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Antidepressant effects of psychedelics

fastandbulbous

fastandbulbous

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Jul 29, 2004
Messages
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A long time ago I remember reading about LSD being used in 20ug doses daily acting as an antidepressant. Now I know that's just anecdotal evidence, but has anybody actually tried this? I'm asking as I'm currently trying 5mg/day of AMT and seem to be getting fairly good results free of most side effects that come with antidepressants (I know it was used in the USSR as an antidepressant). I'm also aware of the cases of fatal agranulocytosis that occurred with AET, but that bever seems to have been a problem with use of AMT as an antidepressant.

So, has anybody tried using a psychedelic in this way?
 
A friend of mine used to do 1/4ths of blotter daily for a while, said it worked quite well. The effects are obviously very subtle at such dosages but seem to be strong enough to help in keeping you going through the day.
 
I have tried AMT at this level a couple of days in a row but found myself too stimulated and a bit hot to continue this as a daily regimen. AMT doesn't feel "clean" enough for me to do regularly and I have a feeling it may rob the body of vital energy and acidify/oxidise the system if taken too often (digestive tract, skin, liver, blood etc.) But then my body is pretty sensitive to chemicals and while I use many natural supplements I'm wary of putting a chem into my body on a regular basis. Perhaps this is due to me having used SSRi's 5 years on a row and subsequently not feeling physically well at all and detoxing lots.
Regarding AMT, I have seen two batches - one a perfect white (felt clean) and one a kind of sandy yellow (and this felt way more toxic). So maybe it depends on the batch.

I have had very low dose acid on occasion and can confirm what talkinghead says. Perfect moodlifter with virtually none of the typical "alert" feelings that come with (sub)threshold doses of many other psychedelics. Similar effect noted upon ingestion of just a couple of small fresh wild-harvested shrooms.

And DMT... even just a few mg's in a pipe have an amazing antidepressant effect that can last for days. It's just so refreshing, like a cell massage for the body and the mind, touching soul territory in the process.
 
I once took acid every day for about 6 months.

Although that time now seems a bit like a blur in my memory, I don't remember feeling any real depression, which is a state of mind I am normally prone to.

Oh, if only research on such matters was a genuine possibility. This is all just anecdotal nonsense, there's too many other factors to gain any real insight into the truth of the matter here.

;)
 
I've used psychedelics twice to push myself out of a run of depression through self-therapy. I find the phenethylamines (generally of course) to work well in actually sorting through mental/emotional issues, and the tryptamines (generally) good for reaffirming your spirituality. Depending on what's plaguing you, either can be tremendously useful.

In addition, I've definitely noticed low doses of acid especially to reduce depression significantly. many psychedelic do not seem to do this at low doses, probably because most psychedelic chemicals I know of have a significant body load which is still present at low doses. In those cases, a full dose is the only dose that is worth it, because you get psychedelic effects in addition to the body load. Low doses on these chemicals simply give you a nasty body load with no benefits. Acid, however, feels very clean at low doses.

The chemicals which have had an antidepressant effect on me, at least temporarily, were:

LSD, 2C-T-2, 2C-T-7, DOC, 5-MeO-MiPT, 2C-C, and mushrooms. never tried DMT but I'd imagine it would work very well also.
 
Oh, if only research on such matters was a genuine possibility. This is all just anecdotal nonsense, there's too many other factors to gain any real insight into the truth of the matter here.
Click to expand...

Ohh, if only i could read Russian! AMT had the trade name indopan in the USSR and was used for years as an antidepressant, check this out:

indopan wiki
 
fastandbulbous said:
A long time ago I remember reading about LSD being used in 20ug doses daily acting as an antidepressant.
Click to expand...

A bit off topic, but Ott spoke about LSD being manufactured in 20 mcg tablets for use as an alternative to amphetamines. The dose was considered sufficient to stimulate, without providing distracting psychedelic effects.
 
Interesting you ask, I have tried low doses of both LSD and AMT for this!

They were both very, very effective, though each had its own downside. LSD seems to quickly (albeit reversibly) acquire tolerance to this effect, while AMT seems to have cumulative physical effects if taken over the course of several days, even in sub-psychedelic doses.

There was one book, not sure which (I think it is the Cooper et al one) that mentioned that LSD's pharmacological profile is quite different at >25ug doses than it is above that level. I do not remember the details though (but they were few anyway), or the study that the book quoted.

On another note, of course I told you about my very reliable experience with using Ketamine in that manner. But it seems to be a completely different mechanism here (not surprisingly).
 
I was doint that with DOC and it worked for a while until my normal mind started to sort of colonize the psychedelic state... now a part of me that tripping used to 'fix' or erase follows me into all but the hardest trips.
 
i've got lots to say on the topic of health and cognition benefits of rotational use of psychedlics as nootropics / ADs.

such opinions have invoked the wrath of some, ahem, groups and hopefully, earned me a nomination for the coveted Clubie of the Year award...

will be back when time permits with actual ontopic discourse of relevance.
 
Hypnic_JerK said:
I was doint that with DOC and it worked for a while until my normal mind started to sort of colonize the psychedelic state... now a part of me that tripping used to 'fix' or erase follows me into all but the hardest trips.
Click to expand...

The idea is not to trip, though.

