DMT and psychosis

[reduxredux]

I think one thing we might want to be aware of in such a discussion is the pretense that psycedelics could "make" someone psychotic. We must remember that this is a line of propoganda that has been sucessfully pushed upon many by our fearmongering government ( using our money to do so.)

Now that being said, I suppose ANYTHING can make ANYONE shift. Candy is said to make children hyperactive and may lead to attention deficit, etc...blah, blah....

Could spice be a trigger? Maybe, but maybe so could caffene (sp?) from coffee. What makes sense I think is simply for anyone with any history of a troubled emotional life to stay away from anything strong. Only use psycedelics if you feel stable enough, and even then learn it slowly to be sure it works for you in a positive way.

 

[soulfood]

I have very little experience of people with mental illness, but from my own experiences, I would say that the DMT state isn't one of a disturbed mind. I actually find it to be quite the opposite, bearing in mind the intensity of the experience the substance causes I'd say the influenced mind is surprisingly calm.

I have however had incidents on LSD and psilocybin which I would compare to a psychotic state. This to me the the innability to function on the day to day level we have all gotten used to. I wouldn't say wanting to sing and dance more than usual was a psychotic state, but when the mind fails to process what is happening in a rational manner, whether it be irrational paranoia or the inability to make sense of everyday things. This confusion breakdown is probably the closest I'll ever get to a mental state.

I always figured the closest way to mimic the thinking patterns of a psyche patient is to use straight up deliriants rather than nice tasty hallucinogens. I'm sure there are many out there but as I have no experience with them I can't really comment on how true this is.

Also anytime I've heard voices while under the influence, I've never taken them seriously or even had trouble realising why I'm hearing these voices, obviously someone who has fallen to thi state without the use of external chemicals will not make that connection.

Then there's the fact that most psychedelics will last no longer than 12 or so hours with a few exceptions, however with many mental illnesses these come on very slowly and cause gradual changes in personality and actions that are much harder to detect than a substance which will take effect within 1-2 hours and its these slow personality modifacations which are created to cope with what is going on which is just as much an issue as the inner chemical imbalance.

 

[burnt]

I think its worth exploring. I have been thinking about this quite a bit lately.

First off I think that taking DMT if you are not disposed to anyone psychotic conditions is very safe. But I do think that DMT and other endogenous tryptamines and phenethylamines beta carbolines etc do most likely play a significant role in psychotic states. However their exogenous administration is fine for most people. I think there are factors that make people who are prone to psychosis prone to get worse while taking various kinds of drugs.

However it is clear that there are so many mechanisms by which endogenous compounds that do similar things as exogenously administered drugs can play a role in psychosis. There are lots of neurotransmitters involved in various types of psychosis from dopamine to seretonin to endogenous cannabinoids the list goes on. I think each type of psychosis can be related to various dysfunctions in a number of neurotransmitter systems. Perhaps more visual or catatonic psychosis is related to endogenous DMT or other trace amines? Perhaps more paranoid psychosis is more related to dopamine dysfunction. Whats also interesting is that there could be so many genetic AND environmental factors that play a role in whether or not someone develops a psychosis and how long that psychosis lasts and what form it will take.

I am fairly confident that dmt will be shown one day to be a neurotransmitter involved in some aspect of certain psychotic states. It for sure is not the only one however. Research in schizophrenia certainlly follows trends like the dopamine trend now the endogenous cannabinoid system which is related to dopamine. There are so many mechanisms and so much cross talk I think its important that researchers take a step back and look at the big picture. For me its very clear how psychedelic states appear to mimic certain aspects of various psychotic states. I never worked with the mentally ill but say a friend go psychotic once and know others who live with psychotics etc. Plus all the crazy people I used to hang out with on the streets certainly make it clear there are relationships. However most of these idea come from a neurobiological point of view. Plus experimenting with psychedelics makes it even more clear there must be relationships.