Looking at the general consensus on this topic together with common sense I came to the following conclusions:
When a person seeks our advice that is in medical territory (either physical or mental) we can roughly triage that in three medical advice groups:
Easy
Nausea, hangover, bumped their toe, etc.
When a person falls in this group we can all give our advice as we like. There is no direct medical need and there is not much we can do wrong.
Manageable
confusion, mild to medium stress, finding it difficult to deal with the experience.
Although this is comparatively easy, we should be a bit more reluctand with giving direct advice. Giving your story and experience might be a good thing to help this person to understand where he/she is and what his or her options are, but we must not tell people what to do or not do.
The integration tips and the Health and Safety section in general are a good guideline.
Serious
Suicide tendencies, bleeding lungs, poisoning, symptoms resembling psychosis/schizophrenia, other serious health conditions etc.
This, as the name already suggests, is serious business. Even if some people think this might be a troll, we will have to take this serious. This means we have to try help them be reasonable and seek professional help.
We also have to understand that giving certain advice here will not work:
Giving advice to visit a shaman
Although this is probably meant well, most people are not living close enough to shamans to seek direct help and even if they do, good shamans will probably give people with issues like a bleeding lung advice to seek direct western medical attention. Good shamans know very well that they cannot cure all illnesses and that western medicine can cure an awfull lot. Also there is a chance that a person can seek an unscrupulous shaman which might not recognize the serious need for medical help and this can further worsen the person's situation
Advice to take a massive dose or get cured by dosing
Again, when people are in great need for relief, giving someone with suicide tendencies or serious mental condition the advice to take a massive dose of entheogens will very likely not cure this person. If a person visits the DMT-Nexus they most likely tried that already. Also the effects of entheogens is highly unpredictable, even more so for people with mental conditions, so there is no way to safely know psychedelics will help, quite possibly they will worsen the situation.
Psychedelics can strengthen the delusion of people in a bad way. If a person has delusional ideas and we give advice to take psychedelics, chances are that this will backfire.
Advice to NOT visit a professional western medical person
Many people in their lives have had a bad experience with professional western medical help. This has happened with many of us at the Nexus as well! But, that does not mean that all professionals are bad, just as eating bad food in a restaurant doesnt mean all cooks are bad.
So instead of giving the advice not to seek professional help, we should help the person in need see that there are professional people out there that can help. And that it is never too late to seek for those people.
Advice to stop medical treatment
Getting the dose information is one thing, knowing the exact treatment a person gets is another thing, who are we to say that this person is telling the truth about his or her treatment? Or that there isnt another significant variable the person didnt mention but that makes all the difference in the treatment?
Several treatments start with making things worse, stepping out of the treatment at those moments is a bad; there is a chance that people will stay in that worsened state. Most people here do not have a medical degree or enough understanding of certain treatments to give solid advice, and even those that do have medical degree cannot give solid advice by simply reading words on a screen. Face-to-face diagnosis and treatment follow-up is essential and anything otherwise is unethical, immoral, reckless and downright dangerous.
Also, for those that feel they researched enough, having read something on the internet is NOT the same as having full theoretical and practical experience so not having enough knowledge and understanting means you should NOT give advices like this!
Diagnose
It is not recommended to diagnose or reinforce alleged psycho-pathologies or mood disorders in people who claim to suffer them or ask for a diagnose to (1) feel special (2) seek treatment (3) substantiate hypochondriac or histrionic ideas. Diagnosing them or reinforcing them does more harm than good... especially on neurotic or depressed subjects. We are not e-docs and we are not here to give Dx or Tx.
What we can do is the following:
Be understanding
People in serious need will have to know if they are taken serious. Be polite, tell them you will listen and that you understand that they are in urgent need.
Listen well, be the ear not the mouth
Just listening to someone can help alleviate that persons distress. Talking too much can be counterproductive, know when to talk and when not.
Try to really understand
Put yourself in the place of that person. If that person is delusional think of the times where you had a hard time on entheogens and did not really know anymore who or what you were. What would have helped you at those times?
Carefully persuade this person to seek professional help
In cases where someone is highly delusional, we will have to walk a very thin line to get this persons attention and slowly try to drive him into the direction of professional medical help. Understand that people in a delusional state are likely to only accept the words that strenghten the delusion and reject the words that are not, be very careful with what you say!
Give complementary feedback
While we should never advice a drastic change of treatment, which should only be done so after discussing with one's doctor face-to-face, it is reasonable to suggest complementary non-intrusive ideas that do not fundamentally change a treatment. For example, any advice that helps one becoming more physically healthy such as starting regular exercise and a balanced diet are welcome. Also for mental issues, a network of support can be very beneficial, so ideas regarding trying to contact and get support from one's family and friends can be good to one's well being. Lastly, to complement medical treatment, dedicating to productive things such as learning languages or dedicating to some study or hobbie or work, as well as artistical expression through learning/playing instruments or painting, all can help a person achieving a balance and are beneficial for psychological healing.
It is extremely important, though, that all these suggestions arent given as something mutually exclusive to one's treatment! We should never advice someone to stop taking medication and starting to eat healthy, for example, but rather it should be complementary, things that can be added and potentially help improving one's condition and maybe enhancing/speeding up recovery (though again: the reduction or interruption of medication intake is a very serious issue that should only be decided together with one's doctor face-to-face!)
If any serious case will arise in the future, the mods and me will enforce this policy. Any post giving irresponsible advice will be edited or removed, and the person can be warned or even suspended depending on how dangerous the advice is. Shrugging away peoples problems will not make you a better person, so let us try to make the best we can, knowing that we are not infallible but knowing we did our best to help others. Living and taking care of oneself is hard enough, so lets be mindful how we help others.
