Psychedelics not linked to mental health problems or suicidal behavior: A population study

A recent large population study of 130,000 adults in the United States failed to find evidence for a link between psychedelic use (lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin or mescaline) and mental health problems. Using a new data set consisting of 135,095 randomly selected United States adults, including 19,299 psychedelic users, we examine the associations between psychedelic use and mental health. After adjusting for sociodemographics, other drug use and childhood depression, we found no significant associations between lifetime use of psychedelics and increased likelihood of past year serious psychological distress, mental health treatment, suicidal thoughts, suicidal plans and suicide attempt, depression and anxiety. We failed to find evidence that psychedelic use is an independent risk factor for mental health problems. Psychedelics are not known to harm the brain or other body organs or to cause addiction or compulsive use; serious adverse events involving psychedelics are extremely rare. Overall, it is difficult to see how prohibition of psychedelics can be justified as a public health measure.


http://jop.sagepub.com/content/29/3/270

Ok so you are clear then on the LSD...

Musta been something else...

Baldrick wrote:Ok so you are clear then on the LSD...

Musta been something else...

Yeah, associating with fuckin imbeciles has been known to cause insanity.

In my experience it does cause mental health problems in a small group of people. But it also alleviates them in a small group of people. If you just look at the overall picture, then I'm sure it'll cancel out. But that doesn't mean there's no association at the individual level.

I've seen completely sane individuals take a massive dose of psychedelics and never completely return to normal, having to be taken care of for the rest of their lives. More commonly it's just temporary insanity though. Worst case scenario they kill themselves while having a bad trip.

That said, I think I'm due for a roll of the dice. Pick one: 4-HO-MiPT, 5-MeO-MiPT, or 4-HO-MET?

I've never actually seen a "bad trip". And I must say, I've seen dozens and dozens of people trip pretty hard out.
And, while I've heard the "killing yourself while tripping" meme a lot, I've never actually had any actual account of it.
In all my time tripping, I've never been depressed, nor under the impression I could fly.

I know someone who jumped off a bridge on LSD. I know someone who had a vision of the Holocaust and decided to join the US military while on mushrooms. Now he has PTSD. I know someone who became extremely religious as the result of an LSD trip. I think radical shifts in thinking are why people take psychedelics, but they work both ways. Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying those types of reactions are common. But they do happen. And they're more likely the higher you push the dose and frequency.

I've had a lot of bad trips. I seem to be prone to those dark, depressing, introspective trips. Some of them are pretty fucking challenging. Luckily I always come out the other end feeling better than when I went in, and everything is integrated as it should be.

Antipsychotic drugs actually work by blocking the psychedelic receptor, 5-HT2A. Tripping is basically chemically-induced insanity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-HT2A_receptor