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OfflineSynapse Trap
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"My experience as a psilocybin-study guide" (MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24) * 1
    #21060667 - 01/03/15 12:21 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24, No. 3 - Annual Report

Download this article.


Mary Cosimano, M.S.W.
Johns Hopkins University initiated their psilocybin studies in the year 2000. Since that time, I have been extensively involved with the research and clinical components of all six psilocybin and other hallucinogen studies that have taken place at Johns Hopkins. I have also personally guided over 300 study sessions and have participated in over 1,000 preparatory and integration meetings.

Based on my clinical perspective, I would like to share what I personally believe to be one of the most important outcomes of this work: that psilocybin can offer a means to reconnect to our true nature—our authentic self—and thereby help find meaning in our lives. The experiences recounted to me by study participants, as well as my concurrent personal journey, together with our study results, represent a large body of data from which I derive my conclusions.

When I have difficulty expressing myself, I remember what Ernest Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast about what he did when he had a hard time getting started writing. “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

What comes to me now is a very short sentence—in fact, not a sentence but a word: love. I believe that what humans really want is to receive and to give love. I believe that love is what connects us to each other and that such a connection is brought about by being intimate with each other, by sharing ourselves with others. I believe that the nature of our true self is love.


The psilocybin study treatment room at Johns Hopkins University
I believe this theme—love, the need to reconnect with our true selves—addresses the underlying outcome of our psilocybin studies. Yet very often we’re afraid to open ourselves to this connection so we put up barriers and wear masks. If we are able to remove the barriers, to let down our defenses, we can begin to know and accept ourselves, thus allowing ourselves to receive and to give love.

In her TED talk on “The Power of Vulnerability,” Brené Brown, Ph.D., helps us understand how important this sense of connection is on a deep level. Briefly, she states that connection is why we’re here. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. The way to connect is by being vulnerable, which means having the courage to face our fears—fears that we might fail, fears that others will realize that we aren’t perfect, fears that we are somehow unworthy of connection. Because this honesty could risk jeopardizing a connection, we shut down, cover up, or “fake it.” Dr. Brown’s answer for overcoming these fears is courage. She points out that courage comes from the Latin word cor (heart), and that the original meaning of courage was to tell your story with your whole heart.

How do we help psilocybin study participants achieve a state of mind wherein it is possible for them to reconnect to their true self and face their fears? I believe it’s a combination of our preparatory meetings with the effects of psilocybin itself.

In our preparatory meetings, we aim to create a space where participants feel secure and safe. We believe this peaceful, positive environment is necessary for them to have the courage to tell the story of who they are. We work to create a deep sense of trust so that the participants feel comfortable to share anything and everything—their fears, joys, disappointments, and shame—without fear of being rejected. Intimate conversation is one of the most important practices to assist in this self-disclosure, and some of our participants have shared that their session was the first time they felt they had been fully seen. Once they have opened up and shared, they are much more likely to let go and progress though their psilocybin experiences, managing difficult moments with more ease, and eventually restoring their deep and intrinsic connection to their true selves.

After their story has been told and trust established, the psilocybin session follows. In order to achieve maximum benefit from the psilocybin sessions and to access these states of a deep sense of love and connectedness, I believe it is necessary to be relaxed in both body and mind. When we are stressed, anxious, or afraid, we hold ourselves in and tense our bodies. These states of mind and postures keep us from being able to relax and expand our consciousness. In order to relax, a safe and trusting environment is necessary. Ideally, our preparation meetings have provided that, thus enabling participants to relax into a deeper and more expansive experience. This expansiveness often leads to a deep sense of love and connection for self and all; both this expansiveness and this sense of connection are recurrent themes in psilocybin experiences.

After their session one participant wrote: “I was reveling in the undeniable feelings of infinite love. I said [to myself], ‘I am love, and all I ever want to be is love.’ I repeated this several times and was overwhelmed with the intensity of the love. I was aware of tears flooding my eyes at this point. All the other goals in life seemed completely stupid.”

InLove 2.0, Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., wrote: “Love is far more ubiquitous than you ever thought possible for the simple fact thatlove is connection.”

Another participant said: “Once I was past the darkness, I began to feel an increasing feeling of peace and connectedness…An intense feeling of love and joy emanated from all over my body and I can’t imagine feeling any happier. I knew that the worries of everyday life were meaningless and that all that mattered were my connections with the wonderful people who are my family and friends.”

The first two psilocybin studies conducted at Johns Hopkins (Griffiths et al. 2008, 2011) showed that psilocybin occasions personally meaningful and spiritually significant mystical experiences producing positive changes in attitudes, mood, altruism, behavior, and life satisfaction. A further analysis (MacLean et al. 2011) found significant increases in openness following a high-dose psilocybin in participants who had mystical experiences.

