Now we have all heard the stories: "My friends knows a guy who took a hit of acid and now he thinks he's a banana", "___ went insane after eating mushrooms", you name it. Then we also see people on here some 17,000 members(Aug-17-2012) and have heard of comparatively very few complications with mental health and psychedelics. Well, I read something yesterday that utterly disgusted me, I will omit names as I don't want to chastize someone on their ignorance, but here is the discussion.
A lot of the conversation was trimmed down to high-light the problematic thinking.
Now it's all fine and dandy to accept alternative medicine, philosophies, etc, without any proof. No harm, no foul. In fact some of these alternative perspectives are valid and improve lives over readily accepted ones. However, myself being a person who is challenged with a mental disorder feels the kind of thinking in the above conversation is ridiculous, harmful, and off-base. So I have decided to take my time and educate people on schizophrenia a little bit. I won't touch up on psychosis or bipolar disorder, as I don't know as much about them.
First of all 1 in 100 people have or will have(latent) schizophrenia at some point in their lives. Some instances more serious then others. 40% of these people will attempt suicide. The majority of males do not get married, the females generally do as it develops later in their lives. They all struggle with social contact even high-functioning ones. Some 30% are treatment and medication resistant. 70%-90%(depending on population of survey) smoke tobacco to gate their senses. It tends to get worse with age. A lot of them live lives of poverty(many home-less people) and self-medicate with hard-drugs and alcohol. These people have different brain structures and neuro-chemistry then the 'norm'(99%) of humanity. This is not a personality trait or a perspective.
Ventricular size's in schizophrenic persons brains are often larger then others. There are also abnormal volume changes in the cortex, frontal and temporal lobes during normal aging. There are also huge differences in NMDA receptor site functionality as well as serotonin and dopamine. In fact PCP(NMDA antagonist), LSD(serotonin agonist), and amphetamine induced psychosis(dopamine agonist), are all used for modeling schizophrenia and finding medications. These are fairly accurate models.
So, no you cannot pray or meditate this away, or come to a realization and overcome it. Most sufferers do not even know the things they are experiencing are not real until after the fact(if ever). Some peoples brains ARE physically very different. Some people acquire schizophrenia as children. So no, it has nothing to do with being an evil person or some karmic debt. So now what does this have to do with psychedelics beyond modelling the illness and brain functionality?
As many or some of you may or may not know. It is true that psychedelics can trigger latent mental illnesses to come into full effect. This is not a case against psychedelics as a traumatic or stress inducing experience can do the same. However, psychedelics can be a pretty effective way of triggering latent mental illnesses. This was first notated in the early LSD studies. Though if a car crash can trigger latent mental illness, losing a loved one, or being raped, and that doesn't make a person "evil", how does smoking DMT? ... I believe one needs to seriously re-evaluate their perspective on psychedelics and the physical nature of their existence if they have come to such a conclusion with a strong volume of repeatable and observable evidence to suggest this.
Some more myths about schizophrenia are that these people are dangerous, out of control, comitting crimes, and cannot live quasi-normal lives. Some cases may be deemed as 'dangerous' in general though the vast majority of these people are more a danger to themselves than anyone else. Manic's, antisocial's and psychopathic persons usually are a lot more prone to violence and crime. The majority of these peoples out of control behaviour happen in their minds and in their language, not in their actions. Generally they are victims of crimes as manipulative people readily take advantage of the psychologically 'weak'. Many moderate to high functioning schizophrenic people can manage jobs, some relationships, and hobbies. They can be very spiritual people, and are not always in a state of deep despair or anything like that. It's still not a joy-ride as some people have implied.
Is schizophrenia as Terrance McKenna had claimed? A shamanic pony ride through the magic spirit-world? I suppose this is up to a persons perspective as there isn't any evidence for a spirit-world outside of some peoples interpretations of experiences... I will let you watch a video of a typical schizophrenic person and you can judge for yourself...
(Also please see what Snozzleberry posted after this post!)
In conclusion, not everyone is built to come back from a heavy psychedelic experience. If you are going to dose someone you must realize THERE IS A CHANCE, albeit small, it could irreversibly ruin their life. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenic type disorders, and people with family histories of such are most likely for adverse reactions. If that does happen to someone you have dosed, they are NOT evil. Probably best to use discretion, research and critically think about things before you speak about them, or judge them. Never hear only one side, always entertain all sides until something clear comes through the mist. Much love, enjoy your stay on planet Earth.
If you need help with mental illness please seek adequate help. Psychedelic chat-rooms and forums can't do much for you beyond love you(which the Nexus will!). Most people can not understand what you're going through even if they think they do. Emergency rooms will take people in immediately if suicidal, manic, or psychotic/schizo behaviour is evident. There are also hot-lines that vary depending on the country.
