I have a blind friend who wants to try psychedelics but is scared of how it will affect him. I would think it would be more intense but in a slightly different way but I really have no clue. Does anyone have any insight on tripping while blind?
My friend is blind
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Cliffy78
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I would think he'd have an awesome time! As long as he doesn't have mental issues and as long as someone was there to help him out a bit if needed something then he'd be all set.
A trip report would be wicked interesting too, I definitely agree with that.
Please let us all know how it goes if your buddy decides to try it
A trip report would be wicked interesting too, I definitely agree with that.
Please let us all know how it goes if your buddy decides to try it
phuckingnutz
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I qasked "what do blind people "see" on DMT? and was informed that those who hve been blind since birth have no "visuals", but those who were once sighted do...
Kinda bummed me out to hear that though, it means that if people were actually "going" anywhere during the DMT experience then having once been able to see or not should make no difference.
The person who could see at one time is pulling from their sighted memory, otherwise they should have identical experiences.
Kinda bummed me out to hear that though, it means that if people were actually "going" anywhere during the DMT experience then having once been able to see or not should make no difference.
The person who could see at one time is pulling from their sighted memory, otherwise they should have identical experiences.
Transgender Panda
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Do you think it is because they do in fact have no visuals or because their brain has a hard time of relating to a perception they have never been able to experience? That kind of makes me feel bummed too
. I wonder if there is still the feeling of another realm but the lessons learned are through a different means than that of visual dominance.Yes, Please do report back Lackasham. I am very interested in the sort of experience he would have.
Happy tripping to both of you.
Cream Gravy?
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I read a report by a blind individual on mushrooms on erowid once. I don't have a link, but it seemed like the person really enjoyed their experience, and of course were more keen on the touch, smell and sound sensations than anything visual. The feelings I get on mushrooms are crazy, and often, it's not the visuals I go in for. So I bet your friend will have a valuable learning experience about his senses!
That sounds nuts! Let us know how it goes!
Did your friend ever had any experience with psychoactives ? Did he ever smoke MJ?
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I'm not sure I agree with that, I think a person who has never seen just experiences the world differently, I believe he'd trip just like anyone else but without a visual component, like everything else in his life. It seems frightening to me too to be unable to see (whether tripping or not), but for some people that's just the way it is. Especially someone blind since birth.
Solipsis
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It is true that people who have never or pretty much never seen before can have very severe problems if their sight is restored, but there is a difference between suddenly being exposed to a world of actual incoming sensory data you never experienced before ... or experiencing the world as you know it in a completely different light (sound? :> )...
We actually have plenty of pre-existing threads on this very interesting type of question, but I'm not sure if can reproduce a conclusion or anything... IMO it all can depends on the type of blindness and how long the person has had it. It probably makes all the difference whether it is the eyes or the brain that can't play their part in producing sight properly. The brain can be poked to generate all kinds of unusual experiences, but the eyes not so much (unless you count pressing down hard on your eyeballs :D ).
People with congenital blindness probably don't have a visual cortex that has developed the normal way. The visual cortex is probably still built to generate something that is at least vaguely visual, but since is has not been imprinted and has not learned (especially during the pruning period in young infancy) is likely to be designed less properly to generate meaningful images that have something to do with actual perception of the world and everything in it. Also the visual cortex may be used for other functions in blind people.
So I imagine any visual effects gotten from psychedelics to be mostly amorphous and not well-defined, maybe like clouds of electricity and other such images I consider to be rather unencoded and therefore rather meaningless brain activity. I actually don't know if our brain's ability to detect visual patterns and that sort of thing is something blind people also still have the organic potential for. If they do, tickling those processing systems could produce patterns. Who knows, perhaps the different way of knowing the world by touch does something very differently to a person's concepts of patterns and shapes.
There may be some relationship with synaesthesia or more specific: the multi-modal aspects of reality we can experience through different ways, for example feeling a cube shape or seeing it, or hearing the sound of a square wave. I believe blind people deal very differently with that, because they are missing one of the senses it changes those relationships or what they can use to reconstruct an abstract concept like perceiving form in the world.
That may suggest that if they hallucinate shapes, they wouldn't be for the most part (or at all) associated with the visual aspect of shapes, but rather the tactile aspects.
I think it will vary between people, for some it may be like I just suggested and others might really experience something more visual like, while other hardly anything of the sorts.
And since it is such a black box thing to talk about, let's assume that it is probably a hell of a lot harder to imagine than is comfortable if we really wanna answer this question ourselves.
