Would it be possible for my friend to ever be normal again after abusing psychedelics

[AvenaSativa]

I have a friend who I once considered a guide. She was the one who introduced me to mushrooms, DMT (ayahuasca only), and LSD. She introduced them to me shortly after she started taking them herself, I was the first person she shared these medicines with after she discovered them. She showed them to me before her own boyfriend because even though we weren't that close she knew I was ready.

While the medicines at first seemed to enlighten her as they did me, she grew to abuse them. I was shown so many truths on ayahuasca. LSD was just a more vibrant, longer, funner and less serious ayahuasca trip to me so I didn't learn much from it considering that I took ayahuasca first. She was shown these same truths at first, but now she's a mess due to abusing these substances.

She guided me into realizing that I'm God on my first ayahuasca trip. I interpreted it as everything being God in different yet equal forms and labels and values being illusions constructed by the human ego. She interpreted her ego death a little differently. She thinks she's literally God, like in a deist sense. That she's the only thing that exists and that she's omnipotent and omnipresent and that she created all of us. She thinks everyone else is too ignorant to connect with and therefore she has lost connection with humanity. She's become apathetic because she thinks everything is an illusion, including people's feelings. She's shut herself away from society, she's ran her boyfriend off, she's admitted that she's gone crazy and says the DMT and LSD had a lot to do with it and I'm worried.

I've become scared of these substances that I once considered keys to a higher conscious, to a quasi-enlightenment. They helped me profoundly, they set so many things straight in my life, they broke down a lot of the social conditionings I had and a lot of the anxiety and depression I had as well as low self esteem. I've been strongly advocating these substances as psychological medicines since I first discovered ayahuasca, but now I'm scared to.

Are negative psychological reactions like this normal from taking these substances? These aren't adverse reactions to bad trips, but just a seemingly permanent disconnection. Being disconnected from social conditioning that led to prejudices and anxieties and depression and low self esteem is grand, but she's become disconnected entirely. In the case of these things happening is it ever possible that the person return to normal?

Also she's diagnosed bipolar and quit taking her meds.. How much of that could be playing into this?? I'm really worried for her..

 

[perpetualdawn]

I'm sure someone more helpful and informed than myself is typing up a response as we speak, but please be assured that your friend can recover if she stops abusing PDs, and seeks (or continues to seek) professional help. Yes her bipolar is playing into this.

These negative reactions aren't normal responses to PDs, but they are fairly common responses to abusing PDs. I have friends who have done down that road (to varying degrees) and managed to come back to reality.

 

[steve022]

She does know that she is "crazy" so I would say yes. Once someone knows they have "lost it" often they can slowly regain a solid grip on reality

 

[St3ve]

She thinks everyone else is too ignorant to connect with and therefore she has lost connection with humanity. She's become apathetic because she thinks everything is an illusion, including people's feelings.

Sounds familiar... I abused acid for a few months and got myself into a similar situation as your friend. If I remember correctly it took about 3-4 months before I got myself out of my own psychedelic induced delusions. Anxiety and derealization kept me from seeing what I'd done to myself but as time passed the anxiety faded and my mind got in control of itself again. I've learned since then that there is only so much psychedelics can truly offer you and that their use is best kept for rare occasions!

 

[ComfortablyNumb95]

this type of delusions are common with psychs abuse AFAIK, tell her to lay off the drugs and maybe she'll be fine (unless she's schizoprenic or something)

 

[southeast]

^^^Agreed, I know people that are clearly burnt out acid heads but I think they never recovered because there was something going on before and they never took a long enough break to regrip with reality. So if she took a legit break and is fine mentally it should be fine.

 

[sekio]

People don't have a tendency to change once they've gone down a certain garden path... familiarity is freindly. You know that If your friend is going off the rails you've got a duty to put her back on them before the 5150. The cops have a much less interesting idea of reality than you might have. That might require limiting daily psychedelic usage, so be it.

 

[motiv311]

she might, she might not... I went crazy on mushrooms for awhile back when I was 19, It took years before I could do them again.

 

[Xorkoth]

Your friend can recover, however she needs to lay off the psychedelics. It sounds like a classic ego trip. I arrived at the same conclusions as you from psychedelics, to me it's humbling and it proves to me that I am nothing special above anyone else, but that I am special, like we all are, in that we're all the universe experiencing itself subjectively. It's led me to feel closer to others. However, some people get it twisted and interpret it like your friend is. It's unfortunate, but I'm sure she can recover if she lays off the psychedelics, and in time, she will come down from her ego trip.

For the better part of 3 years I tripped FAR too often, up to 7 days a week, though that was only once. I regularly tripped 3-4 times a week (not huge doses usually but the doses were what I used to consider huge doses, just that tolerance became a big factor). I really never had any lasting negative consequences except that I had a huge lack of sleep which caused me problems, and I now still have a large tolerance, which seems that it will never go away, and it's harder for me to feel the magic from psychedelics even to this day (I abused them from 2006-2008 ). I never even got HPPD. Granted, not everyone seems as resilient to psychedelics, but I describe my experience to help reassure you that your friend can bounce back.

 

[SONN]

I was only about 18 when I really started abusing them but I usually kept it to 3 times a month or less. I had a similar ego trip where I legitimately thought I basically saw god and potentially was him as well but 3 months of sobriety (besides a Ritalin prescription I got halfway through) made me functionally sane again

Hydergine would probably help imho

 

[motiv311]

I saw god (God?) too and basically realized it/he was me and I was him.... I didn't like what I saw , I confused paralyzed tree-being stretching out in a void of nothingness, so lonely and scared it was utterly disturbing- - for months afterwards I was unsettled

Later on when I was able to understand my experience better, and use it to my advantage, after maybe 6-7 years of various experiences with DMT, mushrooms, ayahuasca, I understand life is all about feeling as much positivity and love as you possibly can, and you are not god himself, rather a projection of his mind which carries all the information/soul that god comes with. Its in your DNA. But you are never better than anyone else, just aware more or less.

 

[pupnik]

cleanse, and stay clean for a while.

 

[Doldrugs]

Also she's diagnosed bipolar and quit taking her meds.. How much of that could be playing into this??

A lot. I experienced similar, though less severe issues before I even tried psychedelics. Bipolar, major depression, and anxiety disorders can have surprising effects on the mind that psychedelics can amplify. She needs to get back on her meds, see a doctor, and lay off the recreational drugs for a while.

 

[lovepsychadelics]

Sounds like someone's a bit elevated. More than a bit, more like hypermanic. Don't buy into the T. Mckenna bullshit and get your friend to lay of the psychedelics and take her anti psychotics/mood stabilizers. If not get her sectioned/ITO whatever it takes to get her to some medical attention. I've known of people who have become manic and basically invited any passer by on the street into their house to engage in sexual insanity. I've also known of people who have just walked for hundreds of miles while elevated because God/Jesus/Buddha/Captain Kirk told them they would receive enlightenment/wisdom/Scotty would beam them up. Nothing good ever came of it.