I believe these findings suggest that increased personal meaning, a sense of spiritual significance, and an increase in openness are what allow humans to connect to their true selves—which is, at its core, love.

I observed how participants in our study of psilocybin-assisted therapy for cancer anxiety often came into the study feeling “disconnected”—not only from their place in the world but also more importantly from themselves, due to the fact that their lives had changed dramatically since their diagnosis. Many are too weak to continue to work, and many have lost their jobs. Outward appearances may also have changed, as they lose weight, muscle tone, and often their hair. Their thoughts and feelings of what had once defined them are no longer accurate. What once gave purpose and meaning to their lives seems meaningless.

One participant said: “Once you have a cancer diagnosis you’re like the ‘walking dead.’” Another told us that she was living like she’d already died.

Our structured psychiatric interviews include two questions that target this sense of disconnection:

1. Have you all of a sudden changed your sense of who you are and where you are headed?

2. Do you often feel empty inside?

Among our cancer participants, there was a high positive response rate to both of these questions, which I believe was due to their loss of a sense of self and meaning in their lives. Our cancer study often enables our participants to get back that connection to their true self, to believing that they are worthy of love and connection. One participant wrote in her six-month report that her “depression lifted completely” and that she was “able to get out of the ‘cancer world’ and back to myself…and able to connect with others and care better for [her partner].”

Two additional quotes from our volunteers nicely summarize my thoughts about the importance of love, true self, and meaning during and after the sessions:

“Everything is swept up into a climactic epiphany of love as the universal essence and meaning of all things. The journey of spirit coming to itself, revealing to itself its own inner mystery, is nothing but the self-realization of love.”

“The purpose of all of us here together is to be constant reminders to each other of Who We Really Are.”

It is interesting to reflect on the differences and similarities between our Johns Hopkins psilocybin studies and MAPS’ MDMA-assisted psychotherapy studies. The Johns Hopkins studies have characterized the phenomenology of psilocybin experience in healthy volunteers, and explored the therapeutic use of psilocybin in treating anxiety associated with life-threatening cancer diagnosis, and in treating cigarette smoking addiction. Although the therapeutic endpoints differ between the psilocybin (cancer anxiety and addiction) and MDMA (posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD) studies, both approaches highlight the importance of trust and rapport between participant and guide/therapist. One notable difference is that the psilocybin studies have characterized mystical-type experiences, and have suggested that such experiences may underlie the therapeutic and other enduring positive effects of psilocybin session experiences. It would be productive and valuable to assess whether similar changes occur in response to guided MDMA sessions as well.

I’d like to acknowledge and thank the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Research Team, our study participants, and our funders.

REFERENCES

Hemingway, Ernest; A Moveable Feast. Scribner Classics: New York, 1996.

Fredrickson, B. L. 2013. Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become.

Brown, Brené 2010. TEDx talk: The Power of Vulnerability June 2010

Griffiths, R.R., Richards, W.A., Johnson, M.W., McCann, U.D., Jesse, R. 2008. “Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later.”Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22(6), 621-632.

Johnson, M.W., Garcia-Romeu, A., Cosimano, M.P., and Griffiths R.R. 2014. “Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction.” Journal of Psychopharmacology, 28(11), 983-92.

Griffiths, R.R., Johnson, M.W., McCann, U., Richards, W.A., Richards, B.D., and Jesse, R.. 2011. “Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences: immediate and persisting dose-related effects.” Psychopharmacology, 218(4), 649-665.

MacLean, K.A., Johnson, M.W., and Griffiths, R.R. 2011. “Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness.” Journal of Psychopharmacology, 25(11), 1453-1461.

Mary Cosimano, M.S.W., is currently with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has served as study guide and research coordinator for the psilocybin studies for 15 years. During that time she has served as a session guide for the six psilocybin studies and other hallucinogen studies and has conducted over 300 sessions. She has worked as a clinician teaching individual and group meditation to breast cancer patients in research at Johns Hopkins, was a behavior modification counselor for weight loss, and has 15 years of experience with direct patient care as a hospice volunteer.

MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24, No. 3 - Annual Report


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Synapse Trap

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OfflineLogicaL ChaosM
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Re: "My experience as a psilocybin-study guide" (MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24) [Re: Synapse Trap]
    #21061252 - 01/03/15 02:05 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

Wow!

I didnt read the entire thing, stopped at "love our true selves".

That is really cool that this research exists. Talk about demystifying shrooms!

Wowz.


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InvisibleStaplerhead
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Re: "My experience as a psilocybin-study guide" (MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24) [Re: LogicaL Chaos]
    #21061787 - 01/03/15 03:49 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

Will read later.... Thanks!


