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Alcohol dependency - novel treatments?

It's not really psychotherapy + hallucinogens, more psychotherapy + psychedelics, or more accurately a single large overwheling dose.

The idea is to engender a powerful, life changing existential experience - the same effect some people get when climbing to the top of a mountain or even experiencing DTs.

Some people also get this "moment of clarity" when as mentaldentrising said their wife leaves. It seems psychedelics can engender spiritual epiphanies and it sometimes takes these epiphanies to work as a spring board to take them from one extreme to another.

Having said that, I am not an alcoholic and never have been, which is wy I value the opinion of those who are or have been
 
Nobody sets out to be an alcoholic, you just use, then cross over into abuse into dependence. You cannot see it but you fuck everything up for all those around you.
 
Seems you got yourself sorted though - so fair play t'ya

Asked a colleague about clormethiazol, she told me it's nasty stuff and isn't licensed in the UK any more. Says there's a poss of OD that isn't there with benzos and that it has a high addiction potential..

Did you find it hard to come off?
 
I've heard before that LSD in a study was 50 percent effective in treating alcoholics. Now I have no link to back that figure up and it probably isn't accurate but I definately think LSD and Psilocybin mixed with the right conversation can help you quit other things, not just alcohol.

I decided to quit smoking on 6 hits of acid. Just like that, cold turkey. That was about six months ago and I've had about 10 cigarettes since then but it's a hell of an improvement from a pack a day where I was at.

Whenever I'm coming off a trip and I've had a little bit of fun I usually try to seclude myself and think about my life. This part of the trip has inspired me to get a job, get on top of finances, and quit smoking.

Not that taking hallucinogens is some magic pill that solves problems. You've really got to focus on negative parts of your life when your tripping to get any kind of revelation or clarity. Also, if you're confused about a social/politcal situation it seems to help to eat a gram of shrooms and just put yourself in the situation to see if you get new perspectives. After tripping just a little acid around this couple I had new ideas about what their problems might be. Didn't share it with them though so I guess that was wasted ideas.
 
haribo1 said:
Clomethiazole:
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Chemically unrelated too any other downer. It works on the glycine receptor as well as GABA so it really stops craving as well as physical side-effects of stopping drinking. Cheap to get off the internet and legal in UK & US.

This is really legal in the United States? Is it OTC or is it just not scheduled. My mother has been struggling with alcoholism for many many years and we're looking for some type of treatment plan for her other than bringing her to a detox where they will lock her up in a room for a week to dry out and increase her benzo consumption. She takes benzos for anxiety and I think that giving her benzos to deal with the symptoms is gonna be just like drinking and taking the normal dose. Are there any side effects to this medication? Do you have to taper off of it since it works on GABA receptors?
 
As long as you stick to a reduction over 10 days you will not get addicted. As for the US, I just know it isn't scheduled. I didn't find it nasty. Yes, you can fatally OD, but you can do that with APAP. Keith Moon killed himself, but he had taken 32. I know it was used until recently and other alcoholics have told me that they now give librium which is useless. The 10 day taper could be used to get rid of both alcohol & benzo addiction. It works on a different part of the GABA and, like I said, on the glycine receptor. Follow up counselling is very important and maybe naltrexone or even disulfiram.
 
does it have recreational affects and can it be used as a sleep aid? im trying not to become dependent on benzos so anything with similar affects but chemically unrelated is useful to me.
 
BristolRob said:
It's not really psychotherapy + hallucinogens, more psychotherapy + psychedelics, or more accurately a single large overwheling dose.

The idea is to engender a powerful, life changing existential experience - the same effect some people get when climbing to the top of a mountain or even experiencing DTs.

Some people also get this "moment of clarity" when as mentaldentrising said their wife leaves. It seems psychedelics can engender spiritual epiphanies and it sometimes takes these epiphanies to work as a spring board to take them from one extreme to another.

Having said that, I am not an alcoholic and never have been, which is wy I value the opinion of those who are or have been

I can appreciate the hopeful tone of your research question, which is why I think I keep coming back to it, but I feel, if only in my own case, that the "spiritual epiphany" experienced under the influence of a psychedelic drug ( I notice you do not emphasize the supposed psychotherapeutic component of your proposition in the replies ) would only be "effective" for a short period of time (few weeks,months) among users who had no serious problems with physical dependency. IMHO, it is that intricate dance with psychological and real physical dependency that makes recovery from this substance so maddening.
 
