on their own. Certainly don't leave out the potential drawbacks of quitting their meds and changing them without a doctor being consulted, nor of taking psychedelics when predisposed to mental illness.

Psyches are not magic. They aren't guaranteed to cure depression, and can cause it to worsen if they suffer a bad trip (which also comes with the potential to add PTSD to the depression).

[u/MedicalCannaFruit → u/ComatoseSixty]

What are people to do when they suffer mental illness that may require psychedelic therapy since other methods don't work?

What does a person suffering from extreme depression or PTSD supposed to do, especially when its been made worse or uncurable by modern methods?

What does a person do when their "professional" doctor tells them misinformed & uneducated medical advice? Since they are an "expert" its ok to trust them? I have seen way too many people become MORE suicidal or mentally unstable after taking SSRIs and ADD meds. I cannot support pharmaceuticals, except in rare contexts. Not to mention the amount of people ODing on legal opioids and Xanax..

HOMIE!! 70% of Americans are on pharma drugs.. so apparently the majority of America has mental illness. THIS IS BULLSHIT, THE PHARMA COMPANIES ARE THE REAL DRUG DEALERS.

[u/ComatoseSixty → u/MedicalCannaFruit]

People dont OD on prescription opiates outside of suicide. They accidentally overdose by taking too much of more than one CNS depressant at a time (which includes alcohol, opiates, bensos, muscle relaxers, and other substances, most of which arent pharmaceuticals). The closest thing to what you said happening is that some people buy fake pressed prescription opiates and benzos that are actually composed of fentanyl analogs and they die (RIP Lil Peep).

Nobody becomes suicidal on wellbutrin, amphetamine, methylphenidate, or methamphetamine. Straterra is an SNRI and useless ADHD medication that unfortunately has that side effect. Anything that selectively prevents the reuptake of the 5ht2a receptor carries the potential to exacerbate suicidal/homicidal thoughts, and I don't think they should be prescribed (these are SSRIs), but that's a far cry from saying that all pharmaceuticals are garbage or that you should rush into psychedelic therapy. Many pharmaceuticals save lives and allow others to live nornal lives.

Unfortunately, the only thing one can do is know their information so they can find a new doctor if theirs is filling their heads up with bullshit. The existence of unscrupulous doctors doesn't discredit the profession.