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OfflinePrimalSoup
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Re: "My experience as a psilocybin-study guide" (MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24) [Re: Synapse Trap] * 1
    #21063582 - 01/03/15 09:11 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

Quote:

Synapse Trap said:
Based on my clinical perspective, I would like to share what I personally believe to be one of the most important outcomes of this work: that psilocybin can offer a means to reconnect to our true nature—our authentic self—and thereby help find meaning in our lives. The experiences recounted to me by study participants, as well as my concurrent personal journey, together with our study results, represent a large body of data from which I derive my conclusions.

When I have difficulty expressing myself, I remember what Ernest Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast about what he did when he had a hard time getting started writing. “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

What comes to me now is a very short sentence—in fact, not a sentence but a word: love. I believe that what humans really want is to receive and to give love. I believe that love is what connects us to each other and that such a connection is brought about by being intimate with each other, by sharing ourselves with others. I believe that the nature of our true self is love.

I believe this theme—love, the need to reconnect with our true selves—addresses the underlying outcome of our psilocybin studies. Yet very often we’re afraid to open ourselves to this connection so we put up barriers and wear masks. If we are able to remove the barriers, to let down our defenses, we can begin to know and accept ourselves, thus allowing ourselves to receive and to give love.




Gotta like that. :thumbup:

Uhm, I'm gonna sticky this for a while to keep it on the top of the TPE page.  I bet people could derive a lot from their work in terms of enhancing their own experiences.  :yinyang2:


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OfflineSynapse Trap
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Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: PrimalSoup] * 1
    #21080325 - 01/06/15 10:53 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

(A long read)
MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24, No. 3 - Annual Report

Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond



Download this article.


Katherine MacLean, Ph.D.
“Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”
—Robert Hunter, “Scarlet Begonias” (1974)

I had just finished the graveyard shift and was resting in a back corner of the MASH-style Army tent, falling in and out of dreamy sleep as the morning light began to creep in. The incessant thumping of electronic music had finally given way to the familiar, happy sounds of our desert community waking up: light chatter and laughter, spoons in cereal bowls and boiling tea, a porta-potty door swinging open and shut. Then, suddenly, a scream ripped through the soft morning air.

I saw a small undulating mass of bodies appear at the opening of the tent, and it took me a few moments to realize that the young woman at the center of the mass was the one screaming. She was clawing at the air as her eyes darted toward things that no one else could see. She clearly had no interest entering this strange place, with these strange people who were so interested in her. Her friend explained that they had taken what they thought was Ecstasy around midnight, but the night had quickly gone downhill from there.

Slowly, we managed to get the young woman to lie down on the same air mattress where I had been napping. I sat on the floor next to her, one hand resting on her shoulder and the other holding her hand. Her friend sat at her feet and laid her arms over her lower legs. For the next hour or so, we remained in this awkward embrace, trying to stay as calm as possible while the young woman writhed and screamed. “It’s OK. You’re safe. Let it move through you.” Eventually, she began to relax and her grip on my hand loosened. Her breathing slowed and her eyes began to close. “You’re safe, we’re here with you.”

This kind of scenario wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I first began my career in psychedelic science. After completing my Ph.D. in the fall of 2009, I had joined the psilocybin research team at Johns Hopkins University, one of the best (and only) academic research institutions in the world doing clinical trials with psychedelic medicines. Over the course of four years, I trained with two of the most experienced psychedelic therapists in the world: Bill Richards and Mary Cosimano.


AfrikaBurn
Photo credit: Katherine MacLean
I saw my fair share of full-blown mystical experiences and classic “bad trips.” I supported people as they revisited traumatic memories, and shared their joy as they raved about the beautiful music and the fascinating patterns on the ceiling tiles. I held hands with people as they cried, screamed, and even laughed their way through some of the most intense experiences of their lives. I did all of this in a comfortable, familiar environment, with people who were well prepared and trusted me to care for them. Harm reduction, on the other hand, is about sitting in uncomfortable and unpredictable environments with strangers who have usually taken large amounts of unknown substances. Even with all my professional training, I had a lot to learn out there in the desert.

My first opportunity to volunteer with the MAPS psychedelic harm reduction program came in the late summer of 2012. I had already made plans to return to Burning Man after a five-year hiatus when Rick Doblin (MAPS’ Founder and Executive Director) reached out to ask if I would be willing to help train volunteers for a new project that MAPS was launching. The Zendo Project would provide a safe space and trained sitters to help individuals who were having a difficult time as a result of ingesting psychedelic drugs. Although we agreed that there were differences between the methods used in controlled research studies and those used on the ground at festivals, Rick thought it would be good to include my perspective as a scientist and therapist. I was inspired to have the opportunity to do some good work while I was at Burning Man, as a purely hedonistic approach to the event had lost some of its appeal for me. I was also excited to learn from other therapists, clinicians, psychonauts, and good Samaritans who would likely be volunteering.

