help please. best friend is in the mental hospital ... he did acid 5 days ago.

[Listening]

An example would be one of the last times I saw them, we went to town for some drinks (something they'd never done before). We went halfers on some cigarettes, and the way it worked out was that I paid like an extra two pence. I noticed him acting funny afterwards, and then he basically confessed that I'd paid an extra two pence and that if I'd noticed I must think he was such a shitty person, and then he started apologising to me.

Is there self-pity there? Is he anxious when he's apologizing?

He told me (when he was drunk) that a doctor misdiagnosed him with schizophrenia in some kind of bumbling bungled mistake. I'd be surprised if it was really a mistake...

If you genuinely think it's schizophrenia, then I think all efforts should be on getting him to a (new) psychiatrist.

 

[SteamboatBillJr]

Tranced and MollyNewb,

I had similar episodes of psychosis. These were inevitable and illegal drugs didn't cause my psychosis. In retrospect the symptoms always existed and I didn't know. This slowly became more obvious. This is when the increased social and personal demands of living independently in my early 20's combined with drug use magnifying these symptoms.

Mood stabilizers and and anti-psychotics weren't effective. These drugs didn't improve my negative symptoms nor my quality of life. Through great serendipity psychedelics continued entering my life. After many challenging experiences I began figuring out how I could use them responsibly as I got well.

Illegal psychoactive aren't devoid of therapeutic potential in people with mental illness. It's just they should use them with more caution.

Accept your friends as they are. Much of the difficulty in my life was from how society responded about me. If they are quiet or develop slowly they'll have other redeeming attributes. As eccentric as they are they likely enjoy the interaction when you are positive and tolerant. You can live how you want to while they get well. Promote them finding contentment as they currently exist rather than imposing your social expectations on them. If they can't recover or they get well, how you respond could influence those peoples quality of life both ways.

 

[gruvr777]

Sorry to hear about your friends trip. I'm guessing he may be between 18-25 yrs old? I have vast experience with Psychedelics, esp LSD. From my experience the only people I have seen carry over lingering effects after the drug has run it's course, have been usually males in the age group I mentioned. While I do not believe (My opinion) that LSD causes any sort of mental illness, it quite often will trigger someone who has a latent mental illness. It provides the "psychic break" that it takes for the illness Schizophrenia, Bi Polar, etc. to emerge. I have seen this happen on a few occasions with friends. Being Jesus seems to be a common theme, however in my experience a lot of Schizophrenics seem to obsess on religion. So I would definitely be in agreement with the Mod's statement, as well as others. Schizophrenia especially, but Bi-Polar also tends to present in males at the approx. ages I mentioned.

I have seen a lot of people take very large doses, and have "freakouts", I myself have done megadoses, but as I stated earlier, the freakout clears when the drug runs it's course in an otherwise healthy individual. Personally the only negative experience I have had was with ALD, not LSD.

Best of luck to your friend and yourself...

he did acid on sunday and had a BAD trip. but then on monday he woke up feeling good but was acting wierd. than tuesday he thinks he is jesus and is a complete different person. after thursday we took him to the hospital and they put him in a mental hospital. i guess he got some bad lsd? my other friends took it and they were fine , but he got a bad trip and now he is a complete new person 5 days later. not sure much about acid, but i figure some of u guys might know what happened to him? and chances of him snapping out of him? just worried for the guy =/


it was his first time doing acid. he took it right before he went to the rave. but then the rave was canceled due to thunder storms. and he started freaking out because it was kicking in as he was trying to walk back with his friends(who were also tripping) and thats all i know(i wasnt there) he told me he was in hell on sunday. and then monday he seemed to be doing ok but ssaid some random stuff through txt message. but then thursday i found out he was going around preaching to people thinking he was actually jesus and they took him to the hospital where they then moved him to a mental hospital! very worried

 

[Tranced]

Is there self-pity there? Is he anxious when he's apologizing?

