Psychedelic stigma: researching how we communicate with and help non-users and selves

[cristinsauter]

Hello family,




I am a Ph.D. student and psychedelic traveler, so I am currently researching how stigma effects hard-to-reach populations like psychedelic travelers, and how concealable stigma effects us, if it does at all. I am reading empirical and peer-reviewed research on concealable stigma and have found certain results but have found no information about how stigma effects psychedelic travelers.




That being said, I hypothesize that stigma associated with psychedelic use contributes to depression (this has already been observed over and over in other populations with concealable stigma), and that depression drives further psychedelic use (because we experientially know that psychedelic medicine treats various mental conditions, including depression, and there are tons of empirical studies displaying the positive benefits of psychedelic use for depression especially).




I hypothesize this not only because of my own experience of stigmatization as an ambassador for psychedelic journeying in the academic world, but because of the logic of the hypothesis.




I took psychedelics to see what could be, and it removed my belief about limits. I have a strong personal association with the beauty that psychedelics can open up inside us all, and this has been evidenced for so many of us.




However, when people who take psychedelics are studied longitudinally, the positive benefits of psychedelic medicine decrease over time. Why is this? I again hypothesize that after reorganizing our mind during our journeys, we come back to this world with those positive effects. However, over time, our minds reorganize back to coping with the physical world and the sociological effects of it.




I guess I am realizing personally the effects of stigma, and navigating my way through it as an academic because of what I study does affect me because I am so passionate in my efforts to expose this medicine. I continue to understand society's current conception of psychedelic medicine as negative as well. It doesn't have to do so much with stigma against myself, but of the stigma against the very substance that continuously reminds me of my true nature.




People who have had psychedelic experiences have so much to share with the world, and can and do improve it in so many ways, but I know personally sometimes I have to hold back what I say for fear of judgement. I am wondering if this is true for anyone else.




I met with my epistemology professor last semester to discuss how psychedelics might help us understand knowledge itself and he professionalized the conversation, stigmatizing me and checking me essentially, saying "I am a professional and an academic speaking with another academic". I am not mad about this, but sad that we could not open that door together due to the stigma around this treasure.




Please let me know your thoughts via comments, messages or email at [email protected]. I am eager to know your experiences with stigma around psychedelic traveling.




It would be wrong of me not to bring the most beautiful thing I have experienced into a professional light that can help bring the experience to others.




Thanks for your time,

Cristin Marie

 

[G_Chem]

Well I feel I?ve lived somewhat on both sides of the coin. Growing up, my father, fully supported my exploration of psychedelic drugs.

To give perspective my dad is a good ol boy from the south, he?s tried psychedelics but won?t take them anymore unless I practically begged him. So for him to not only be supportive given his upbringing but actually to care for me during harder trips was big for me and probably gave me a sense that what I was doing was acceptable. I grew my first cannabis plant with him, brewed my first San Pedro tea, lots of bonding moments.

As I?ve gotten older most everyone that is close to me in life knows about my psychedelic use and many participate with me. They see how nothing but good has come from my use and many want to access that same exact thing. All the people I try and surround myself with are accepting of what I do, because when I was younger I had a friend group that thought tripping was just for funny colors and the coolness was to snort cocaine til your nose bled.

With all this said, my partner is an academic like yourself. I barely graduated high school and have been self taught ever since whereas my partner has a Doctorates. She has had to hide her use or be excluded when she wishes she wasn?t and it does have a detrimental effect on her.

She has spoken with a few psychedelic researchers as the city we grew up in is rather progressive. Even these brave souls, when often asked about their own use, can do nothing but smirk and give a white lie. To admit to using these drugs is career suicide and you must always remember that.

Even admitting an interest in researching this field is likely still taboo in certain areas, although I?ll admit I am a little saddened by your recent interaction as well. Do you live in a more progressive area or no?

-GC

 

[Dresden]

Dose them.

 

[HeadphonesandLSD]

Your post is really hard to read with that font/spacing choice.

For me use of these substances have become mostly pleasure as of late. I've gone through periods like this before where I felt like I could use them as typical drugs (like opioids) only to get my ass handed to me when I didn't expect it. The thing with psychedelics is they can help you learn about the world and yourself in ways you couldn't do otherwise but these "truths" are forgotten over time due to day to day life. I think that's why it's important to leave time between uses although there is nothing wrong with taking them just for pleasure either. Everyone likes to eat something and watch the walls melt from time to time.

