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DeLaRiva

Registered: 05/13/20
Posts: 10
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How many other people are using psychoactive mushrooms to treat depression?
#26717490 - 06/03/20 06:54 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Hi All,
I became interested in psychedelics specifically for the treatment of depression, which has affected me for at least the past 10 years. They, along with reading Jung, have opened up a whole new spiritual aspect to my life.
I was formerly a rationalist, a materialist and an atheist. I'm not exactly sure which philosophical pigeonholes I would fit into now - perhaps pragmatism -, but I believe I can call myself a psychonaut... (hopefully without the connotations of having a lot of experience and without sounding pretentious).
I'm just wondering how many other folks out there use psychedelics for this purpose, and how many of you have had your worldviews fundamentally altered by your experiences? How has your worldview changed?
I guess I am curious because I came from the typical modern Western viewpoint (i.e. rationalist, materialist, devoid of spirituality, believing knowledge generated by science is the most credible form of knowledge), whereas my old self would now regard my beliefs as 'hippy' or 'new age'. I now believe we are each the centre of the universe (or that we all contain the universe within us), that there is a God, and so on... Thank God for psychedelics, because my life now has so much more depth and meaning to it. I've essentially undergone a religious conversion but into no particular religious tradition, lol.
I came to psychedelics because they had (preliminary) good scientific evidence behind them, but have stayed for the religious experiences they elicit - I guess that's the treatment modality, duh!
Apologies for the ramble.
Let me know if this is the wrong sub to post this is, but I figure it's most closely related to mental well-being.
God bless.
DLR
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sorahtak
Tiger Hugger

Registered: 07/02/08
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Re: How many other people are using psychoactive mushrooms to treat depression? [Re: DeLaRiva]
#26717553 - 06/03/20 07:28 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Psychedelics seem to be very useful for breaking unwholesome patterns of thought and behavior. I think their efficacy in treating depression stems from this, insofar as the depression is being caused by a negative story being constantly retold by one's egoic mind. The mechanism in treating addiction is no doubt similar.
Among the benefits I have gotten from them are their serving as a catalyst for breaking identification with being a separate self with the illusion of control and all the anxiety that comes from the sense of losing that control. Like with many people, it served as a sufficient proof of the utility of a long term meditative practice that I may not have undertaken otherwise.
I can't say I've ever been tempted toward a belief in God by psychedelic experiences though. It is true that present day science isn't a terribly applicable tool in matters of first person introspective and spiritual experiences, but I don't see that anything about such experiences contradicts science in the realms for which it is suited. They just show that subjectivity is far more malleable than we tend to think while limited to unaltered states.
Is your handle, DeLaRiva, a reference to jiu-jitsu, or something else?
Cheers!
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DeLaRiva

Registered: 05/13/20
Posts: 10
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Re: How many other people are using psychoactive mushrooms to treat depression? [Re: sorahtak]
#26717803 - 06/03/20 09:10 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
sorahtak said: Is your handle, DeLaRiva, a reference to jiu-jitsu, or something else?
Busted! Yeah - I didn't have a good username and I'm currently working on my DLR game, so I thought I'd just use that, hah!
Thanks for your contribution!
I definitely identify with what you said about psychedelics showing you the importance of meditation. I remember on my first trip thinking 'This is all so beautiful and meaningful, but very familiar from my meditation practice.'
I think their success in treating my depression stemmed from the fact that they opened up the spiritual realm to me. My depression was deeply rooted in existential issues; I used to question the meaning of my life on a daily basis - which is not a terrible thing to do, so long as you have a decent answer! - and couldn't see how it was possible to maintain a value structure without believing in God... when I begrudgingly went to see a psychologist at the time, the first thing I said to him was that I couldn't see how life could have any meaning if there was no God. And from my experience I still don't think life has meaning without the belief in God.. I don't mean the Christian God, necessarily; but some intelligence, purpose, first cause or scorekeeper beyond humanity. If one doesn't believe in this, how can one get past the notion that, in the context of a 13.7 billion year-old universe in which we occupy a speck on a speck of a planet in a speck of a solar system in an unimportant corner of the universe, our lives are meaningless? Tough one to answer, IMO.
