Mechanisims of drug induced psychosis

[bikki_muncher69]

hey people, well im sure a few of you have seen my posts relating to psychosis i had suffered 3 months ago aftr taking LSD, it lasted 7 days in total but after that returned totally back to normal, my uncle on my mothers side of the family is a paranoid skitzo and a servere case. Now I loved psychs had my whole life turned upside down by this one thing (drug taking life) and was told by parents ect.. that if i took any psychs again i could end up perma fried but im not sure how true this actually is.

Im wondering how likely if a drug induced psychosis leads to permanent psychosis, it is like if you took another trip again and i did break nothing could fix me and id be screwed for the rest of my life r could it be somthing like that happens again and i get a course of anti psychotics. How related is drug induced psychosis to normal psychosis or is it just the ug messed up your brain for that short while and your brain has to fix itself because that drug altered it for a prolonged period of time?

I guess this post is abit messy but id just like to know how psychosis occurs and if drugs can bring out a permenent state ect ect.. and how effective anti psychotics are because i never quite understood what i went through.

 

[BilZ0r]

Probably related to HPPD, just in a different part of the brain. I suspect it might be to do with 5-HT2A receptors stimulating neurotrophic factor release, and their subsequent effect of synaptic plasticity.

 

[5-HT2]

If you have a history of psychotic illnesses in your family, then hallucinogens or stimulants could definitely bring out any latent illness you have. That said, just because you had a persistent psychotic break from LSD does not necessarily mean that you have schizophrenia or another mental illness.

 

[Smyth]

Increased amounts of dopamine are thought to cause mania which is manifest in psychotic individuals. I think the notion that if u are not already predisposed to mental illness anyway, then if u take any psychedelic in moderation, their will only be a temporary effect even if the hangover might last anything up to a week following a strong dose.

If you get compeltely wired on massive amounts then that is a different matter because most people will be scared off before it reaches that stage and would never intentionally take that much. But even there though, tolerance plays its part in limiting the severity of any impairment.

 

[CretiNation]

Aghajanian GK, Mark GJ. Serotonin Model of Schizophrenia: Emerging Role of Glutamate Mechanisms. Brain Research: Brain Research Reviews. 2000:302-12.

This study found that 5HT2A activation in the prefrontal and frontal cortex enhanced glutamatergic transmission, as well as identified an increase in glutamate as a direct cause of schizophrenia.

Interestingly, this study found that selective 5HT2A antagonists showed promise in the treatment of psychotic symptoms.

Schmidt CJ, Sorensen SM, Kehne JH, Carr AA, Palfreyman MG. The role of 5-HT2A receptors in antipsychotic activity. Life Sciences. 1995;56(25):2209-22.

 

[BilZ0r]

People seem to be getting acute psychotic like activity, and chronic psychosis, after psychedelic use mixed up.

The psychosis i had suffered 3 months ago aftr taking LSD, it lasted 7 days

 

[CretiNation]

Was that referring to my post, BilZ0r? And if it was, how would you make the biological distinction?

 

[BilZ0r]

Yours and Smyth. I would make the distinction in that acute psychosis is caused by the drug, and disipates as the drug disipates. The 7 day psychosis descriped in the OP was not mediated by LSD acting on the 5-HT2A receptor for 7 days. Somehow, LSD created a semi-permanent change in the OPs brain.

And I've seen people who have become "space-cadets"/"acid heads"/"trip jobs" whatever you want to call them, for years and years and years after heavy HEAVY psychedelic use. That, combined with people I know who find they're quality of life significantly reduced by HPPD, has me convinced that psychdelics can produced very long term changes in peoples brains.

 

[yellodolphin]

So psychedelics can cause chemical changes in the brain after the drug wears off thats interesting. too bad there isnt much research being done on this. So the warning to people with underlying disorders not to do psychedelics is because they just may be more subsceptible to these chemical changes i guess then.

 

[BilZ0r]

^ Who knows about the chemical changes, but for most of these things, if people have the underlying disorder, then drugs are more likely to bring it out, i.e. people with anxiety disorders in their history are more likely to get anxious on cannabis, psychosis and hallucinogens and panic and amphetamines...