Another important point: There is only so much one can gain from repeated uses of the same substances in the same environments at the same major points in their lives. I can only revisit the idea that reality isn't what it seems so many times before I come to understand that I can't really do much about it. Similarly, the insight gained at the age of 15, 25, and 35 will all be different. 15 would probably consist of understanding your place in life and becoming an independent adult. 25 might be the milestone where someone is adjusting to marriage/having their first kid. 35 would have to do with seeing your kids starting to become independent themselves and becoming bored with the routine of day to day life also known as the mid-life crisis. Now go up to the age of 65-85 and you might be dealing with someone taking them at the end of life and coming to terms with their own death. An 18 year old isn't going to be looking for the same truths as a cancer patient and won't understand impending death on the same level no matter how badly they manage to shatter their ego.

With these substances I like to apply something I learned from hiking; There is an old saying in hiking; "Hike your own hike". Meaning don't concern yourself with the pace of other people or the side trips they make a long the way. Do what you enjoy and what you think is right. I think that's the best way to treat this class of drugs. Aside from the caution of watching out for each other there isn't much point in attempting to control someone else's trip outside of a therapy session where the tripper is working on one particular issue and a guide is simply there to help guide them to the answers they seek. The guide shouldn't influence the nature of the answers but should only help the tripper find those answers for himself.

Concerning the stigma: That's drug use in western society. All drug use is stigmatized and there isn't really much to be done about it aside from moving to some place where it isn't. It's just part of the culture and I've never really understood why. A lot of folks blame religion but I don't think religion is the root of this problem. Western society doesn't really stigmatize drug use outright it only seems to stigmatize experimenting on your own/outside of the medical system. I suppose one could blame Christianity for getting rid of the shamans and traditional cultures way back when but having seen similar practices survive in places despite a massive attempt to get rid of them I still fail to understand why shamanism has been driven so underground in western society. Even a lot of what is out there seems to just be new age bullshit that only exists to reject traditional Christianity and it seems more concern with sticking it to the man than finding its own truths.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

I had a pretty nasty experience "coming out" scientifically in the academic world as person interested in psychedelics.

This resulted in my PI trying to withhold my PhD despite many high level publications at that point by myself.

Would not repeat The experience and it taught me to keep my mouth shut in the professional world about all drugs even alcohol and cannabis.

It does not matter how good of a performer you are. If someone has a bias against you because you are admittedly on drugs they will pick apart everything you do in detail until they find mistakes to blame on your drug ravaged mind.

 

[Xorkoth]

Wow Lucid, that's intense. And good point, too.

I took ibogaine for opiate addiction 5 years ago, which really worked well, but during the confusion of re-entry I panicked and for some reason wrote my boss this crazy illegible email. He was on vacation, but a couple of days later he was like... uh, what's going on, this has me really worried. My boss and I already had a good relationship, we work together daily and I love the guy and I think he feels the same way. Kinda older brother-like. Anyway, I just told him all about it, the opiate addiction, the ibogaine. I felt I had no other choice and I kind of wanted to, too. He was super supportive and said his brother struggles with opiate addiction too and that it's amazing that it worked. We talked about the experience a bit and it just went without saying he wouldn't mention it to anyone. And as far as I know he hasn't, but I don't worry about it because I trust him.

However I do very much not want anyone else I work with to have an inkling of any of that. For sure, it would change the way they see me and start looking for a problem. Sad but true. Perhaps 50 years from now if things keep moving in a positive direction in terms of clinical trials, open research, and so on. If we make it that far we might be able to openly talk about psychedelics with colleagues without judgment. I feel positive about the future. I mean they're voting to legalize mushrooms for recreational use in Oregon. This is unprecedented. And all the Silicon Valley people openly talking about microdosing. And ketamine clinics for depression. No one is up in arms about it, at least loudly... people are thoughtful. I think we're seeing the beginning of a sea change here. Weed has already stopped being some "bad drug" mostly, it's legal medically and recreationally in so many places. Weed is coming to be looked at comparable to alcohol. Psychedelics are being tested as clinical aids for therapy. They're moving out of the "scary zone" and into the "hmm, that drug is okay" category.