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Taking psychedelics when having a mental disorder

L

Limitbreaker

Bluelighter
Joined
May 13, 2011
Messages
487
Hey, have u heard of somebody who had a mental disorder (schizophrenia for example, but im interested in other disorders as well) and did a psychedelic (for the first time)? Or maybe you were that person? If so, what was the disorder, were you taking any meds, how was the experience? Did it help with the disorder, or make it worse, or the trip didn't connect with it at all? How was anxiety about tripping, knowing that it could be bad for you? Are you happy for making the decision?

I'm mostly interested about shrooms as the psychedelic, coz a friend of mine wants to try shrooms with me but she has some mental disorder that i'm still looking into. Both of us will be taking shrooms first time. I'm aware of all the things I need to do to make sure we'll be having a meaningful experience, it's just i'm not fully convinced: I worry about situation where something happens due to disorder she's having, which I still need to look into what it even is coz she doesn't want to tell me yet, until then we obviously wont trip. I would like to know if you guys had any similar situation to this one though.

This will be 3nd time I'm tripping with someone else, and I've tripped over ~10 times alone as well. I should know about having music prepared, and that we need alone time unspoiled by other people, phones off, in some natural environment. If you have any tips, I'd like to know them as well. Anything will be helpful.
 
I have know a few people with mental disorders that have taken psychedelics a couple said it was horrible and they would never do it again and a couple said it was fine.

I think it can be very dangerous I have been to places like rainbow gatherings and seen people with mental issues total lose it on psychedelics. Like for real lose it, not just for 12hrs but days maybe forever. Maybe it was a combination of not doing meds ? who knows.

I have heard of some people claim that psychedelics can be a "trigger" for mental disorders. It's kind of a scary thing to play around with.

I would tread with caution.
 
i have been diagnosed as bipolar and i have taken psychedelics many times. some when i was experiencing manic ups and downs and some since stabilizing my mood without drugs.

basically in my experience LSD has the worst tendency to trigger mania- its the dopaminergic speedy paranoia fuelled comedown that really causes problems. i would almost say that MDMA will give you more problems that psychedelics when you have mental health issues
 
Limitbreaker said:
flat-line, do you know what disorders they were?
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A couple were schizophrenic, one I talked to believed he got special messages relating to his per-existing delusions he seemed to be fine but it ramped up his delusions for sure. One guy went to the hospital because he thought people were out to get him so he ran to the cops. I watch fireworks with one he thought it was a magic ritual to release demons into the universe.

A couple were bipolar- one girl just cried and cried her boyfriend at the time got 5hrs in hell, another bipolar girl told me she had a terrible time and would never do LSD again.

The rest I did not know and only saw the aftermath.
 
Hello there,

Not sure if you have all seen this but if you go to the Home page of Bluelight there is a very interesting article which is relevant to what you are discussing. :)


LSD and Other Psychedelics Not Linked With Mental Health Problems, Analysis Suggests
by
Twigs
Published on 20-08-2013 17:46


Not sure if I actually agree with the content from my own personal experience and having worked in that field in the past but worth a gander.
 
PriestTheyCalledHim said:
If you are mentally ill I would avoid using psychedelics or drugs.
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I totally agree. In fact if you have any serious and enduring mental health problem I would say all drugs apart from script should be avoided. People will self medicate though.
Many people think weed is totally acceptable as is so widely used and a more 'accepted' drug but if look at the stats of it bringing on Schizophrenia/schizotypal illness etc and psychosis it's really alarming especially in the under 25s in say London MH wards...THC levels are crazy nowadays-super skunk etc.

Anyway this sounds a bit preachy and is not meant to be. We are all vulnerable and we all need to look after ourselves and either harm reduce or avoid (myself included) <3
 
I'm not mentally Ill, however I have Borderline Personality Disorder.

I've never had any averse effects from psychedelics or dissociatives and I've taken plenty of both (particularly the dissociatives)...the only thing of note really is that I tend to have very few visual hallucinations on traditional psychedelics (LSD, the 2Cs, DOX, shrooms, mescaline etc). It's not that I can't, I just consistently seem to require megadoses just to experiences fairly tame, pretty visuals.

The only exception to this has been DMT. That gives me, like everyone, fucking PROFOUND visuals.

If anything psychedelics and dissociatives have done more to improve my personality disorder than anything else. At the very least it was a DMT trip that finally made me accept that I did actually have real problems and that is what started me on the road to actually getting diagnosed/treatment.

I don't think there should be a blanket ban on people with mental health problems taking psychedelics- in my experience/observation only people with schizophrenic, delusional-hallucination type mental illness react badly to psychedelics. I know several people with aspergers who have benefited (and so has everyone else) from using psychedelics, I also know a lot of people who have said psychedelics have helped them with grieving/accepting loss. One very close friend says MDMA helped him overcome his PTSD-induced agoraphobia.

There are no hard and fast rules. I you are gonna trip and have a history of mental problems it's probably best that you both have a trip sitter as well as access to benzos or better yet Seroquel in case of freak-out. Seroquel is perfect actually- anyone with any type of mental health problems will have no trouble getting Seroquel for insomnia or whatever.