Although I was prepared for an intense experience, my time in the Zendo ended up being quite calm and uneventful that year. I had signed up for morning shifts, so most of my volunteering energy was spent giving water, granola bars, and farewell hugs to people who were finally ready to head back to their camps after a long and harrowing night. But I will always remember one special interaction I had with a young man who arrived at the Zendo just after sunrise.

The young man was basically non-verbal, and the helpful stranger who dropped him off said she had found him wandering and confused. I sat next to him for quite a while, unsure of what drug he had taken, what help I could provide, or whether he was even aware of me. So, I just sat there. I meditated a bit. I breathed. He breathed. I waited patiently. We said nothing. (Note to the reader: Sometimes, sitting with people on drugs is actually quite boring!) When I offered him a glass of water, he held it in his hands and stared at it for quite some time until I gently asked, “What do you see?” “Everything. It’s all here,” he replied. “We’re all in there!”

The next six or so hours of his LSD-fueled ride were not all as positive or illuminating as his encounter with the water glass. Nevertheless, as the young man departed the Zendo around noon, he admitted that, despite being generally embarrassed and slightly annoyed, he was really thankful that we had taken care of him. I was thankful, too.

“Everything. It’s all here.” This psychedelically-inspired kernel of cosmic wisdom sums up why I find the harm reduction work so important. We’re in this together, and we have much to learn from one another. Providing safe spaces at festivals is one of the easiest ways to turn intense, self-absorbed, potentially dangerous experiences into opportunities for shared insight and personal growth.

Fast-forward to the spring of 2014: I’m driving from Cape Town up to the Tankwa Karoo with Linnae Ponté (MAPS’ Director of Harm Reduction) to help coordinate and run “The Sanctuary” at AfrikaBurn. This was the second year that the Zendo Project had been invited to work directly with event organizers, rangers, and medical staff to provide psychedelic harm reduction and mental health support at the largest regional Burning Man event in the world. By the week’s end, we provided training in the principles and techniques of harm reduction to more than 30 volunteers, including medical staff, and our volunteers cared for 50 guests (51 if you count the infant left in our care for about 10 minutes one morning while her mom tried to locate their campmates).

The Sanctuary at AfrikaBurn is a model for harm reduction at its best. We were able to communicate and work directly with medical staff and rangers to comprehensively assess and meet the physical and mental needs of our guests. We often received and cared for individuals who had been cleared by the medical team, but who still needed a safe, warm place to spend the rest of the night. Sometimes, we would redirect individuals to the medical tent to receive close monitoring and physical care.

The most popular drug of choice at AfrikaBurn was alcohol (reported by 40% of Sanctuary guests), which too often leads to deadly consequences, especially when combined with other drugs. Sanctuary guests also reported use of MDMA or Ecstasy, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, cannabis, GHB, and methamphetamine. Nearly 70% of guests reported having taken multiple drugs. The reality of polydrug use, often combined with excessive alcohol intake, underscores the importance of coordinating psychedelic harm reduction efforts with emergency medical care in a festival environment.

Over the course of the week, we sat with many individuals who had gotten in over their heads and were struggling to regain a sense of safety and sanity. One night, Linnae Ponté and I took turns sitting with a frightened and confused young woman who had taken what she thought was a typical dose of LSD, but who continued to be plagued by intrusive and disturbing mental images more than 24 hours later. There were also playful moments, such as one young woman on Ecstasy who marveled at the “beautiful decorations” and “magical objects” on the meditation altar we had set up, and ultimately took it upon herself to visit with the other guests and offer words of encouragement: “Don’t worry. You’re in good hands. Two hours ago, I was where you are. But just look at me now! I’m doing great! These people really know what they’re doing!” She reminded me that it’s OK to play and laugh and not take things so seriously. There’s room for all of it. Trust, Let Go, Be Open—TLO.

TLO was the “mantra” that I had learned while training to be a psychedelic therapist at Johns Hopkins. The wonderful thing about TLO is that it applies to the person sitting as well as to the person journeying. I have silently repeated this mantra countless times while sitting with people. I have uttered these phrases aloud when individuals become lost in their experience or seem to be stuck. Trust your own innate wisdom, that you have the skills and natural abilities to make it through this experience. Trust the safe space that has been provided and the people around you to help you if need it. Let go of expectations about what should or shouldn’t be happening. Let go of concerns and judgments, as well as the inevitable feelings of wanting to control the experience in a particular way. Open yourself up to the amazing events that are unfolding, even (especially) the difficult and scary parts. Stay open to the fundamental truth that everything that is happening is completely and utterly OK.