Additional
Health and Safety
FAQ
Kind regards,
The Traveler
When a person seeks our advice that is in medical territory (either physical or mental) we can roughly triage that in three medical advice groups:
Easy
Nausea, hangover, bumped their toe, etc.
When a person falls in this group we can all give our advice as we like. There is no direct medical need and there is not much we can do wrong.
Manageable
confusion, mild to medium stress, finding it difficult to deal with the experience.
Although this is comparatively easy, we should be a bit more reluctand with giving direct advice. Giving your story and experience might be a good thing to help this person to understand where he/she is and what his or her options are, but we must not tell people what to do or not do.
The integration tips and the Health and Safety section in general are a good guideline.
Serious
Suicide tendencies, bleeding lungs, poisoning, symptoms resembling psychosis/schizophrenia, other serious health conditions etc.
This, as the name already suggests, is serious business. Even if some people think this might be a troll, we will have to take this serious. This means we have to try help them be reasonable and seek professional help.
We also have to understand that giving certain advice here will not work:
Giving advice to visit a shaman
Although this is probably meant well, most people are not living close enough to shamans to seek direct help and even if they do, good shamans will probably give people with issues like a bleeding lung advice to seek direct western medical attention. Good shamans know very well that they cannot cure all illnesses and that western medicine can cure an awfull lot. Also there is a chance that a person can seek an unscrupulous shaman which might not recognize the serious need for medical help and this can further worsen the person's situation
Advice to take a massive dose or get cured by dosing
Again, when people are in great need for relief, giving someone with suicide tendencies or serious mental condition the advice to take a massive dose of entheogens will very likely not cure this person. If a person visits the DMT-Nexus they most likely tried that already. Also the effects of entheogens is highly unpredictable, even more so for people with mental conditions, so there is no way to safely know psychedelics will help, quite possibly they will worsen the situation.
Psychedelics can strengthen the delusion of people in a bad way. If a person has delusional ideas and we give advice to take psychedelics, chances are that this will backfire.
Advice to NOT visit a professional western medical person
Many people in their lives have had a bad experience with professional western medical help. This has happened with many of us at the Nexus as well! But, that does not mean that all professionals are bad, just as eating bad food in a restaurant doesnt mean all cooks are bad.
So instead of giving the advice not to seek professional help, we should help the person in need see that there are professional people out there that can help. And that it is never too late to seek for those people.
Advice to stop medical treatment
Getting the dose information is one thing, knowing the exact treatment a person gets is another thing, who are we to say that this person is telling the truth about his or her treatment? Or that there isnt another significant variable the person didnt mention but that makes all the difference in the treatment?
Several treatments start with making things worse, stepping out of the treatment at those moments is a bad; there is a chance that people will stay in that worsened state. Most people here do not have a medical degree or enough understanding of certain treatments to give solid advice, and even those that do have medical degree cannot give solid advice by simply reading words on a screen. Face-to-face diagnosis and treatment follow-up is essential and anything otherwise is unethical, immoral, reckless and downright dangerous.
Also, for those that feel they researched enough, having read something on the internet is NOT the same as having full theoretical and practical experience so not having enough knowledge and understanting means you should NOT give advices like this!
Diagnose
It is not recommended to diagnose or reinforce alleged psycho-pathologies or mood disorders in people who claim to suffer them or ask for a diagnose to (1) feel special (2) seek treatment (3) substantiate hypochondriac or histrionic ideas. Diagnosing them or reinforcing them does more harm than good... especially on neurotic or depressed subjects. We are not e-docs and we are not here to give Dx or Tx.
What we can do is the following:
Be understanding
People in serious need will have to know if they are taken serious. Be polite, tell them you will listen and that you understand that they are in urgent need.
Listen well, be the ear not the mouth
Just listening to someone can help alleviate that persons distress. Talking too much can be counterproductive, know when to talk and when not.
Try to really understand
Put yourself in the place of that person. If that person is delusional think of the times where you had a hard time on entheogens and did not really know anymore who or what you were. What would have helped you at those times?
Carefully persuade this person to seek professional help
In cases where someone is highly delusional, we will have to walk a very thin line to get this persons attention and slowly try to drive him into the direction of professional medical help. Understand that people in a delusional state are likely to only accept the words that strenghten the delusion and reject the words that are not, be very careful with what you say!
Give complementary feedback
While we should never advice a drastic change of treatment, which should only be done so after discussing with one's doctor face-to-face, it is reasonable to suggest complementary non-intrusive ideas that do not fundamentally change a treatment. For example, any advice that helps one becoming more physically healthy such as starting regular exercise and a balanced diet are welcome. Also for mental issues, a network of support can be very beneficial, so ideas regarding trying to contact and get support from one's family and friends can be good to one's well being. Lastly, to complement medical treatment, dedicating to productive things such as learning languages or dedicating to some study or hobbie or work, as well as artistical expression through learning/playing instruments or painting, all can help a person achieving a balance and are beneficial for psychological healing.
It is extremely important, though, that all these suggestions arent given as something mutually exclusive to one's treatment! We should never advice someone to stop taking medication and starting to eat healthy, for example, but rather it should be complementary, things that can be added and potentially help improving one's condition and maybe enhancing/speeding up recovery (though again: the reduction or interruption of medication intake is a very serious issue that should only be decided together with one's doctor face-to-face!)
If any serious case will arise in the future, the mods and me will enforce this policy. Any post giving irresponsible advice will be edited or removed, and the person can be warned or even suspended depending on how dangerous the advice is. Shrugging away peoples problems will not make you a better person, so let us try to make the best we can, knowing that we are not infallible but knowing we did our best to help others. Living and taking care of oneself is hard enough, so lets be mindful how we help others.
Additional
Health and Safety
FAQ
Kind regards,
The Traveler
Much confusion.
