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Mushroom11941
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Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history.
#26355006 - 12/01/19 05:58 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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My mom was originally diagnosed with schizophrenia, then the diagnosis was correctly changed to bipolar. I am in my 40's and have never had a hint of bipolar in my behavior, nor has anyone ever told me so. My dad had ADD and I am pretty sure I have a touch of it.
However, I have heard that if one's immediate family member has mental illness, there is a chance he/she might be on the threshold and might be pushed over the edge after taking a psychedelic. I have been taking lower doses from 150 mg to 1 g of dried mushrooms for the past several weeks and have not noticed any personality changes. This, and 25 yrs ago, I took a higher dose (enough to see trails) twice, and did not notice any changes in my personality. I have 2.5 g of Golden Teacher mushroom prepared which I was going to drink later today.
Given that I am older, and that I have not had any adverse reactions to the small amount of psychedelics up to this point, would you say that the chance of someone in my position developing schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or another mental illness would be very remote?
I realize it is impossible to say for sure. I have suffered from depression for the past 20 yrs and have tried everything:talk therapy with 4 different therapists, three different antidepressants, exercise, meditation, and IV ketamine. Not that munching on a few mushrooms is the cure-all, but I am hoping taking them might help me to dissociate from strongly-held beliefs about myself, and so if there is a very small chance I might develop a mental illness as a result, it seems I would stand to gain a lot on the other end. So maybe if there is a "1%" chance of developing a mental illness, it seems it might be worth it, as maybe there is a "75%" chance taking psychedelics will decrease my depression. Thank you all for your time.
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Hartford
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Registered: 11/27/19
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: Mushroom11941]
#26355029 - 12/01/19 06:33 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Figure out what you stand for and stand up for it. You don't have to be a slave to the DNA you were born with. Illnesses therefore may or may not rest upon you, regardless of what you ingest. If you are behind in your disciplines, you've got to find a new, healthy spiritual heritage to assimilate into. Otherwise, all you are is dust in the wind.
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VP123
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: Mushroom11941] 2
#26355045 - 12/01/19 06:59 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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I also read that one should not take psychedelics if there's an immediate family relative with a mental illness. But I took my chances because depression was not letting me function and the thoughts of suicide were coming back. My sister is institutionalized and I believe my mother has the same problem but never has been diagnosed. I did two level 1 trips (0.8 g and 1.6 g). I feel ok and it helped a lot with depression.
This doesn't mean you'll be ok or that I will not have problems after more intense trips in the future. We just take our chances. I want to believe that genetics plus some crappy family dynamics triggered the state my sister is in and that the trauma caused my depression. However, I can't prove anything. Maybe I am just waiving my hands in the air trying to justify myself.
The decision is yours. We're experimenting with ourselves because, until recently, it's been prohibited to do scientific research with these substances.
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LogicaL Chaos
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: Mushroom11941] 1
#26355132 - 12/01/19 08:15 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Theres definitely a risk of pushing your mind into insanity/mental illness terrority when using psychedelics.
But i would argue lower and common-sized doses *should* be safe. Keyword *should*. Probably best to avoid high/heroic doses as you can imagine why.
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Mushroom11941
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: LogicaL Chaos] 1
#26355153 - 12/01/19 08:40 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Thanks, everyone for your thoughts. There is no guarantee, but it sounds like taking a smaller dose and maybe increasing it slowly over subsequent uses is the way to go. I just brewed a gram more of tea, so I might be pushing it at a planned 3.5 g mushroom tea today, but I figure a lot of potency will be lost in the tea-making process.
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InfiniteDreams


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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: LogicaL Chaos] 2
#26355155 - 12/01/19 08:41 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Most of those disorders manifest when someone is in their teens or 20s. I've not heard of someone who becomes bipolar in their 40s. Of course that is different than being diagnosed, but you would probably know if you have symptoms or not by this point.
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330ci
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: LogicaL Chaos]
#26355166 - 12/01/19 08:46 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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My mom has BPD. I was diagnosed with BPD, Manic depression, and CIP. I take psychedelic drugs regularly. i've taken heroic doses. never experienced any ill effects. I think it really depends on the person. I know people who are mentally far healthier than I, and they won't touch heroic doses. only you can decide if it's worth the risk to you. my body rejects pharmaceuticals like nothing else, but seems to embrace psychedelics and other natural substances. as long as your clean of any psychiatric medication, I'd say go for it.
although it would be interesting to find out the % of psychosis cases happening pre and post frontal lobe development. I imagine alot of these cases are a result of psychedelic use during brain development.
Edited by 330ci (12/01/19 08:48 AM)
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VP123
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: 330ci]
#26355455 - 12/01/19 12:00 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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I just remembered this paper.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0063972
It is one of two independent studies that appear to indicate that the use of psychedelics does not result in an increased incidence of mental illnesses. It doesn't mean psychedelics have not hurt anyone. It simply means that the incidence of mental illnesses is not higher in the users of psychedelics. This was one of the reasons I decided to try them for depression. I've never done any drugs before. Never smoked weed even. Only moderate alcohol consumption every now and then.