Amidst all of these entertaining anecdotes and kernels of wisdom, however, I am continually reminded that the most important (and often tedious) dimension of psychedelic therapy is integration, or continuing care. An experience can be wild and terrifying and profound and hilarious and beautiful, but what do you do with it once you re-enter your ordinary life? Or, as Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield put it, “After the ecstasy, the laundry.” I actually love doing laundry, so it’s probably no surprise that my most memorable and rewarding experience at AfrikaBurn occurred while working with someone who was completely sober.

Early Sunday morning at AfrikaBurn, toward the end of an all-night shift, I was introduced to a young man who had spent the previous night in the medical tent. Although the full story had yet to be pieced together, one of the paramedics explained that the young man had apparently overdosed on a number of different substances and was dangerously close to death at various points in the night. The fact that he was standing in front of us, lucid and physically healthy, was something of a medical miracle. But the young man didn’t see it that way. He was confused and suspicious, and felt that no one really understood what he had been through. He had the strong conviction of having died and experienced a world free of suffering. He didn’t remember being transported to the medical tent in the first place, and felt that he had been unfairly “brought back to life” by the medical team, without his consent. I knew from my research with psilocybin that a death-rebirth experience like this could be an important and healthy step on a person’s spiritual path. And a number of the study volunteers I worked with at Johns Hopkins had reported a profound experience of their own death. But I had never worked with someone who wasn’t thrilled about the “rebirth” part.

Throughout the morning, we took turns sitting with the young man, listening to his story and supporting him as he struggled to weave a meaningful narrative out of his experience. We made some progress, but he kept hanging onto the disconcerting feeling that he “wasn’t supposed to be alive.” Realizing that our words were offering limited comfort, I eventually offered to walk with him to the Temple, where offerings had been made throughout the week and would be burned in a ceremony later that night. We walked mostly in silence and when we arrived, I asked him to sit with me in front of the altar. We sat there for maybe 30 minutes, absorbing the full reality of the space. Among the various objects and drawings and inspirational phrases that people had added to the temple over the course of the week, what stood out were the photographs of people who had died. Young faces, old faces, beautiful faces, funny faces, along with pleas from their loved ones, asking for the fire to bring peace and help release the sadness and anger around their deaths. The Temple, of course, is about much more than death, but this was its message to me, and to the young man, on that Sunday morning. Something clicked as he turned to me and said, “I get it. I’m lucky to be here. I’m ready to go find my friends.”

I have no idea what happened to that young man after we managed to find his friends (another miracle, as anyone who has been to a Burning Man event can attest). Unlike with research volunteers, I have no way of contacting him, of following up to see how meaningful (or not) his experience turned out to be. But I can still see his face clearly in my mind. I’m happy that he survived his dark night and that I had the privilege of spending the first few hours of the rest of his life with him. I’m mostly thankful for that moment of simple illumination—“I’m lucky to be here”—and all of the moments I’ve shared with strangers while volunteering with the Zendo Project. These experiences remind me, again and again, that life is unpredictable and precious.

Everything. It’s all here. We’re in this together. TLO.

Katherine MacLean, Ph.D., is an academically trained research scientist and meditation practitioner with a long-standing interest in the brain, consciousness and the science of well-being. As a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, Katherine was supported by a prestigious National Science Foundation research fellowship to study the effects of intensive meditation training on concentration, emotional well-being and brain function. As a postdoctoral fellow and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she was one of the only scientists in the world studying psilocybin—a psychedelic chemical found naturally in certain types of mushrooms. Her groundbreaking research on psilocybin and personality change suggests that psychedelic medicines may be the key to enhancing mental health and promoting openness and creativity throughout the lifespan. She can be reached at kmac10@gmail.com.

MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24, No. 3 - Annual Report


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OfflinePrimalSoup
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: Synapse Trap]
    #21109317 - 01/12/15 06:34 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

Such a lot of good stuff here. :thumbup:


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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: PrimalSoup]
    #21202901 - 01/30/15 02:57 PM (9 years, 3 months ago)

I hope anybody doing this research reads this.

They need to let people eat the mushroom.  I know they are measuring out psilocybin so they think they are having a real scientific study.  This is by far not the true nature of the mushroom.  In fact, there are SEVERAL active alkaloids that they are not including in your research that come with the mushroom experience.  This is pin pointing what they THINK causes all the effects, and indeed it is responsible for most of the altering effects.

Leaving out the most mystical part, that's becoming one with a vegetable, not a molecule.  I hope more studies are preformed by eating than swallowing a pill. They need to isolate their own mushroom strains  so they can guarantee flat alkaloid rates so you can have a real scientific study. 