Please feel free to reply with more information pertaining to the topic! I think education on this is relevant.
*note - this is a work in progress and I will return to this later providing references.
A lot of the conversation was trimmed down to high-light the problematic thinking.
Now it's all fine and dandy to accept alternative medicine, philosophies, etc, without any proof. No harm, no foul. In fact some of these alternative perspectives are valid and improve lives over readily accepted ones. However, myself being a person who is challenged with a mental disorder feels the kind of thinking in the above conversation is ridiculous, harmful, and off-base. So I have decided to take my time and educate people on schizophrenia a little bit. I won't touch up on psychosis or bipolar disorder, as I don't know as much about them.
First of all 1 in 100 people have or will have(latent) schizophrenia at some point in their lives. Some instances more serious then others. 40% of these people will attempt suicide. The majority of males do not get married, the females generally do as it develops later in their lives. They all struggle with social contact even high-functioning ones. Some 30% are treatment and medication resistant. 70%-90%(depending on population of survey) smoke tobacco to gate their senses. It tends to get worse with age. A lot of them live lives of poverty(many home-less people) and self-medicate with hard-drugs and alcohol. These people have different brain structures and neuro-chemistry then the 'norm'(99%) of humanity. This is not a personality trait or a perspective.
Ventricular size's in schizophrenic persons brains are often larger then others. There are also abnormal volume changes in the cortex, frontal and temporal lobes during normal aging. There are also huge differences in NMDA receptor site functionality as well as serotonin and dopamine. In fact PCP(NMDA antagonist), LSD(serotonin agonist), and amphetamine induced psychosis(dopamine agonist), are all used for modeling schizophrenia and finding medications. These are fairly accurate models.
So, no you cannot pray or meditate this away, or come to a realization and overcome it. Most sufferers do not even know the things they are experiencing are not real until after the fact(if ever). Some peoples brains ARE physically very different. Some people acquire schizophrenia as children. So no, it has nothing to do with being an evil person or some karmic debt. So now what does this have to do with psychedelics beyond modelling the illness and brain functionality?
As many or some of you may or may not know. It is true that psychedelics can trigger latent mental illnesses to come into full effect. This is not a case against psychedelics as a traumatic or stress inducing experience can do the same. However, psychedelics can be a pretty effective way of triggering latent mental illnesses. This was first notated in the early LSD studies. Though if a car crash can trigger latent mental illness, losing a loved one, or being raped, and that doesn't make a person "evil", how does smoking DMT? ... I believe one needs to seriously re-evaluate their perspective on psychedelics and the physical nature of their existence if they have come to such a conclusion with a strong volume of repeatable and observable evidence to suggest this.
Some more myths about schizophrenia are that these people are dangerous, out of control, comitting crimes, and cannot live quasi-normal lives. Some cases may be deemed as 'dangerous' in general though the vast majority of these people are more a danger to themselves than anyone else. Manic's, antisocial's and psychopathic persons usually are a lot more prone to violence and crime. The majority of these peoples out of control behaviour happen in their minds and in their language, not in their actions. Generally they are victims of crimes as manipulative people readily take advantage of the psychologically 'weak'. Many moderate to high functioning schizophrenic people can manage jobs, some relationships, and hobbies. They can be very spiritual people, and are not always in a state of deep despair or anything like that. It's still not a joy-ride as some people have implied.
Is schizophrenia as Terrance McKenna had claimed? A shamanic pony ride through the magic spirit-world? I suppose this is up to a persons perspective as there isn't any evidence for a spirit-world outside of some peoples interpretations of experiences... I will let you watch a video of a typical schizophrenic person and you can judge for yourself...
In conclusion, not everyone is built to come back from a heavy psychedelic experience. If you are going to dose someone you must realize THERE IS A CHANCE, albeit small, it could irreversibly ruin their life. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenic type disorders, and people with family histories of such are most likely for adverse reactions. If that does happen to someone you have dosed, they are NOT evil. Probably best to use discretion, research and critically think about things before you speak about them, or judge them. Never hear only one side, always entertain all sides until something clear comes through the mist. Much love, enjoy your stay on planet Earth.
If you need help with mental illness please seek adequate help. Psychedelic chat-rooms and forums can't do much for you beyond love you(which the Nexus will!). Most people can not understand what you're going through even if they think they do. Emergency rooms will take people in immediately if suicidal, manic, or psychotic/schizo behaviour is evident. There are also hot-lines that vary depending on the country.
Please feel free to reply with more information pertaining to the topic! I think education on this is relevant.
*note - this is a work in progress and I will return to this later providing references.