Would be very interesting to hear accounts on it from actual blind trippers.
We actually have plenty of pre-existing threads on this very interesting type of question, but I'm not sure if can reproduce a conclusion or anything... IMO it all can depends on the type of blindness and how long the person has had it. It probably makes all the difference whether it is the eyes or the brain that can't play their part in producing sight properly. The brain can be poked to generate all kinds of unusual experiences, but the eyes not so much (unless you count pressing down hard on your eyeballs :D ).
People with congenital blindness probably don't have a visual cortex that has developed the normal way. The visual cortex is probably still built to generate something that is at least vaguely visual, but since is has not been imprinted and has not learned (especially during the pruning period in young infancy) is likely to be designed less properly to generate meaningful images that have something to do with actual perception of the world and everything in it. Also the visual cortex may be used for other functions in blind people.
So I imagine any visual effects gotten from psychedelics to be mostly amorphous and not well-defined, maybe like clouds of electricity and other such images I consider to be rather unencoded and therefore rather meaningless brain activity. I actually don't know if our brain's ability to detect visual patterns and that sort of thing is something blind people also still have the organic potential for. If they do, tickling those processing systems could produce patterns. Who knows, perhaps the different way of knowing the world by touch does something very differently to a person's concepts of patterns and shapes.
There may be some relationship with synaesthesia or more specific: the multi-modal aspects of reality we can experience through different ways, for example feeling a cube shape or seeing it, or hearing the sound of a square wave. I believe blind people deal very differently with that, because they are missing one of the senses it changes those relationships or what they can use to reconstruct an abstract concept like perceiving form in the world.
That may suggest that if they hallucinate shapes, they wouldn't be for the most part (or at all) associated with the visual aspect of shapes, but rather the tactile aspects.
I think it will vary between people, for some it may be like I just suggested and others might really experience something more visual like, while other hardly anything of the sorts.
And since it is such a black box thing to talk about, let's assume that it is probably a hell of a lot harder to imagine than is comfortable if we really wanna answer this question ourselves.
Would be very interesting to hear accounts on it from actual blind trippers.
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peanut 801
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I agree with most the other people on here, I'd be VERY intrigued to read a trip report from a blind person.
phuckingnutz
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I'll bet DIpT would really be freaky for him...?
perpetualdawn
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My perspective is that being blind isn't super relevant to how psychedelics will affect your friend. The more important questions are the ones any new tripper needs to consider: is he emotionally and psychologically stable/healthy, and ready for an adventure? And like any new tripper it will be important to be there for him, be with him and make sure he's safe and comfortable.
Psychedelics enhance all of your senses and thought patterns. For me personally, the visual aspect of a trip is like 10% of the fun, so I don't really think being able to see matters very much. Probably you'd want to pay extra attention to creating a great sonic environment for your friend! Great music might be a big part of the trip. Hanging out, listening to music, talking and philosiphizin' are some of my favourite things to do while tripping, and all things that you don't need to see for
Psychedelics enhance all of your senses and thought patterns. For me personally, the visual aspect of a trip is like 10% of the fun, so I don't really think being able to see matters very much. Probably you'd want to pay extra attention to creating a great sonic environment for your friend! Great music might be a big part of the trip. Hanging out, listening to music, talking and philosiphizin' are some of my favourite things to do while tripping, and all things that you don't need to see for
Solipsis
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Do you think maybe they should be more prepared to get dissociated and hole on psychedelics or disso's, because blind people are always one step closer to sensory deprivation? Or is that just thinking wrong and purely from a seeing person's perspective?
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Oh man, I bet so, if sound had become your main sense for determining your position and involvement in the world. Whoa.
Good question, I wish I knew.
Interesting thread.
pmoseman
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Living a day blind folded and getting comfortable with the world, I actually felt more secure that things were where I put them. Often times our vision is not really that reliable.
I think it would be crazy to be in that blind world and feel textures change. Like carpet on a pop can or to feel things touching you. Finding brail written or a person's face or movement, from something inanimate.
A blind person still learned what things are impossible and have a strong foundation of real experience. Things sighted people might get while trip'n but ignore as usual. Same thing if they saw what a sighted person did while tripping, they would have no foundation.
I would not assume they experience anything less full, or closer to deprivation, only different. Other senses easily make up for sight and memories are made up of that. I think hallucinations of a blind person would be similar to dreams. They still can have synesthesia and test for real from multiple senses.
My hands feel like they are stretched out, etc.
These are just my assumptions.
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