Yeah... as I said, my perspective on science has changed dramatically over the past 2 years or so. I'm not about to go questioning whether gravity exists or arguing for creationism, but I'm a long way from where I was. I used to think scientific knowledge was the best knowledge, that sufficient scientific knowledge would eventually unlock the truth to immortality and Utopia, given enough time. I guess you could say that, in a way, I worshiped at the altar of science and thought it could answer moral questions. I think this is what most modern Western people do, whether they realise it or not. My new perspective is based on two notions. First, I now see science as nothing more than the best attempt of some very flawed humans to systematically organise empirical data - we're not very good at it and haven't been at it for very long. Second, I think science is not very useful when it comes to the individual. It's very useful for informing decisions about populations, where large sample sizes mean that individual differences average out, but it's not great for individuals, where peculiarities are everything, where noting is 'average'. What I mean is that science becomes less and less useful when many, many variables are involved... Just look at how little we know about nutrition, for example.
My 'loss of faith' in science was accompanied by my paying attention to different forms of knowledge, founded in experience. I guess these are what you would describe as 'subjective'.
Anyway, that part of my rant is over, hah.
I'm interested to hear what you think.
God bless.
DLR
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nakedandafraid
Stranger
Registered: 05/29/20
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Re: How many other people are using psychoactive mushrooms to treat depression? [Re: DeLaRiva]
#26721711 - 06/05/20 11:34 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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I think psychedelics and the chemicals responsible for their effects are the key to opening up the human experience and unlocking our future/the next step in our evolution. I don't think mushrooms have the ability to show you anything that isn't already there or anything you don't already know in some way, but they can open your eyes, and expand your perception/depth of experience. Psychedelics will only do for you what you allow them to, and I think it's a real shame we don't have more hard scientific research because I think we would really go far and it would help a lot more in not only understanding psychedelics, but our own experience.
Many of the chemicals in our body (DMT, serotonin, cannabinoids e.g.) can be found throughout nature and in other animals and I think think through studying the way these chemicals interact with us, not just at a subjective level but in quantifiable ways we can really unlock some of the secrets of consciousness, which might not lead to a sudden ascension into some sort of next realm or whatever but at the very least we could help a lot of sick people, how many mentally ill people and depressed could be helped by the research in this field?
Thinking about this makes me emotional, I get upset a lot at the world we live in but I think that's a common experience and most people would agree that the world sucks in a lot of ways, people are mean, everybody's selfish and our society seems to value the wrong things, there's no joy in most of our labors anymore and we spend our days slaving away to masters for causes we don't agree with. It's easy to numb ourselves and run away, and I myself, along with friends i've seen, and some of my family members, have all tried in one way or another, drugs, alcohol, etc. but when whatever you're on wears off the world is still there, waiting to be dealt with. Psychedelics are different than other substances in that if used thoughtfully in a constructive way in a healthy environment you can really deal with problems and work through things and literally make physical mental connections you previously weren't able to, by looking at it through a new angle by literally thinking differently, and I think there will be much progress in our society if we open up to the power of love, community, and self-improvement.
Psychedelics can bring up things you had hidden from yourself, or they can make you ask questions that are hard to ignore, and for that reason they can be off putting, and I know friends who don't like them for that reason. However, I believe that you should approach them with respect, with the same place of mind you would with talking to your pastor or rabbi, or going to a therapists office or having a deep conversation with a good friend about how things have been, except the good friend is yourself.
