How Has Psychedelic Drug Use Affected Your Life/Outlook On Life? For Better Or Worse

[CaptainAmerica]

I'm 20 years old, I first took a psychedelic drug (I guess salvia was first, but how lame, such a highschooler...) was LSD in the fall of 2007. I started doing cocaine shortly thereafter and got sent away to the wilderness and a rehab ranch for 11 months total, absolute hell...

It turned me off to AA and sobriety like a kid who is raised very catholic, I grew an absolute rejection and hatred of it.

Anyway, I started taking psychedelics about a year ago, LSD maybe 4 times, shrooms about 3, and the rest (at least 50 or more) various RC's, most notably 2c-t-2, 2c-e, and methylone.

I feel like I have gained alot of good, positive things with my psychedelic drug use. I feel a lot less judgmental, and much more accepting of other people in general, to just be a nice person as often as possible, and to not be mean.

I've always learned some "deep shit" mannn. Like the universal, "holy shit, everything that has happened/will ever happen, is all a manifestation of how my brain interprets it. And another thing I've found (for me) is that, really the whole point of life is to have fun, and to enjoy yourself.

I'm curious, what have you guys learned from your psychedelic drugs use?
Has it changed you? For better or worse? How?

 

[LysergicEpiphany]

One one hand, Hallucinogens seem to have worsened my HPPD to quite some extent. Yet on the other, Psyches seem to have broadened my mindset, I definitely take others into account A lot more and think before I act. Just thought I'd add my ten pence, Peace.

 

[StingRei]

Shrooms made me realize that I would like to start using small doses of them as an anti-depressant.

 

[structural entropy]

I feel like psychedelics have helped organize my mind. A deep appreciation of mental, visual, and linguistic structures of all sorts. Structure is something that I'm becoming more and more obsessed with as I go deeper into psys.

 

[johannes kreisler]

Shrooms made me realize that I would like to start using small doses of them as an anti-depressant.

did you try it? I once tried 0.4g of cubes for that reason - was too much and kinda fucked me up. 0.25 on the other hand felt good. but might have been placebo. we need to have some double-blind trials...
I think of trying that with 4-aco-dmt.

the dose should be just below threshold imo.


____



I can't even start to explain how psychedelics affected my mental health/outlook on life and life in general for the better.
Saved me years of senseless struggling and self-entangling in analytical-intellectual mindfucks.
let alone spiritual development....

 

[StingRei]

did you try it? I once tried 0.4g of cubes for that reason - was too much and kinda fucked me up. 0.25 on the other hand felt good. but might have been placebo. we need to have some double-blind trials...
I think of trying that with 4-aco-dmt.

the dose should be just below threshold imo.

Oh yes, I did it quite a few times last year. I was eating single 1" round caps or cuts (fresh, had a bag in the fridge that lasted a week) for their stimulant and anti-depressant effects. It worked great, hence my desire to continue doing so.

Funny you mention 4-AcO-DMT because it has gained my interest very much since I started doing research over a month ago. If we do find a way to get some, I will be moving on to low dose (~5mg) experiments after my initial trip and I'll report my findings on the Big & Dandy thread (I'm thinking we should have a Big & Dandy Low Dose thread, as there is already one but only for LSD).

 

[Bardeaux]

Its funny, I was a little dissapointed in the long term beneficial aspects of psychedelics at first. I found myself with more anxiety and deeper depression immediately after taking my first few trips. It wasnt until a year or so of use that I started to notice how exactly they were changing me. I went from a generally unhappy, purely recreational drug user with no direction in life to a more gorunded, ambitious lifestyle within one year. I've let go of all childish hang ups I had and began focusing on the future and where I see myself in it. I quit smoking after 8 years, I enrolled into college and really began to become a much happier person.

I dont like the idea of giving psychedelics 100% of the credit for all of this because afterall, they are just drugs. But I find it hard to believe that it has been one big coincidence.

 

[StingRei]

Its funny, I was a little dissapointed in the long term beneficial aspects of psychedelics at first. I found myself with more anxiety and deeper depression immediately after taking my first few trips. It wasnt until a year or so of use that I started to notice how exactly they were changing me. I went from a generally unhappy, purely recreational drug user with no direction in life to a more gorunded, ambitious lifestyle within one year. I've let go of all childish hang ups I had and began focusing on the future and where I see myself in it. I quit smoking after 8 years, I enrolled into college and really began to become a much happier person.

I dont like the idea of giving psychedelics 100% of the credit for all of this because afterall, they are just drugs. But I find it hard to believe that it has been one big coincidence.

'they are just drugs' - that is where you are wrong.

A person's diet can affect their health and emotional and mental well being. So is food just food? Is water just water even though it keeps people from going delusional?

I don't believe these substances that we have come to refer to as 'psychedelics' or 'tryptamines' are 'just drugs'. The single source for pretty much every chemical we have lies in nature, in plants and animals and fungi. The chemicals have simply been designed (or stumbled upon) to affect the mind and body in the same or at least similar ways, or to become metabolized into the natural chemicals or a relative of them.

These are not 'just drugs'. To me, they are like food and water. In fact, everything that contains these drugs (plants, fungi, animals) is something we eat.

 

[Bardeaux]

^ Psychedelics are very close to my heart and Im not trying to present them unflatteringly. But they wont do the work for you the way water or nutritional food will. If you are dehydrated you have to simply drink water and you're cured. There are no magic enlightenment drugs. There has to be thoughtfulness and effort in order to achieve your goal concerning psychedelics imo.

