Vastness
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2006
- Messages
- 2,306
Not sure entirely which forum would be best suited to this question, as it is perhaps some parts "Mental Health" related, some parts "Neuroscience & Pharmacology" but I'll post it here for now since SSRIs definitely are an other drug. If any mods think it would be better placed elsewhere please feel free to move.
Anyway, I've always viewed SSRIs somewhat dubiously as substances with extremely inconvenient dosing requirements and a seemingly quite small affect relative to placebo, to be used primarily as a last resort when all other approaches have failed. I read an article a little while back though which prompted me to consider whether I might be mistaken about this - this guy seemingly doesn't actually "need" to be taking SSRIs, but nonetheless takes them (along with Lithium and a whole bunch of other stuff, in fact) as a way of making himself more immune to stress. It should be noted, he is prescribed it - and does it with the supervision of more than one doctor - there's no indication that this is a one size fits all approach - quite the opposite.
But anyway, it got me wondering if perhaps even the mentally well could benefit from taking SSRIs in some instances - if they decide that the risk of side effects outweighs the potential upside. I mean, aside from the general distrust of "Big Pharma" that a lot of people have, it seems to be undeniable that a lot of newer SSRIs are genuinely effective more often than not (statistically speaking) and have withstood considerable scientific scrutiny.
Personally I have been interested in chemical augmentation of my mental faculties for a while, "biohacking", if you like, and have taken a whole bunch of nootropics in the past, with generally positive effects. However even the most well known "nootropics" generally have far less research on their true effectiveness in improving cognition than substances that are actually prescribed to people, so I'm wondering if SSRIs should perhaps not be overlooked as potential nootropics in their own right.
Just to be clear - it's highly unlikely I'm actually going to experiment with these myself - and if I did, I wouldn't do it without the assistance of a psychiatric professional. But I'm interested to hear people's opinions (and experiences).
Anyway, I've always viewed SSRIs somewhat dubiously as substances with extremely inconvenient dosing requirements and a seemingly quite small affect relative to placebo, to be used primarily as a last resort when all other approaches have failed. I read an article a little while back though which prompted me to consider whether I might be mistaken about this - this guy seemingly doesn't actually "need" to be taking SSRIs, but nonetheless takes them (along with Lithium and a whole bunch of other stuff, in fact) as a way of making himself more immune to stress. It should be noted, he is prescribed it - and does it with the supervision of more than one doctor - there's no indication that this is a one size fits all approach - quite the opposite.
But anyway, it got me wondering if perhaps even the mentally well could benefit from taking SSRIs in some instances - if they decide that the risk of side effects outweighs the potential upside. I mean, aside from the general distrust of "Big Pharma" that a lot of people have, it seems to be undeniable that a lot of newer SSRIs are genuinely effective more often than not (statistically speaking) and have withstood considerable scientific scrutiny.
Personally I have been interested in chemical augmentation of my mental faculties for a while, "biohacking", if you like, and have taken a whole bunch of nootropics in the past, with generally positive effects. However even the most well known "nootropics" generally have far less research on their true effectiveness in improving cognition than substances that are actually prescribed to people, so I'm wondering if SSRIs should perhaps not be overlooked as potential nootropics in their own right.
Just to be clear - it's highly unlikely I'm actually going to experiment with these myself - and if I did, I wouldn't do it without the assistance of a psychiatric professional. But I'm interested to hear people's opinions (and experiences).