I would also like to see research done with Penis Envy.  Anybody who has ate this mushroom will flat out tell you it feels nothing like a regular cube.  Not even in doses that are considered MICRO .10-.50.  The energy in these feel so very different than anything I have experienced.

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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: MikeBearPig]
    #21355193 - 03/03/15 07:11 AM (9 years, 2 months ago)

MAPS is so cool


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InvisibleGuardian187
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: Chem-4 OG]
    #21357085 - 03/03/15 04:01 PM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Awesome to read this, thank you for sharing! It's so sad the use of psychedelics is not common in our societies.

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Offlinecaronise
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: Guardian187]
    #21361522 - 03/04/15 02:25 PM (9 years, 2 months ago)

I was not aware of Clinical trials with psilocybin, very interesting read.

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Offlineweshroom
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: caronise]
    #21409235 - 03/14/15 10:34 PM (9 years, 2 months ago)

Yes Excellent and inspiring.

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Re: "My experience as a psilocybin-study guide" (MAPS Bulletin Winter 2014 Vol. 24) [Re: Synapse Trap]
    #21441588 - 03/21/15 11:52 PM (9 years, 1 month ago)

Beautiful, I hope more see this...


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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: MikeBearPig]
    #21648093 - 05/07/15 08:11 AM (9 years, 13 days ago)

I remember reading that when they synthesised psilocybin and gave it to the curandero Maria Sabina she supposedly commented that now she could take psilocybin in the off season. I thought that such a remark though truthful sounded like it was missing the point. Every psychedelic mushroom is a teacher with its own innate personality. Like this thread a lot. Would like to see more feedback from fellow trippers of tha
t which springs forth.

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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: Heyowana]
    #21914238 - 07/08/15 09:55 AM (8 years, 10 months ago)

Quote:

Heyowana said:
I remember reading that when they synthesised psilocybin and gave it to the curandero Maria Sabina she supposedly commented that now she could take psilocybin in the off season. I thought that such a remark though truthful sounded like it was missing the point. Every psychedelic mushroom is a teacher with its own innate personality. Like this thread a lot. Would like to see more feedback from fellow trippers of tha
t which springs forth.




seems to indicate you would have the same problem with "missing the point" if you decided to grow them yourself... or is that a different hair to split?


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InvisibleMikeBearPig
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: Heyowana]
    #21914340 - 07/08/15 10:20 AM (8 years, 10 months ago)

Quote:

Heyowana said:
I remember reading that when they synthesised psilocybin and gave it to the curandero Maria Sabina she supposedly commented that now she could take psilocybin in the off season. I thought that such a remark though truthful sounded like it was missing the point. Every psychedelic mushroom is a teacher with its own innate personality. Like this thread a lot. Would like to see more feedback from fellow trippers of tha
t which springs forth.





I have somewhat reversed my opinion about this.

There is no mushroom guide, different mushrooms won't cause different effects, unless those effects are directly related to how much psilocybin/psilocin in the fruit body.

If you grow a Ecuador and a Golden Teacher, not only will you not be able to tell them apart.  They will include the same active's as each other, and no other strange alkaloids.

I have been shown double blind studies and I have been swayed to this side now. 

Now, on the other hand.  I truly believe if you tell somebody that this mushroom is different that it could effect their trip due to a placebo effect.  This is the ONLY room I allocating to budging on this subject.

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OfflinePrimalSoup
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: MikeBearPig]
    #21914871 - 07/08/15 12:43 PM (8 years, 10 months ago)

Double-blind studies (yes I've seen some of those) don't overcome experience, and vast personal experience indicates this is completely incorrect.  The reality is more complicated than the reductionist point of view would indicate, and that's another kind of "missing the point" IMHO. :shrug:


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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: PrimalSoup]
    #21915044 - 07/08/15 01:28 PM (8 years, 10 months ago)

Quote:

PrimalSoup said:
Double-blind studies (yes I've seen some of those) don't overcome experience, and vast personal experience indicates this is completely incorrect.  The reality is more complicated than the reductionist point of view would indicate, and that's another kind of "missing the point" IMHO. :shrug:




For you.  I am not here to argue with you.

Show me what other alkoloids are inside the mushroom and I will admit that different mushrooms give different effects.

What about my experience? (like it matters)

I came to this conclusion from my experience, why is your's so right?  I'm sure you can draw me some some "psychics" to go with your claim.

Why do you think you are always right?  You are not always right Mr. Primal Soup.  I don't give 2 fucks what you have experienced, you are full of shit and always have been. 

Just because you want to believe so bad that you are in contact with something else besides yourself, does not mean that I am wrong.  You are the only person defending the different mushroom experience in this thread at this moment.  I would also like to point out that the psychedelic community is growing tired of this spiritual bullshit that you seem to want to push. 