He is always very anxious. You're probably right about the self pity, I'd say.

If you genuinely think it's schizophrenia, then I think all efforts should be on getting him to a (new) psychiatrist.

I'm not sure if he has schizophrenia, I've seen little evidence of that, but I feel like he must have been expressing some kind of delusional behaviour for his doctor to diagnose it.

I have always been tolerant of his behaviour, and have always been there for him and tried to provide support, but there is only so much you can do when somebody no longer wants to interact with other humans.

I hope this isn't making me sound cold or something, but I've genuinely tried so hard with him and it just turns out futile, every time. I'm the only friend he has left now, the only one who hasn't deserted him. Any other friends with mental health issues I've 100% been there for and supported, successfully.

I feel that I can only remain there as a friend, if he ever needs me, as I always have done. I am still there for him, I'm just not actively contacting him, because it seems to cause him distress.

 

[AA357]

I took LSD with an acquaintance of mine last year. He took a psychotic break (lost all contact with reality, started thinking I was trying to harm him). I left him after an hour or two, then a few days later one of his friends rang me telling me he was in a psychiatric ward. Apparently this kid had paranoid schizophrenia (I was not aware of this). That one ~100mcg acid trip totally fucked his life up and from what I've heard I don't think he's ever going to recover from it.

Your friend must have had a predisposition to psychosis for that to have happened.

 

[turnupboss]

the lsd probably triggered an intense manic episode which spiralled into paranoia and psychosis

i think there is a pretty decent chance of him snapping out of it, my brother thought i had gone insane while i was institutionalised, but here i am, happier and healthier than before.

its possible even that this experience will be a good teaching tool for him to develop and grow in the future more than he would have without it, the world works in mysterious ways

I highly agree.
And sometimes people dont know what they are getting themselves into. Which is why i learn everything possible about a drug before i consume.

 

[sandely]

I had this happen to a friend of mine. We both took a moderate dose and he wasn't normal for about a year. At first he was diagnosed as bipolar, but it turns out he is schizophrenic.

 

[szuko000]

To be honest I am not sure why my cousin who had a break turned out fine. Maybe he was always a bit weird but I was worried during his break he would "never be the same" but the next day he was fine. He had a paranoid psychotic episode while one LSD where he completely lost his grip on reality. He would mumble incoherently and when I asking him the year he would say "1965, 66, 67, 68..." then "your trying to kill me!" Yell at the top of his lungs like I have never heard an adult yell at the loudest they could inside.

Yet the next day he was fine, as fine as Mike could be (he was always off in a strange way but he's an artist of all types so we always joke that's why he's strange) He went on to try acid one more time like half a hit, thought everyone was demons went to sleep and never touched drugs again. He use to smoke weed daily and quit that started loving religion and unexplainable things related to religion, but never in a forceful "crazy person" who way, he doesn't even openly discuss it.

I just wanted to post this to show the flexibility of the mind. Mike, my cousin, had an every bit as terrible and strong a break as anyone can. I said all night to his friends "he's going to be fine" while the whole time trying to think about what I was going to tell my mom how I in a sense killed Mike but I didn't mean to how was I to know? After 6 hours he just said "what time is it" or something equally as benign and went to sleep only to wake up fine.

What's important is you don't loose faith or hope. Anyone who experiences something so terrible can go on to be normal and they can just suddenly get better for no reason the mind is an amazing thing.

 

[anonymousmama]

MAPS just put out the zendo training manual for handllng difficult psychedelic experiences, anyone tried working with that? having been there myself i can say the authorities definitely were a source of paranoia, and in my history hospitals and doctors were authority figures... for you and your friend - you are so loyal and lovely so stick by him , that means more than anything

 

[anonymousmama]

MAPS just put out the zendo training manual for handllng difficult psychedelic experiences, anyone tried working with that? having been there myself i can say the authorities definitely were a source of paranoia, and in my history hospitals and doctors were authority figures...