 

[malakaix]

Im certain this question was asked recently, but im to lazy to go find the thread.

But in summary, they changed everything i thought i knew about myself and the universe, particularly DMT. After two years of use i eventually became awoken to my own sense of spirituality and was sent towards meditation, and maintaining an active mindfulness of the whole.

I'm slowly accepting responsibility for every action in my life, each an every decision that I've made past and present has been entirely my own.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

 

[tron]

In the 60's there was lots of talk about "expanding your conciousness" It sounds like a cliche, but it actually came true for me. It opened doors that would still be closed and gave me a more broad frame of reference or a wider outlook on the environment. like a shortcut to lessons that would be learned eventually no matter what...but the acid shone light on the subject and allowed a good space to reflect and process info.

 

[nearjat]

I dont have much to say that hasn't been said already but I also had some negative effects, mostly from the mania-like emotional effects of being prescribed Adderall. I took the psychedelic philosophies too far at times and sort of alienated myself. I felt like I was some kind of enlightened person stuck in this world of mindless sheep. Which, of course, a completely false and egocentric thought process.

They would have only benefited me had I taken my own thoughts with a grain of salt.

 

[The Winner!!]

Untill a couple days ago, psychedelic drugs had a positive influence on me, that one bad trip, traumatic, I will never forget, it will have a negative impact on my brain for the rest of my life

 

[swilow]

I dont have much to say that hasn't been said already but I also had some negative effects, mostly from the mania-like emotional effects of being prescribed Adderall. I took the psychedelic philosophies too far at times and sort of alienated myself. I felt like I was some kind of enlightened person stuck in this world of mindless sheep. Which, of course, a completely false and egocentric thought process.

They would have only benefited me had I taken my own thoughts with a grain of salt.

Nice retrospective there. I would agree, however:

BENEFITS:

-Increase in empathy, almost to the point of pain
-Knowing I can defeat or relax a frightened mind (my own)
-Met some fucking fantastic people
-Dancing occurss on a cellular level.
-Ability to recognise relationships and patterns between things that do not appear related. This one is a difficult one; at some points, synchronicity has utterly floored me with terror and dread- now I can accept these pattern/relationships, discard or ignore the pointless ones, and utilise the subtle patterns which connect everything, in some way. This can lead to egocentrism, so one must be cautious.
-Respect for my own ego, and what function it provides- a means to stay grounded and objective.
-Knowledge that their is truly more to reality then we can sense or imagine; this has lead to my own practise of certain ritual-magick, as well as a deep enthusiasm for the occult.

NEGATIVES:
-Loss of self. Or more, loss of the illusion of self.
-Psychosis which lead to me being arrested and charged and convicted.
-Difficulty in integration of extreme trips. As nearjat mentioned, this has lead to egotistical behaviour, selfishness, confusion and apathy.


For me, the positives outweigh the negatives. That said, I got rid of lots of my psychedelics, and basically stick to either LSD, mushrooms, DMT (smoked and ayahuasca) these days, though I will use some 'RC' tryptamines.

 

[chronix]

I think the most important thing I've gained is a greater understanding of the possibilities of an "altered reality," or, more specifically, reality in general. Humans I believe have an incredibly narrow perspective on reality and therefore the nature of the universe itself. As we grow older, our experiences help broaden this perspective. However, I believe psychedelics, meditation, and really anything else that helps to heighten your state of reality broadens this perspective in astronomical ways.

I've found that sometimes it's a little difficult to put my finger on how exactly psychedelics make me think and behave differently. I believe a lot of the "psychedelic enlightenment" happens on a subconscious level. Oftentimes the things you discover are so abstract and crazy they can't exactly be put into words. However, the nature of these realizations greatly effect your outlook on the world, your life, and how you react to both.

 

[Ryan1411]

Its funny, I was a little dissapointed in the long term beneficial aspects of psychedelics at first. I found myself with more anxiety and deeper depression immediately after taking my first few trips.

What aspect of your psychedelic experiences do you think caused your anxiety/depression? Was it the realizations/mind-set or something else? As someone who hasn't tried psychs I'm curious.

 

[StingRei]

What aspect of your psychedelic experiences do you think caused your anxiety/depression? Was it the realizations/mind-set or something else? As someone who hasn't tried psychs I'm curious.

Most psychedelics make you feel awesome and suck your serotonin dry, so it's not uncommon to feel crappy/depressed for days afterward.

 

[Aloysius]

Most psychedelics make you feel awesome and suck your serotonin dry, so it's not uncommon to feel crappy/depressed for days afterward.

if you refer to the loss of serotonin receptors and release of serotonin as happens with MDMA, this is AFAIK not true for the indole psychedelics (dmt, lsd, shrooms). they are agonists at serotonin receptors, but do not deplete it. there is a distinction to be made here, i think. maybe. sorry, can't google up concrete evidence so quickly

(maybe there is some downregulation?)

 

[Roger&Me]

I'm unsure whether or not I've ever really "learned" anything from psychedelics; ie, gained a set of knowledge that I didn't have prior to the experience.

It's more like I "remembered" a lot of stuff, that I had long forgotten-- like how to perceive the world as it truly is: bright, vibrant, electric, and mysterious.

Looking inward and outward through the rainbow lens of psychedelia.

 

[Grateful Head]

Psychedelics have changed my life in absolutely nothing but positive 1. changed my overall outlook on how we as human beings should think ... FREELY.... 2. Help adjust or cure my anxiety I get when around people 3. Responsible along with self disipline 9 months clean off of heroin and all other opiates peace n love to all (=