Terence was wrong.. get over it


Experience cannot be trusted, you are always too drawn to your own idea's and conclusions. 

Have somebody else dose you with different mushrooms and come back.  You also make the claim that ALL THE SCIENTISTS THAT STUDIED THIS ARE WRONG, and you are right?  Right?

Get over yourself buddy.

Edited by MikeBearPig (07/08/15 01:32 PM)

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OfflinePrimalSoup
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: MikeBearPig]
    #21915191 - 07/08/15 02:02 PM (8 years, 10 months ago)

:freshwtf:

You are here making an argument, and IME your argument is invalid.  So your point is only "for you" and can't be defended by dismissing other people's personal experience, even if it makes you feel good and "scientific" to do it...

I don't base this on anybody's opinions or experience save my own. There's nothing to "get over", that's simply lame and really unworthy.  Even if you are somehow pissed off at me, Mr. MikeBearPig. So you've been "swayed" by some double-blind studies to change an opinion you once had.  Big deal.  If I grow the exact same mushrooms and give them to you as a double-blind, no, you won't detect any difference.  If I grow two "strains" that have no difference between them and give them to you as a double-blind again you won't detect any difference.  If I give you two different species or strains with widely differing effects you might detect a difference.  If I give those two different species or strains to somebody who's experienced with the differences they definitely will detect the difference.  What you don't know here just makes you ignorant, not stupid.  Ignorance at least can be cured. :lol:

What you don't know, what nobody knows in detail, is indeed exactly what alkaloids and synergistic compounds are inside each and every species and strain of psilocybin mushrooms. What I DO know, but not in detail, is that there are a vast array of organic compounds capable of manufacture by the mushrooms.  That ability to synthesize produces an array of enzymes in reaction to environmental influences and via epigenetic markers passes on modified abilities to their offspring.  This isn't speculation, it's the way they work.  Which compounds exactly, well, the study would be prohibitive since you still have to have some idea of what you're looking at with mass-spectrometry to deduce what's actually present if it occurs in small enough concentrations.  But most of the studies to date have used less sensitive tests that require the synthesis of compounds to produce sample chromatography against which the extracted biological assays can be compared.  So they really won't find what they're bot looking for.

And there are many precursors in the biosynthesis chain that leads to psilocybin and psilocin, any of which could be represented in varying concentrations due to alterations in biology of individual strains.  Have a look in Occurrence and Use of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Containing Psilocybin Alkaloids in the section on biosynthesis.  Now we're talking about tryptamine, N-methyltriptamine, and N-N-dimethyltriptamine, for starters.  These are the obvious intermediary compounds, but given the chemically adroit nature of fungi to synthesis compounds de novo no one (least of all myself) would be too surprised to find them capable of some novelty.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  To imagine I ought to be "swayed" by a few heated remarks and personal insults - well, that's just plain stupid.

Thanks for the attempt though. :thumbup:


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Edited by PrimalSoup (07/08/15 02:20 PM)

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InvisibleMikeBearPig
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: PrimalSoup]
    #21915286 - 07/08/15 02:24 PM (8 years, 10 months ago)

Quote:

PrimalSoup said:
:freshwtf:

You are here making an argument, and IME your argument is invalid.  So your point is only "for you" and can't be defended by dismissing other people's personal experience, even if it makes you feel good and "scientific" to do it...

I don't base this on anybody's opinions or experience save my own. There's nothing to "get over", that's simply lame and really unworthy.  Even if you are somehow pissed off at me, Mr. MikeBearPig.  :lol:

What you don't know, what nobody knows in detail, is indeed exactly what alkaloids and synergistic compounds are inside each and every species and strain of psilocybin mushrooms. What I DO know, but not in detail, is that there are a vast array of organic compounds capable of manufacture by the mushrooms.  That ability to synthesize produces an array of enzymes in reaction to environmental influences and via epigenetic markers passes on modified abilities to their offspring.  This isn't speculation, it's the way they work.  Which compounds exactly, well, the study would be prohibitive since you still have to have some idea of what you're looking at with mass-spectrometry to deduce what's actually present if it occurs in small enough concentrations. 

And there are many precursors in the biosynthesis chain that leads to psilocybin and psilocin, any of which could be represented in varying concentrations due to alterations in biology of individual strains.  Have a look in Occurrence and Use of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Containing Psilocybin Alkaloids in the section on biosynthesis.  Now we're talking about tryptamine, N-methyltriptamine, and N-N-dimethyltriptamine, for starters.  These are the obvious intermediary compounds, but given the chemically adroit nature of fungi to synthesis compounds de novo no one (least of all myself) would be too surprised to find them capable of some novelty.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.




It's all really nice of you to post, you don't need to go through such great lengths to show that when you put something in your body you get a reaction.  Guess what?  If you put the same compounds into your body, you get the same reaction.

