JKCalhoun
4 hours ago
I've always wondered if one dose of LSD could have been responsible for a fundamental change in my mind. There were other things of course going on in those college years, but I can say wth certainty that I became a very different person at some point in those early to mid twenties.
It's such that I have wondered if those I know who suffer various emotional issues might not benefit from a hallucinogenic trip—perhaps a rewiring of the mind.
Aurornis
2 hours ago
> but I can say wth certainty that I became a very different person at some point in those early to mid twenties.
Early to mid twenties is where people definitely leave their teen years, by definition.
Everyone becomes a different person around this time. Maybe your experience was mixed in there, but becoming a very different person around that age happens to a lot of people without psychedelics.
tryagainian
3 hours ago
Unfortunately life isn’t a triple-bling placebo controlled study.
There isn’t a cohort consisting entirely of otherwise identical yous we can use to retrospectively assess the outcomes of single-changes.
And besides, it’s not like one or any number of psychedelic experiences, results in a perfect human experience free of suffering or what have you.
pattilupone
3 hours ago
I could use a triple-bling study...
tryagainian
2 hours ago
Every Friday night after work, happy hour starts at 6.
self_awareness
13 minutes ago
If you have a messy room, you don't throw a grenade in hopes that after explosion things will end up in "better" places than before.
crtified
3 hours ago
It may simply be that the intense disruption of a 5 hour long experience of chemically-induced novel pleasures - in people who'd long forgotten any form of enjoyment at all - while also being under special attention from caring professionals, is Very Nice Indeed. And that very nice experiences are the most direct salve that exists, when it comes to ameliorating a lifetime of unpleasant ones.
"I can say wth certainty that I became a very different person at some point in those early to mid twenties" - not to discount that, but I do suspect many developing adults (LSD or not) might make similar claims about distinct periods of mental change as they work their way into early adulthood.
larodi
2 hours ago
There’s more evidence it is than it’s not. And, yes, even people who have been super stubbornly against psychedelics only very seldom come to regret taking some. Which you cannot say for other recreational or sedating stuff at all.
According to the GPTs, the LSD ranks the bottom in the chart of ‘damage done to your organism’ while alcohol tops it every time.
markasoftware
24 minutes ago
At the same time, using LSD once is higher risk than one night of drinking.
crtified
2 hours ago
While using GPTs to explore my own bias, I liked the re-phrasing "the chemical opens a window so that the profoundly human experience of care, safety, and novel emotion can finally get through to a brain that had walled itself off".
Highlighting how the human experience is an intrinsic part of the benefit seen, but not the only part.
(and I totally agree with you, alcohol is one of the strongest and also one of the less pleasant - both in withdrawal and in long term health impact, not to mention social harm - recreational things that I or people-that-I-know-well have ever tried)
colechristensen
3 hours ago
> I can say wth certainty that I became a very different person at some point in those early to mid twenties
Let's be fair, most people do.