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InvisibleMostly_HarmlessM
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How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? * 1
    #23582383 - 08/27/16 02:23 AM (7 years, 5 months ago)

https://aeon.co/ideas/how-does-lsd-induce-short-term-psychosis-but-long-term-optimism

Quote:

25 August, 2016

When most people think of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­the image that comes to mind is hallucinating hippies at Woodstock, but the drug’s original use was psychotherapeutic. As early as the 1960s, researchers showed that LSD reduces depression, anxiety and pain in patients with advanced cancer, and recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the drug’s beneficial effects. In 2014, Swiss psychiatrist Peter Gasser published the results of a study showing that LSD could alleviate the symptoms of severe anxiety disorder. And a 2016 study from Imperial College London showed that LSD could increase levels of optimism and openness for extended periods of time.

The LSD story goes back to Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist who first synthesised the compound in 1938. Hofmann accidentally discovered its hallucinogenic effects after ingesting 250 μg (a very large dose!) before his evening commute home. Being the good scientist that he was, he recorded a detailed account of his experience in his notebook. His initial, paranoia-filled reaction was followed the next day by a blissful experience, in which ‘everything glistened, and sparkled in a fresh light’.

It was this final, uplifting insight that the researchers at Imperial set out to re-explore in rigorous fashion, starting with 20 participants recruited by word-of-mouth. These subjects were all over the age of 21, had no history of psychiatric illness, and reported at least one previous experience with a hallucinogen like magic mushrooms or LSD – the last requirement implemented to minimise adverse responses to the drug. Each subject visited the testing centre twice: once to receive LSD (75 μg lower than the dose taken by recreational users) and once to receive a placebo, though the order in which these individuals received the LSD was random.

Much like Hofmann himself, test subjects reported feeling the effect of the LSD as quickly as ten minutes after the infusion, with the experience lasting for nearly eight hours in all. Several hours into the dosing, they were asked to answer a series of questions regarding their psychological wellbeing. Participants remained in the research centre for the remainder of the day with a psychiatrist present until they were functioning normally. In order to determine longer-term effects, they filled out the same questionnaires two weeks later.

Shortly after taking the drug, participants who received LSD reported an increase in psychosis-like symptoms, including visual hallucinations, spiritual experiences and paranoia. It was an outcome the researchers had expected. But interestingly, those given LSD were more likely to feel positive, and even ‘blissful’ emotions, as opposed to the negative and ‘anxious’ feelings sometimes associated with psychedelic drugs. What was even more striking was that two weeks after taking LSD, these individuals reported increased optimism and openness, making them more creative and curious, as compared with those who received the placebo.

How can a drug that creates a temporary psychosis lead to such pronounced long-term optimism? This is a mostly unanswered question, but researchers think it has something to do with the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR). This receptor is expressed all over the brain, particularly in regions associated with cognitive functions and social interactions. Stimulation of this receptor has been directly linked to cognitive flexibility, enhanced imagination and creative thinking. Disorders associated with variants of the 5-HT2AR include schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – in other words, a panoply of psychiatric illness. It turns out that LSD functions by binding to and stimulating 5-HT2AR in the cerebral cortex, which is thought to regulate an enzyme called phospholipase C, and eventually leads to psychoactive effects. In fact, blockage of this receptor has been linked to a remediation of the hallucinatory effects of LSD in rats.

The precise biology behind LSD’s transformational potential remains a mystery. But researchers at Imperial suggest that once LSD binds to the receptor, it’s possible that the initial ‘blast’ of stimulation results in more intense, acute psychotic-like symptoms, whereas the longer-term effects produce a ‘loosening’ of network dynamics, and a general increase in optimism and wellbeing.

No one is suggesting that you illegally consume LSD to increase long-term optimism, but the study raises important questions. Could LSD one day be used to treat maladies such as major depressive disorder? Would the short-term psychological discomfort of giving an individual therapeutic LSD be worth the potential long-term benefits? Would the positive effects of LSD persist longer than two weeks? What is the physiological cascade that begins with LSD binding to 5-HT2AR activation and ends with psychological effects such as increased optimism? Is there a way to synthesise a compound that would take advantage of the beneficial aspects of LSD, while minimising the negative effects? There’s only one way to find out – more scientific experiments!

Rachel Jonas is a PhD candidate in neuroscience at UCLA, where she studies brain-behaviour relationships in individuals with an ultra-high genetic risk for developing psychiatric disorders.




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OfflineFractalMind
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: Mostly_Harmless]
    #23582799 - 08/27/16 08:55 AM (7 years, 5 months ago)

Maybe because psychosis is the wrong word for whats going on.


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OfflineChk
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: FractalMind]
    #23582880 - 08/27/16 09:34 AM (7 years, 5 months ago)

Damn you're so right.


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Invisibledurian_2008
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: FractalMind]
    #23583918 - 08/27/16 03:23 PM (7 years, 5 months ago)

Suggested Experiment

1. Have people enter dissociative states via different means, for instance:
a. being schizoid
b. meditation
c. drug induced
d. sensory deprivation
e. sensory-induced

2. See whether they self-report the same imagery.

Hypothesis

Maybe, it's all basically the same as psychosis.

It's just a word in the dictionary, to the effect of disrupted contact with consensus reality.

Don't feel so stigmatized.


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Offlineimachavel
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: durian_2008]
    #23586561 - 08/28/16 11:23 AM (7 years, 5 months ago)

I voted recently in a poll in psychedelic experience about psychedelic use etc.

