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Is the psychedelic experience just self-induced schizophrenia

AvenaSativa

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
58
I've always considered this and this I saw art that I thought was inspired by psychedelia apparently the artist Louis Wain was a schizophrenic patient in the 1800's. It's still beautiful art.

And both people on LSD and schizophrenics fail the hollow mask illusion.. Next time I trip I'm going to try it out.

I felt like I learned so much from acid and ayahuasca, I felt reborn and like all is One and have since considered myself a pantheist because I feel that the universe is God. I felt the eternal fractal and the interconnection of existence. Everything I thought was real melted away and I felt that one ineffable entity that is real. What if I was just having an intense psychotic episode?
 
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That does not sound psychotic to me that sounds beautiful what a lovely experience. It is no surprise to me schizophrenics have similar visions as do those on psychedelic drugs. Our perception has been heightened to a state that it is not familiar with, and it may seem crazy but that is only because we have not felt these things before. If schizophrenia is as your trip was described then count me in. I could spend an eternity floating on a cloud being one with everything strait jacket and all. That is until they shoot me with Thorazine and leave me to rot. Schizophrenia is a terrible heart breaking disease I have seen it first hand.
 
Yes, it doesn't sound like one… I've experienced that on various psychedelics… The visuals and auditory sounds are heightened indeed, and I feel completely whole and happy.
I don't think schizophrenia is comfortable though… My roommate's mom has it. Often people will medicate to bring themselves down.
Anyways, what an experience you had! I sometimes wonder if I'll ever do all-arounders again…
 
No, schizophrenia is a absolutely fucking nightmarish experience full of fear, misery, loneliness and pain. Psychedelics are paradise on earth both physically and mentally. Big difference.

For a start knowing that you're tripping is very different to someone with schizophrenia who has no idea what is happening to him isn't real.

I wouldn't fall for the hollow mask illusion btw - no matter how much LSD I'd taken.
 
The psychotomimetic understanding of psychedelic drugs was debunked - if I recall correctly - in the 50s or early 50s.
Sure, "trippy" looking shit occurs in art and nature going back millennia (fractals etc) - but psychedelia and psychosis bear slight similarities at best.
Other drugs, on the other hand...
 
I am with Ismene here the experiences could not even come close to comparison unless of course youre having a hellish trip.
 
The psychotomimetic understanding of psychedelic drugs was debunked - if I recall correctly - in the 50s or early 50s.
Sure, "trippy" looking shit occurs in art and nature going back millennia (fractals etc) - but psychedelia and psychosis bear slight similarities at best.
Other drugs, on the other hand...

true ^
 
For me, I have had the kind of experience you described. I believe that to be the true nature of existence, despite the feeling from many that I am "out there". I experienced something more real than anything I have ever witnessed "normally" and hence, there is something I know that most other people do not ever think of. Does this make me crazy? No, it does not. I think the most important indicator of "insanity" is, am I functioning in censensus reality? If you are, then you have nothing to fear. If you are not, then consider your thought processes. For me, every day is psychedelic but I am still a successful human being. I have known 3 different schizophrenic people and I can tell you that they are all unable to deal with life in a healthy way (one is in fact dead as a result of this).

Consider that perhaps existence does not conform to what you were taught, but this does not mean that you're crazy, but instead that you have been lucky enough to glimpse through the curtain a bit.
 
Love the tern crazy,
maybe schizophrenia is a real disease or maybe it is a psychiatric construct, a moving target with symptoms that have evolved from one kind of crazy to another over the years that people have used the term.
but crazy is a good term.
I am crazy about my wife
I am crazy about lysergamides.

does the psychedelic state resemble being crazy?
I think the time distortion comes into play, and with that the ability to consider illogical or contradictory combinations of ideas as truth.

also the idea of comfort or ease comes into play, and discomfort or dis-ease (disease) relates to how a crazy person makes us feel so they must be sick. (ha! - basically anyone who gets into my face should probably be medicated because I am not crazy)
 
Wouldn't take high doses of some kind of deliriant drug (like datura) be more akin to a schizophrenic episode?
 
In schizophrenia there's usually little visual hallucinations, so it does not resemble the intoxication caused by psychedelics/deliriants. Symptoms bearing more resemblance to schizophrenia can be caused chemically by messing with brain dopamine (amphetamine psychosis or L-DOPA overdose).

In temporal epilepsy (Vincent van Gogh had that) the seizures often involve psychedelic-like illusions/hallucinations.
 
Dissociatives are probably the best mimic of schizophrenia out there.
 
Simply; no.
Schizophrenia and related disorders are, to the best of my knowledge, centred around the dopamine system - usually the levels in the synaptic cleft are far greater than average, along with retrograde signalling to the Temporal lobe. Overstimulation of D1/D2 receptors is responsible for the 'positive' symptoms: psychoses, hallucinations, delusions etc,.

Most hallucinogenic substances act primarily on the serotonergic system (5-HTxx agonism), and thus produce vastly different effects.

As Sekio mentioned: dissociative are much closer to schizoid states than psychedelics - dopaminergic stimulants will also induce psychosis, given a sufficient dosage, along with the sleep deprivation they inevitably induce.
 
Simply; no.
Schizophrenia and related disorders are, to the best of my knowledge, centred around the dopamine system - usually the levels in the synaptic cleft are far greater than average, along with retrograde signalling to the Temporal lobe. Overstimulation of D1/D2 receptors is responsible for the 'positive' symptoms: psychoses, hallucinations, delusions etc,.

Most hallucinogenic substances act primarily on the serotonergic system (5-HTxx agonism), and thus produce vastly different effects.

As Sekio mentioned: dissociative are much closer to schizoid states than psychedelics - dopaminergic stimulants will also induce psychosis, given a sufficient dosage, along with the sleep deprivation they inevitably induce.


This^^. I have schitzoaffective disorder and I've had two true "psychotic" episodes. They are nothing like what is caused by hallucinogens, they're more akin to the effects of too much amphetamine or cocaine. Also dissociatives like PCP can mimic the effects of a psychotic episode.
 
Wow SB, you're the only other person I've 'met' with SA.

I personally have had countless psychotic episodes, mania doesn't help!
 
Op,

I once owned a psychology textbook with a chart that matched a series of delusions and senses with different mental illnesses. Almost all of them each described the effect of one drug or another that I remembered. I ended up selling it back and blew the money on nitrous. Lol.
 
nah, go ahead an appreciate the amazing experience you had and what you gained from it...
Having worked with mental health clients for some time I can tell you now, very few of them enjoy the experience, and even fewer stop to reflect (as you did) about their state of mind at the time ;)
 
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