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openmind
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: Mushroom11941]
#26355610 - 12/01/19 01:49 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Mushroom11941 said: ....I figure a lot of potency will be lost in the tea-making process.
There should not be any noticeable/drastic potency loss when taking mushrooms in a tea.
Granted there might still be a tiny amount of alkaloids remaining in the mushrooms after they've been filtered off...but for the most part, tea does not cause any major loss/degradation of potency.
If anything...tea often feels "more potent" per the dose because the active components are in a liquid and are absorbed into the body quicker than they are when mushrooms are just chewed up and swallowed.
In regards to the topic of the thread...Of course no one can say for sure. But if you're in your 40s and haven't experienced any signs of mental issues/disorders through out your life, working with common/typical doses of psychedelics probably isn't too much of a big risk ........but ..
If you do end up consuming that tea sometime today or soon, report back and let us know how it went...I'm always super curious to hear how things go for folks, especially those that are relatively new to the experience.
-OM
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searching



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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: openmind] 2
#26355675 - 12/01/19 02:26 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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I think the risk of schizophrenia is low since you're in your 40s. A friend of mine used to trip with me all the time on mushrooms and lsd. Sure he had some rough patches in the trips like we all do but he never had a bad trip or mental illness afterwards. Then when he was 30 he started taking Adderall and abusing it not getting sleep for a day or two at a time. He started having delusions and even imagining things that weren't there. He would drive hundreds of miles for his job and any time a storm was coming in he thought he saw tornadoes where there really weren't any. Literally sending me pictures of clouds and drawing a circle where he thought there was a tornado. It was very worrying. Then he had a full on psychotic episode after not sleeping. He was in his room hearing "alien voices in the walls" and he searched his room for 5 hours looking for where it came from. Now he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
I guess my point is the psychedelics weren't what brought it out in him. And he was at the end of the 20-30s age group for onset of schizophrenia. You are not in that age group. Normally I would never recommend someone with a family history of schizophrenia to take psychedelics period. But you said your mom really doesn't have it anyway. It's up to you if it's worth it or not. Sorry if this came out as a jumbled mess of thoughts.
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myrealname
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: Mushroom11941]
#26356322 - 12/01/19 09:45 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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If you're worried about developing mental illness after ingesting something then the easiest way to remove that worry is to not take them.
Im sure theres many people who have mental health problems that wish they never touched drugs.
However its not like you have an exact twin who has lived the same life and you can make an exact comparison of one who has taken drugs and one that hasnt and compare mental states of both.
Weigh the risks vs the reward and make a rational decision after you have done that. Leading a functional life without the burden of mental illness is more important then any drug will be imo.
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Hotdog from Space
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: myrealname]
#26356792 - 12/02/19 07:32 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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If you are afraid of this you could use cannabis (if you have low tolerance for it) to "train" your mind.
Cannabis used alone, can be very potent. And can give you insight into how your mind works. If you are afraid of mental sickness, smoke cannabis and put yourself in difficult situations that easily could cause paranoia. This way you will learn how to the the mind functions.
For example, when I was new to cannabis, i went instantly into a paranoid state, this was cause I was smoking outside, I was afraid of being caught and so on. And this tiny bit of anxiousness turned fast into paranoia. But as I continued to smoke, i learned the mechanism, and then it wasnt any problem anymore.
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LogicaL Chaos
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: InfiniteDreams]
#26356802 - 12/02/19 07:45 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
InfiniteDreams said: Most of those disorders manifest when someone is in their teens or 20s. I've not heard of someone who becomes bipolar in their 40s. Of course that is different than being diagnosed, but you would probably know if you have symptoms or not by this point.
That's a good point. Im not too familiar on the possibility of developing mental illness in adult age, but from my general experience with people, it seems that mental disorders can happen at any age. Which is why OP should proceed with caution but not outright paranoia of what could happen.
But the subject of late-age mental disorders is in need of more research....
Found this, looks promising:
Quote:
The disorder typically becomes evident during late adolescence or early adulthood.
Quote:
The inheritance pattern for schizophrenia is usually unknown. The risk of developing schizophrenia is somewhat higher for family members of affected individuals as compared to the general public; however, most people with a close relative who has schizophrenia will not develop the disorder themselves.
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/schizophrenia#inheritance
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Shroomhunts
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: Mushroom11941]
#26357061 - 12/02/19 11:48 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Eat a heroic dose, you have nothing to fear, insanity is the path to enlightenment.
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      You never kno
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Mushroom11941
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Re: Concerned psilocybin might make me develop a mental illness due to my family history. [Re: Shroomhunts]
#26366294 - 12/07/19 05:48 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Prepared and drank 3.5 g psilocybin tea a week ago, and I am still my same old self. But this thread helped me to prevent from worrying about it while tripping. Thanks!
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