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Chronic LSD Psychosis?

Psychedelics_r_best

Psychedelics_r_best

Bluelighter
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Oct 16, 2004
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I know very well it is possible to get acute, short lasting, psychosis type effects from LSD that last a duration of the trip and include delusions regarding ones position in reality. I know this happens, but not often.

However, are there any documented cases of chronic LSD psychosis that either recurs after or persists continually after the usual effect of the drug wears off? I honestly have never seen a documented case of it, and I am wondering if any one of you has. Other than that, if you have a personal account of someone effected by chronic LSD psychosis, that is alright too. There are all these stories, and I am wondering if there is any truth to them. I have had acute LSD psychosis before and I don't really think it would persist after the standard duration of effects subsides. If there is any possibility of it lasting forever, please let me know. I am in close contact with someone who claims to know a number of such incidences. I am wondering if it is more reasonable to completely ignore them.
 
Peter Green, Skip Spence, and Roky Erickson are the famous examples from the classic rock era - each supposedly went crazy from LSD and at some point or other landed in a mental institution. I wonder, though, about how common misdiagnoses were back then, not to mention the idiotic practice of electroconvulsive "therapy."
 
I'm sure there is at least one verifiable case. Is it any conceivable sense a common phenomenon? No. You probably have a greater probability of being struck by lightning than experiencing a "chronic psychosis" from an LSD dose. In general, psychedelic "psychotomimesis" is dependent upon ones' individual genetic background. If you have a strong history of paranoid schizophrenia in your family, then LSD isn't the drug for you.
 
Brian Wilson from the beach boys reportedly suffers(ed?) from voices telling him to kill himself from a high dose lsd trip in the 60's. 8o
 
^ thought syd b would get a mention here.

i wonder though if lsd was the primary cause of his psychic collapse....after all he did write a song called 'the gnome' (great song it is too) and was probably a poly-drug consumer like most people here.

lsd, being the most well-known, maybe just made good copy.
 
i assume you are differentiating from the onset of schizophrenia or other disorders?

anecdotally, i know a person who, for years after a high lsd dose, believes he controls the rain. im sure we all know a few casualties.

"Summation
Whether the use of LSD can cause a prolonged psychosis is not evidenced in the literature, although case studies report that this does happen. This however is not confirmed by quantitative research studies. Studies using a prospective methodology would be best suited to determine this, but can no longer be employed for legal reasons. A study which did use a prospective approach reported no prolonged psychotic reactions. The literature is divided as to whether there is a difference between Schizophrenia and any psychosis thought to be a consequence of LSD use. If the use of LSD coincides with the first onset of Schizophrenia, this may be for a number of reasons, perhaps involving attempts at self-medication. The evidence of LSD advancing the onset of Schizophrenia is dubious, the research unclear in its use of controls, statistics and methodology. "
-A Critical Review of Theories and Research Concerning Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) and Mental Health
 
Yeah, syd barrett big time. poor guy.

as for the long term effects, just look at some of those wooks who frequent music festivals and live in the woods. they call themselves rainbows, but i really think it is a glorified term for a tripped out bum. (not to knock the family or the gathering, i'm talking about those damn wooks who talk shit when you don't give them change or a ride). i'd be willing to assert that most of them weren't quite as mush-for-brains before they started doing drugs, and enough acid trips around the free love family crowd has them believing and incorporating the ideas that come to them while tripping, and lo and behold they're living in the woods, begging for change, and stealing from stores. I truly think that they rationalize their vagrancy with psychedelics - "rainbow' instead of bum. "living free and being close to nature" instead of homeless and living in the woods.

this probably isn't psychosis, its just a life choice highly influenced by drug use. maybe its just drug induced bummism. who knows.
 
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Back when I was in highschool (10 + years ago) I would trip on LSD at least once a week if not more. To this day I still see strange colors and permanent TRACERS... Neither of which is really that bad.... It just took a while to get used to%)
 
Anyone who has done LSD can plainly see it is a real possibility. Some of our community denies this out of blind hedonism but most of us know at least a few casualties (hint: many of those denying this phenomenon and blaming it on underlyin psychological problems are the ones who got fried and want others to share in their delusion/misery).
 
^If someone has the type of chronic psychosis I am talking about, they wouldn't really be able to formulate an opinion regarding this, and hence could neither deny or support the possibility.