Sticking up for the crazies! :p
 
If you have a minute have a read of this study-yes it was the 60s and we have come along way. There is no way a study like this would be allowed now-used of LSD on children with Schizophrenia..in fact even determining a diagnosis of Schizophrenia in young children is difficult and in my experience fairly rare..anyhew..have a look 8o

http://http://neurodiversity.com/library_bender_1966a.pdf
 
Oh I am really sorry about that glitch ahhhh. I can't find the printed PDF now anywhere but this is pretty much the same study I believe from the early 60s. Gary Fischer's research is interesting indeed Ok maybe this one will work ...

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v07n3/07318fis.html this may work or just cut and paste this-really worth a read. Fascinating. :!
 
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If you do not know this girl's mental condition you shouldn't even be considering giving her powerful psychedelics. I have seen a few people in my life endure psychosis related to their use of psychedelics and required months in the psychiatric ward.
I would abort all the planning you've done indefinitely until you are aware of her mental condition, the medication she is taking, and the potential adverse effects that may occur. It's better to skip out on having an amazing time with your friend than it is losing her to psychosis and mental health treatment. The ball is in your court, and being partly responsible for another person's psychotic break is a heavy burden to carry.
Start with meditation, breathing techniques or something similar.
 
If you have mental illness problems then it would be best to avoid psychedelics and really all other drugs. People with mental illness problems tend to be more prone to addiction which is why you see so many with multiple issues. Providing drugs to a mentally ill person could be argued to be unethical. Think about it, what if something goes wrong? You do not want that on your conscious.
 
Well none of us know your friend so we cannot say, I have seen completely normal people go ape shit on psychedelics and I have seen people with mental disorders hold down some pretty hard trips.

Psychedelics are like rolling the dice. I'm guessing if your friend has a good soul she will do just fine.

phactor said:
If you have mental illness problems then it would be best to avoid psychedelics and really all other drugs. People with mental illness problems tend to be more prone to addiction which is why you see so many with multiple issues. Providing drugs to a mentally ill person could be argued to be unethical. Think about it, what if something goes wrong? You do not want that on your conscious.
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Phactor, what about those who may benefit from psychedelics? I mean mental illness was one of the first things studied alongside psychedelic research in the early 60s late 50s
 
[éS]Infinite said:
If you do not know this girl's mental condition you shouldn't even be considering giving her powerful psychedelics. I have seen a few people in my life endure psychosis related to their use of psychedelics and required months in the psychiatric ward.
I would abort all the planning you've done indefinitely until you are aware of her mental condition, the medication she is taking, and the potential adverse effects that may occur. It's better to skip out on having an amazing time with your friend than it is losing her to psychosis and mental health treatment. The ball is in your court, and being partly responsible for another person's psychotic break is a heavy burden to carry.
Start with meditation, breathing techniques or something similar.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm holding onto what you wrote. When I get to know her better, I'll know it's time, and I won't have doubts. I've realized that the fact i have doubts is enough of a reason not to give her shrooms.

On a bit offtopic, what psychedelic would you suggest that I could trip on, but she wouldn't be tripping, just assist me in journey. What do you think of the idea in general?
 
inflorescence said:
Many people think weed is totally acceptable as is so widely used and a more 'accepted' drug but if look at the stats of it bringing on Schizophrenia/schizotypal illness etc and psychosis it's really alarming especially in the under 25s in say London MH wards...THC levels are crazy nowadays-super skunk etc.
Click to expand...

I am bipolar type depressive, and i was actually advised by a hospital(while i was in a manic stage) to quit my heavy marijuana use. Weed has caused me more problems than psychedelics ever have, so i quit doing it and i feel much happier now. Psychedelics are kinda my thing, and they havent ever caused any long term effects to my knowledge, and i actually enjoy LSD. But it is kinda a grey area in psychological study, and everyone is different. Start at the top of the rabbit hole, see how it goes, and work your way down.
 
"some mental disorder" What the hell does that mean? That's like saying you know someone who has some physical illness, as if it's all the same thing whether they have a cold or Stage IV cancer. Automatically associating mental illness with schizophrenia is unwise as well. Mental illness is when a person’s thinking, feelings, and/or behavior cause the person distress and difficulty in functioning.

Would you tell someone with severe social anxiety that they shouldn't trip, even by themselves? Does a depressed stand to lose more from being jolted out their normal ways of thinking than a normal or happy person? There are only a few disorders that might reliably be contraindicated with psychedelic use, and even then we'd have to take the individual case into account.

While the clinical attitude of treating a psychedelic as just another drug, as an intoxicant to be handled with stringent harm prevention practices, is quite popular here, I should rather side with the spiritual nature loving types who call them medicine. And in light of that, we must ask ourselves who is in need of this medicine? Is self-actualization and free-thinking as valuable a reward to an otherwise normal and healthy individual as a ray of hope and chance at change to the troubled?

Luke 5:31 said:
And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
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