Brain damage and tripping

[Plurple]

I know people say it is impossible to trip forever, but I personally have a family member and have every day experience with someone that is still living in an LSD trip. When he was doing drugs (about 17 years old) his parents were separating and his mother abandoned him. This caused him to go into emotional turmoil and just not care anymore. He would take handfuls at a time and he fried something in his brain. To this day he still has random outbursts and it wasn't until recently that I realized I understood every single thing he's said when he has his outbursts. It's almost like touretts syndrome.
I know acid really doesn't do anything much to you physically other than dilated pupils and the other norms associated with tripping, but what about your mind? I feel like at such high dosages like that it's possible to just burn out your reality. He can still function as a human being, but you can definitely tell he is on some other plane than everyone else. Kinda like detachment after a really heavy trip, he just never came back.
Anyone else have experience with things like this? What are your opinions on the whole perma trip thing? I'd love to hear from all you guys!

 

[CrypticArc]

It's more than likely a psychotic break caused by a combination of factors. You yourself said he was going through a really rough time. The acid probably didn't help the process. But no, he is not "constantly in an LSD trip", psychedics cannot cause this to happen, they can only trigger latent mental illness that was most likely going to show it's self eventually anyway.

 

[Solipsis]

Damn, very sorry to hear that...

That would be severe psychological trauma. Abandonment can be enough for sober people to be traumatized, but on psychedelics processes can become amplified and catalyzed. In that sense it is a little like a brainwashing potential.

Brainwashing is not just some MK Ultra conspiracy nonsense or from the X-Files, it is employed by cults and religions and what happens is there is an imprint made of an idea (a meme). There are various ways to accomplish this, such as meditation or use of mantras or psychedelics (Robert Anton Wilson writes very intriguing though also sometimes a bit goofy things about this).

My point here is that it seems very unfortunate that such a strong imprint / impression that abandonment makes was amplified by drugs that increased sensitivity or susceptibility.

Perma-tripping is not really anything but a collective word for what may be one of various psychological traumata or psychiatric conditions. In many cases it involves a lability: a latent (sleeping) illness and the potential for a fuller manifestation of it. Schizophrenia for example, or a genetic predisposition for getting psychosis from cannabis. Even if psychiatric ailments don't run in your family, a person without latent illness (although arguably everyone inevitably suffers from one or more mild forms of neurosis) could suffer what you describe since every human being is ultimately susceptible to trauma.

LSD or any other psychedelic doesn't cause mental illness as was recently shown by a huge study, but they are powerful mediators and can act as triggers or catalysts for mental illness you already have (or have the potential for), or for traumatic events to be amplified.

Fortunately there are also very wonderful states of consciousness that can be amplified (or processes amplified) of course, which is why we use them

 

[Plurple]

Because this happened to someone in my family does that mean genetically I'm more susceptible to the same thing? I mean I am a very bright person, I'm honestly doing drugs so I can write a composed journal on how each one makes me feel. Breakthrough doses of substances slightly scare me for that reason, but not like I can't be patient and see how small doses effect me first.

 

[Plurple]

I just like learning about them, why they make you feel that way, what makes your brain act that way, what is their chemical composition, what is my personal experience with them, yada yada.

 

[tokezu]

First of all there is no such thing as being "stuck in a trip", the trip your family member had ended when the substance had run it's course. But unfortunately it seems that he is suffering from persistent after-effects. (Which is also not necessarily the same as "brain damage".)

Because this happened to someone in my family does that mean genetically I'm more susceptible to the same thing? I mean I am a very bright person, I'm honestly doing drugs so I can write a composed journal on how each one makes me feel.

If you are related by blood, then you are statistically more susceptible to the same thing, yes. But I think not even a doctor can tell you, exactly how much more susceptible you are to it compared to the average person. Being bright really has nothing to do with it, I'm afraid.

Brainwashing is not just some MK Ultra conspiracy nonsense or from the X-Files, it is employed by cults and religions

I'm not sure if you're trying to insinuate MK Ultra is just some conspiracy theory, if so you should really do some reading on that. Imo what happened there is much more worrisome than some Manson-type cult leaders.

 

[Plurple]

I should have worded that differently. It's more like psychological damage. I know that when I even take one or two hits everything feels super intense. I can only imagine how his mind must have felt on a handful. Especially in the state of mind he was in.

 

[The Shadow Self]

In all likelihood, there was an underlying predisposition for psychoses and/or another form of mental illness present in the individual. And unfortunately, what you are seeing is an expression of that mental illness that may have been brought about, at least in part, by the use of psychedelic drugs. I am a clinician and it's certainly not the first person who's encountered this outcome. I've worked with quite a few people who have some significant issues related to Nbome abuse as well as long-lasting effects of chronic MDMA use. It isn't pretty, and it's part of the darker side of drug use that rears its ugly head at times.