I have to drink everytime I go out but Id say that drugs have made me cut down on my drinkng alot.
 
BristolRob said:
Any current or past alcohol dependents here?

If you are a recovered alcoholic, what was the key to getting you sober? Do you think classic psychedelics used with psychotherapuetic care might be of benefit?

Do you think a context of meditation/yoga/eastern teachings would be more appealing than the AA and twelve steps?


The only thing that helped me overcome a SERIOUS bout with alcoholism was GHB...It had all the positive effects I was looking for with alcohol but I never got aggressive, woke up in jail with no memory,etc... Not that it's a safe route or one that will work for everyone but even below recreational doses of GHB have been shown in studies to stop DTs and curve craving. do some research on it ....another option.
 
I support the G idea. I tried going through it in my own head whilst on acid about a year ago and knew I had to stop, but I couldn't anyway. The longest I managed in the 10 months or so after that trip was 4 days. So I thought fuck it and decided to buy a bottle of GBL because things couldn't exactly get any worse - I was drinking the equivalent of over a bottle of vodka a day. Well the short version is it worked. I have not had a drink for 28 days now and I'm not about to go and spoil it. As for the risk of trading monkeys, to start with I was using G once or twice a day but now I will use it once every 2 or 3 days, and my dosage has not increased. So it's not a perfect solution and it might not be as effective for everyone, but it got me the results I wanted.
 
Being an alcoholic and poly-drug abuser I have to say psychedelics made me increase my alcohol consumption (while on them) due to the anxiety (my whole reason for drinking in the first place) I had while using them. I was able to stop drinking when I realized it was destroying my marriage and my job. I stayed clean for a long time, moved on to opiates and then moved on to combining alcohol with opiates. I tried gbl and benzo's and while they helped a huge deal in cutting back on the drinking it always remained. While my drinking is "controlled" (i'm still an alcoholic but it doesn't totally run and ruin me now) I can never foresee a future without something, whether it be opiates, alcohol, or benzo's. I would love a cure, hell I would love to be intoxicated on something less physically harmful like benzo's or opiates but those aren't legal, I believe I'm fucked for life. The alcoholics here that did manage to quit, why did you drink in the first place? Was that reason ever "cured"?
 
I believe I'm fucked for life

I'm not trying to play devils advocate but do think that maybe that's part of the problem?

I notice you do not emphasize the supposed psychotherapeutic component of your proposition in the replies

Funnily enough I'm more a proponent of psychotherapy than psychedelics but I know that alcoholics as a patient group are particularly resistant to introspection. With psychedelics, there is an increased sensitivity to that which the alcoholic avoids prcisely through drinking.

Would drinkers agree with the theory that drinking is a means of avoidance through the dilution of contemplation?

The thing I like about psychedelics is that contemplation is very hard to avoid
 
BristolRob said:
I'm not trying to play devils advocate but do think that maybe that's part of the problem?


Would drinkers agree with the theory that drinking is a means of avoidance through the dilution of contemplation?


1. Yeah, I'm sure my thinking that way certainly leads to failure, but it's hard to train your brain to think in a positive manner after so many times thinking positively and failing.

2. This drinker agrees with that theory greatly. Not merely avoidance of contemplation, but straight out avoidance of just about anything.
 
mewmew2 said:
1. Yeah, I'm sure my thinking that way certainly leads to failure, but it's hard to train your brain to think in a positive manner after so many times thinking positively and failing.

2. This drinker agrees with that theory greatly. Not merely avoidance of contemplation, but straight out avoidance of just about anything.

This drinker - drunk, indeed - disagrees with 2, above. I'm sure this varies amongst alcoholics, but booze does not, for me, put an end to thought - it's an analgesic, sometimes, but will often throw me into uncontrollable, obsessive thought patterns that are extremely painful, yet compelling. If I wanted oblivion I'd shoot H - booze gives a more complex range of effects, less easily distinguished from personality features, than most other drugs. Its combination of subtlety in small doses and vulgarity in large ones makes it a particularly insidious and unpredictable addiction...oh, fuck this, I'm opening a bottle.
 
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