The idea is to take very, very tiny ammounts of LSD where you would not feel any kind of psychedelic effects, allegedly because at this level it has a completely different pharmacological profile.
 
You're pioneering a new study I'd say. Honestly though--- I feel psychedelics would be much more useful for large dose- completely internalized sessions. Where emotional and psychosomatic problems could be identified and worked through. The mechanisms of healing taking 20ug of LSD or 5mg of AMT a day I can't specify. I don't know. Is it working? How long have you been doing this?

On a more Grofian note- have you tried taking a large dose of mushrooms/(any psychedelic) with eyeshades and headphones with a sitter, while letting everything in your unconscious come out? It's very- very effective in combating psychosomatic and emotional disturbances, albiet somewhat risky depending on the circumstances.
 
I mentioned this once before in a post called LSD and its lingering effects on me. I went through a long spell of taking small doses every day, for about almost a year (9 months or so?), specifically for this very purpose.

The trick is not to take enough so that you're actually "tripping." And don't worry about the over-hyped tolerance that everyone speaks of, because I assure you that acid always works, even when taking it every day... remember the trick is not to trip, anyway.

Keeping in mind I was starting off with properly calibrated 100mcg doses, I would take approximately 20 mcg a day for a week or so, and eventually kept it at about 40mcg. A couple times I would try going over the mark (initially concerned about tolerance), but it would end up actually making me feel like I was tripping, so I would back off the next day.

I suppose a lot of how I felt that year could be chalked up to placebo effect or whatever. I don't care though. All I know is that what it did for me during that year is similar to what people who take antidepressants tell me their meds do for THEM. Only difference is I'm not (nor have I been) depressed about anything. So maybe it's better to say it's a general mood enhancer? However you slice it, low-dose LSD is a whole different ballgame from recreational (or spiritual) LSD use.
 
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Very anecdotal evidence going on. 9 months you say???? 9 months of every day? ~270 days straight? I read a bit of that thread but I didn't see to many complaints on your side..

I'm curious what you think the healing mechanism is if you take a small dose everday since your not essentially tripping (or were you?). It's definitely not the same for the variations of LSD psychotherapy which uses much higher doses than 20-40 ug.

could you sum up the benifits and disadvantages in your therapy briefly here?
 
The effect that I personally found was not healing due to insight or anything like that. It was more of a mood-brightning effect. In the case of AMT, it felt (emotionally) like taking, say, 10mg of Amphetamine and at the same time 3g of P. harmala (I don't mean combining the two, I mean the effects feel like those two items at the same time).

As for LSD, it feels very much like taking a standard 12.5mg dose of Tianeptine.

LSD produced no negative side-effects with this. I did it for about 2 weeks but then noticed that either I developed tolerance to the effect, or that my depression simply worsened to the point where this treatment didn't work.

With AMT, after about 5 days, I was starting to feel very slight nausea and some muscle cramping, but nothing huge. I still would hesitate more with this one than with LSD.

As for Ketamine, whenever I have it, I sniff 10-20mg a day (absolutely no dissociative effects), and it works wonders for my depression without any kind of tolerance developing. I've been doing this for most of the past year.

Again I stress that this has nothing to do with insight..etc. It seems to be a purely biochemical response.
 
It's definitely working in a biochemical way, not any 'insight' type mechanism. So far, after a week the sorotonogic effects on my GI tract have subsided (no more squirts!) and I'm pretty much side effect free. As Jamshyd pointed out, it feels like a daylong 5mg dexedrine dose without the appetite supression. I'm going to stick with it for a month & see where it goes; after that I'll consider the next course of action.

I have to say that it's definitely better than all SSRIs and most tricyclics that I've used for SAD over the last 10 years
 
i took LSD for about 2 weeks straight, very small doses, and i noticed greatly the "mood-brightning effect"

i even posted about it

Anyway the only draw back i noticed that if you didn't get the dose right you would feel a little "icky" after about 2-3hrs of the dose....
 
Oh, I almost forgot! I've also taken several low doses of LSD, and I notice a good 4.5mg dose of hydergine to be quite similar to a low dose of LSD, except even gentler. That makes some sense, as hydergine is an ergot derivitive as well. Hydergine has a wonderful antidepressant effect on me, although it stops being as pronounced after 2 or 3 weeks of daily use.
 
i've got lots to say on the topic of health and cognition benefits of rotational use of psychedlics as nootropics / ADs.

such opinions have invoked the wrath of some, ahem, groups and hopefully, earned me a nomination for the coveted Clubie of the Year award...
Click to expand...

bwhahhahah. Ah yes, the "!!we love murrrrrplasdhhahh (sorry i just threw up..) forum!!", think they banned me there... well king M did i mean.

I went on there once and went to the 'cluebie' sub forum and saw a post of mine once, thing is, the post i made was a joke anyway, the BLers got it, dunno why King M didnt... err.. whichever follower posted it anyway. Err.. all of them. Never mind.

Heh, i'll just make up another fake name and log on i'm curious as to who the latest cluebee's are. While i'm there i'll be sure to ......... so i get banned. Hm, would it be against the rules to post the website of this forum i wonder, i would love more "cluebee's" or whatever to sign up!! You know king M is reading this, thats all he does is read bluelight - HI king M!
 
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