I have alwayd read that SSRIs block the effect of psychedelics. Howevever, I keep hearing that many people still get effects, just muted, and that they can tale higher dosages and still get into psychedelia..
Since my knowledge base is older and maybe out of date, what is the current thinking on this matter?
Reactions vary by person, SSRI drug(s) and history, psychedelic substance etc. Frequently the experience is blocked or muted. Sometimes the intensity is not really affected at all. Rarely the intensity may be amplified.
Sometimes people can use higher doses of psychedelics to overcome the "blocking or muting" effect. However, even if higher doses are capable of restoring intensity, the experiences may still be qualitatively quite different than they would be without the SSRI. This could affect many aspects of the experience and increase the possiblity of unexpected/unwanted outcomes.
SSRIs are a last ditch effort to avert suicide and blunt the hell out of your emotions.
Why bother taking psychedelics if you're at the point where you'd rather feel numb than live?
With all due respect, SSRIs are the first-line treatment for depression. This is not my opinion of how things
should be done, it is a fact regarding how medicine is practiced today. Contrast that to e.g. Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) which is actually used in a last ditch sort of fashion.
My
opinion is actually consistent with what you're saying---that SSRis should be a last ditch intervention. However, I recognize that medicine is an art as much as science, and a few people do appear to respond very well to SSRIs---including for various off-label things. There are important questions regarding long-term sustainability of such treatments in that for many people, the good effects "poop out" after some months or years. The biggest drawback I see with SSRIs is that many people (not all) develop severe dependence on them such that they can't quit without a very difficult multi-year tapering process.
The reality is that most people take SSRIs because a doctor advised them to. Some were first prescribed SSRIs before they were old enough to properly consent, and many cannot quit them even if they wanted to. I can tell you there are people who hate SSRIs more than you do but still take them every day because otherwise their nervous systems goes haywire. And again there are off-label uses. See duloxetine for relieving nerve pain for example.