This is the way modern medicine works.  Science is very good at saying, "If you take this, this will happen to your body".  When it comes to the mind, science gets sketchy.

The only way you are going to get a different mushroom experience is by somebody telling you that the experience will be different or truly believing that it will be different.


THE CLAIM YOUR MAKING IS THE SAME ONE FOR THC.  We know THC gets you high.  There are tons of other synergistic elements in the plants, but guess what?  YOU CANT FUCKING TELL WHAT THEY ARE.

It's also the same deluded thoughts that wine tasters think they have. 

You can inject THC and get high, free of every other molecule. 

It's the same with Psilocybin.  Yes, some of the other things in the mushroom are active and cause some synergistic effects, they are just negligible in the doses that we take.

I will also go out on a limb to all the marijuana smokers and call fucking bullshit if you think you can feel the difference between a Indica and a Sativa.



I've grown 8 "strains" of cubes.  My experience as well as EVERYBODY I know has no bearing on anything.

Neither did the email I received from Jon Hopkins explaining why they only use psilocybin.

Now, if you want to talk about Wood loving mushrooms, I can agree that they are capable of providing us with a different chemical makeup for the fruit bodies, but none of them will produce the same experience as Psilocybin and they never will.

If they have synergistic capabilities, you won't notice them.. Unless you are truly devoted into thinking you can tell the difference.

Edited by MikeBearPig (07/08/15 02:26 PM)

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OfflineEnergyTurtle
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Re: Trust, Let Go, Be Open: Psychedelic Harm Reduction in the Desert and Beyond [Re: MikeBearPig]
    #21989112 - 07/24/15 09:38 AM (8 years, 9 months ago)

Quote:

Early Sunday morning at AfrikaBurn, toward the end of an all-night shift, I was introduced to a young man who had spent the previous night in the medical tent. Although the full story had yet to be pieced together, one of the paramedics explained that the young man had apparently overdosed on a number of different substances and was dangerously close to death at various points in the night. The fact that he was standing in front of us, lucid and physically healthy, was something of a medical miracle. But the young man didn’t see it that way. He was confused and suspicious, and felt that no one really understood what he had been through. He had the strong conviction of having died and experienced a world free of suffering. He didn’t remember being transported to the medical tent in the first place, and felt that he had been unfairly “brought back to life” by the medical team, without his consent. I knew from my research with psilocybin that a death-rebirth experience like this could be an important and healthy step on a person’s spiritual path. And a number of the study volunteers I worked with at Johns Hopkins had reported a profound experience of their own death. But I had never worked with someone who wasn’t thrilled about the “rebirth” part.

Throughout the morning, we took turns sitting with the young man, listening to his story and supporting him as he struggled to weave a meaningful narrative out of his experience. We made some progress, but he kept hanging onto the disconcerting feeling that he “wasn’t supposed to be alive.” Realizing that our words were offering limited comfort, I eventually offered to walk with him to the Temple, where offerings had been made throughout the week and would be burned in a ceremony later that night. We walked mostly in silence and when we arrived, I asked him to sit with me in front of the altar. We sat there for maybe 30 minutes, absorbing the full reality of the space. Among the various objects and drawings and inspirational phrases that people had added to the temple over the course of the week, what stood out were the photographs of people who had died. Young faces, old faces, beautiful faces, funny faces, along with pleas from their loved ones, asking for the fire to bring peace and help release the sadness and anger around their deaths. The Temple, of course, is about much more than death, but this was its message to me, and to the young man, on that Sunday morning. Something clicked as he turned to me and said, “I get it. I’m lucky to be here. I’m ready to go find my friends.”




This is beautiful, I'm still wiping tears from my eyes. What a profound revelation, to be lifted up out of such a deep place, and to find a new sense of meaning and satisfaction from life. The kid isn't just lucky to be there, he was lucky to have someone as wonderful as Dr. MacLean by his side. These people are a testament to the sciences, and are doing right by the Oath to which they swore.

Also, the guys arguing about alkaloid content seem to think that Cubensis is the only active mushroom. There are plenty of other "magic" mushrooms which produce varying amounts of alkaloids. The "trip" from P. cinctulus, for example, is said to have a drastically different feel than most other actives because they don't produce psilocin in their fruiting bodies, only psilocybin.

Some even produce non-tryptamine alkaloids which are active, including phenethylamine. Look up Peele's Leptiota, discovered and named by Stephen L. Peele, the curator of FMRC. I thought that there was a list of all the alkaloids that it produces, but I can't find it now. One of them is a compound which (at the time) had only been observed in the human brain, and never in a plant or mushroom.

Edited by EnergyTurtle (07/25/15 03:00 PM)

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