Interesting. Syd Barret's case I believe is more attributable to an underlying case of Bipolar Disorder.
 
chicpoena said:
syd barrett anyone?
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^Good one

I forgot about Syd. His case is really interesting. Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd has the opinion that It wasnt so much pure LSD that affected Syd but rather a combination of LSD and Strobelights. They had some very intense strobes at earlier shows with a wide range of beat frequencies. He thinks that the High dose of LSD alowed the strobes to induce a psuedo Epileptic attack that permantly damaged Syd's Brain.

I would try to stay away from epileptic media while tripping. Really.
 
^ Dave Gilmour is probably not best equipped to (mis)diagnose Mr. Barrett's subsequent decline into lunacy seeing as he is a great artist but hardly a trained physician. Most anecdotal and sparse clinical evidence points to LSD uncovering a latent psychosis rather than causing it. That said, it could be argued that all of us have a degree of psychosis latent in all of us- it just takes a lot more than possible for the casual or even partially devoted LSD user to ingest over a lifetime to actually uncover this. If LSD research was legally sanctioned since the 60s, this question would have been able to be quantitatively assessed. Shame.
 
according to Stanislav Grof, the prolonging of psychotic episodes are not caused by the psychedelics, but by the anti-psychotics and tranquilisers which are administered in psychiatric hospitals. A psychotic trip is caused by the activation of a negative perinatal matrix in the unconscious, in order for this material to be fully resolved, the trip must progress un-hindered, if it is treated with tranquilisers, the unconscious material will not have a chance to fully resolve itself, so it will remain just under the surface of consciousness leading to prolonged psychosis
 
^I like what your saying, but I think that Grof got stuck with the perinatal stuff a bit. It seems pointless that life would begin with a traumatic experience that haunts the rest of it. To me thats a christian sort of concept....born in sin as a sinner, have to redeem oneself. However, I think Grof wrote some great things about psychedelics.

One thing though- if someone DOES explode into psychosis on LSD/psychedelics; they should be administered with a anti-psychotic only if they are psychotic; not if they are panicking. Interuppting panic through drugs is a reinforcing idea to the panic; whereas preventing a temporarily disabled person from hurting themselves or others is surely beneficial (that said, extreme panic is useless and borderline psychotic, and thusly a small amount of a benzo could be taken). As a state induced by drugs, it is not wise to believe that a psychotic episode is a spiritual awakening, when it seems more likely its a negative response to an environmnetal component- ie. a drug.

Psychedelics_r_best said:
^Hmm. Very interesting info. I always thought Syd Barretts case was due to underlying Bipolar Disorder.
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A lot of people said he never went crazy. He just didn't want to be famous anymore. :\
 
There are definitely quite a few accounts of drug-induced psychosis on BL, including some that were precipitated by LSD. Seek (with the search engine) and you shall find…
 
There's a notorious 'acid head' around my area, who was given it when he was a toddler (2-3 years old) by his older brother. Then when he was around 18-19 he ate a CD case worth of acid all in one go while being cheered on by his friends. Now he is mentally screwed up, about a year ago he thought he was blind for a whole month and thought mey friend was bob dylan. He has been tested and officialy had HPPD and scitzophernia (sp?)
 
Psychedelics_r_best said:
^Hmm. Very interesting info. I always thought Syd Barretts case was due to underlying Bipolar Disorder.
Click to expand...

It is also believed that Syd had some underlying Schizophrenia in addition to the bipolar disorder.

With songs like "the gnome", and "vegatable man" and his detatched lifestyle until his death, theres little doubt to his mental state.

Sad story indeed
 
Bardo5 said:
With songs like "the gnome", and "vegatable man" and his detatched lifestyle until his death, theres little doubt to his mental state.
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So- because he wrote unconventional music and lived a detached lifestyle, he was insane? That would be societies overll impression I guess....maybe he found out the truth- detachment and lving in the present- and just said fuck yall to the dark pit of humanity and kept painting and gardening.

I write oddish songs and keep away from large swathes of society, but I am not insnae- this is how I choose to be. I like to think Syd Barret chose his life personally. People often mention how sad he would have felt to see Pink Floyd peak and have no involvemnt, but what if just didn't want to? Not could't, but chose not to have that life. His sister said something along the lines of 'The world wants something from Syd, but he just won't give it'.... I bet you he was happy in his final post-Floyd years. To me, Dave Gilmour has some sad sad eyes.
 
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