I myself am pretty sure in my life that I've dosed less then 200 times. I've taken maybe 20 hits of LSD, various mushrooms, even cactus a few times and one time smoked cactus. I voted on having several bad experiences tripping but in no experience tripping a week or more, although I've had trips lasting more then one day.

My opinion is that psychs are about equivalent to water. They are useless. They are just a substance that triggers your brains inability to control itself. The implications of this are fascinating. You might think you will trip beyond this life and live in a state of infinite love and understanding. I've thought while tripping I would die and my spirit would live on the spot forever. I've also thought I was being crushed into a black hole.

They basically aren't addictive, but also have no more use then dropping from a tall height, surviving and enjoying your life more because you appreciated the simplicity of the situation and the rush of adrenaline. Repeating the experience however does not necessarily mean you relive the excitement and wonder of a new point of view. Like everything else it becomes useless especially if you are the only one around you that understands it. You don't need LSD to build a house. Although that might be fun, inevitably the house might be more fun to build, the LSD serves no real purpose. It sure makes you respect nature though. It's YOUR BRAIN the chemical is triggering into that experience.

Holy shit are drugs amazing huh? Just don't get stuck in a world or idea you only experience while I'm high.

That about sum it up? LSD to me is just water that your brain reacts to in some way unlike water. It's no more useful, but just as powerful as far as your brains biorythyms are concerned. Could you wrap it up more concisely? If so, be my guest


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:kingcrankey: I did not say to edit my signature soulidarity! Now forever I will never remember what I said about understanding the secrets of the universe by paying attention to subtleties!

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OfflineChk
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: imachavel]
    #23586876 - 08/28/16 12:57 PM (7 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Repeating the experience however does not necessarily mean you relive the excitement and wonder of a new point of view




i think i ate shroom several hundred times, (hard to estimate actually).

Anyway, i still have the exact same enjoyment each time,
it's even better now i think,
difference being that it is very predictable most of the time and very smooth trip, instant meditative quietness.

edit : IMO it does the same with LSD


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Edited by Chk (08/28/16 12:58 PM)


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OfflineHardTrippin
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: imachavel]
    #23586974 - 08/28/16 01:30 PM (7 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

imachavel said:
I voted recently in a poll in psychedelic experience about psychedelic use etc.

I myself am pretty sure in my life that I've dosed less then 200 times. I've taken maybe 20 hits of LSD, various mushrooms, even cactus a few times and one time smoked cactus. I voted on having several bad experiences tripping but in no experience tripping a week or more, although I've had trips lasting more then one day.

My opinion is that psychs are about equivalent to water. They are useless. They are just a substance that triggers your brains inability to control itself. The implications of this are fascinating. You might think you will trip beyond this life and live in a state of infinite love and understanding. I've thought while tripping I would die and my spirit would live on the spot forever. I've also thought I was being crushed into a black hole.

They basically aren't addictive, but also have no more use then dropping from a tall height, surviving and enjoying your life more because you appreciated the simplicity of the situation and the rush of adrenaline. Repeating the experience however does not necessarily mean you relive the excitement and wonder of a new point of view. Like everything else it becomes useless especially if you are the only one around you that understands it. You don't need LSD to build a house. Although that might be fun, inevitably the house might be more fun to build, the LSD serves no real purpose. It sure makes you respect nature though. It's YOUR BRAIN the chemical is triggering into that experience.

Holy shit are drugs amazing huh? Just don't get stuck in a world or idea you only experience while I'm high.

That about sum it up? LSD to me is just water that your brain reacts to in some way unlike water. It's no more useful, but just as powerful as far as your brains biorythyms are concerned. Could you wrap it up more concisely? If so, be my guest



LSD is hardly more useful than water (considering water might be the most useful thing there is). That being said, even though the experiences of LSD are delusions for the most part, that doesn't mean there aren't uses for it. The breaking of cognitive habits reveals redundancies, inconsistencies, and flaws in one's daily life, and in addition to improving one's mood for weeks or even months at a time, LSD can catalyze positive change in one's behaviour. There are honestly dozens more uses I can list for LSD. Useless is the last word I would use to describe LSD (maybe after boring).


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"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment" - Ralph Waldo Emerson


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OfflineSleepyE
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: HardTrippin]
    #23589830 - 08/29/16 12:12 PM (7 years, 4 months ago)

i think psychedelic use causes entropy of the mind.
shits expanding :shrug:


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Draw DMT!

Trip Report: SHROOMS DMT---- My Youtube Psychedelic Channel


Edited by SleepyE (08/29/16 12:42 PM)


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Offlineimachavel
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: SleepyE]
    #23591286 - 08/29/16 07:15 PM (7 years, 4 months ago)

All of the above for sure. I'm just saying though, if someone just wants to get high then that's all they will get. The meditation depends on the users intended purpose before they took the drug


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:kingcrankey: I did not say to edit my signature soulidarity! Now forever I will never remember what I said about understanding the secrets of the universe by paying attention to subtleties!

:facepalm: I'm never giving you the password again. Jerk


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OfflineAchillita
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Re: How does LSD induce short-term psychosis but long-term optimism? [Re: imachavel]
    #23592027 - 08/29/16 11:13 PM (7 years, 4 months ago)

That might be all they'll get with other classes of drugs, but psychedelics often cause introspection for anyone.


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