The psychedelic trip itself is something to visit and then reflect on, there is so much to be learned when you meditate on your thoughts and work towards achieving a life where you're happiest and free and doing the best that you can. However, this doesn't make you a very good worker bee, and psychedelic thought often opens up to questioning everything, certainly oppressors and power systems and claims of authority, and for this reason they are suppressed in countries that we will hopefully in the future all clearly see are backwards and authoritarian.
small rant about politics I currently haven't tripped in a while and don't think I will soon but I think one of the most important things humanity could do is open itself up to the psychedelic experience and revist the questions we asked ourselves in the 1960's and reexamine the failure of that movement. The United States has backslided through 50 years of foppish centrist liberals being the most representation of any sort of left , and right wing influence and economic fascism of large corporations, lobbyists, pacs and so on and there is a long way ahead of us towards opening up ANY future that threatens the grift of these parasites. When we live in the world we should we'll all be happy and until then the best way to effect happiness in our lives in striving towards those goals and working to help and support our fellow man and build up our local communities, interpersonal connections and the value of our society can't be understated but if we're all working soul-sucking jobs 40+ hours a week to accumulate debts and barely stay afloat, or to have some semblance of success be constantly reminded with the massive amounts of struggling and suffering in the world by 24/7 news cycles and living in an artificial world where most human interaction is online and superficial, it's no wonder depression and suicide is at an all time high.
I have had many experiences on psychedelics I would associate with "God" or an understanding of creation, and an all existing moment of beauty and infinite density that we all take part, and all contribute to. Asking 'God' why I was alive and getting an answer... there are many lessons to learn in this life, for one reason or another and in this lifetime it'll never make total sense and there will be many things I don't understand, but if we try to never stop learning and spend every day in some way trying to improve ourselves, learn a new skill, or some facts about something you didn't know before, we'll never stop improving, because we all have unlimited potential.
Many scientists and politicians will try to sell you on the world and society we live in because they are bought and paid for by our masters too, but we are anxious stressed out monkeys in suits pretending to know what we are doing, we're all just monkeys but maybe together we can be more than that one day.
reach out to your friends! Have mindful intentions and work hard for the things you want and the happiness you deserve, and have hope that we can overcome the plague of hate and arrogance in humanity.
Now I apologize for the rant! hahaha Just had a lot on my mind.
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Eldest Oyster
Stranger
Registered: 05/14/19
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Re: How many other people are using psychoactive mushrooms to treat depression? [Re: DeLaRiva]
#27330767 - 05/31/21 08:50 PM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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I started using mushrooms to treat depression two years ago. Severe, treatment resistant depression. It worked! But I have to use high doses – 6 to 9 grams dried cubensis - about every 6 weeks. A side effect is that I have learned all sorts of secrets of the mind and existence. If I am definitively healed of the depression at some point, I don't know if I will use the mushrooms again or not. Certainly not as frequently.
When I started this treatment regimen, I already believed in God, the Spirit, and Jesus. Also reason... and unreason. This life of faith began for me in my 20s (I'm in my 50s now), but it may have been triggered by experiences with mushrooms and LSD in college. Your words about materialism, meaning and God sound really similar to my own thoughts back then.
Changes in world view since I started this more recent set of experiences – I discovered that I am not who and what I thought I was! Or that who I think I am is just a small, temporary, conditioned part of who I am. The self as I know it dies or dissolves while tripping, and consciousness enters a vast realm of experience that was always there, but walled off by the ego. I guess that's what they call ego death.
And out there beyond the wall of the self, the distinction between me and you and God and everyone and everything is somewhat arbitrary. I guess that's what they call mystical union.
There seemed to be the experience of the Creator of all things speaking to me and through me, sharing our subjectivity – that's what I call ecstasy! For the first several experiences, I didn't know how to relate this Presence to my religious beliefs. Further along, these became more integrated, with the concept of God becoming much much larger and more intimate. It seems that God is more nonjudgemental and nonviolent than I had credited.
I have also often encountered a presence that is very hostile and judgemental and unpleasant to be around. The Adversary, the Accuser, the Complainant. A key to healing the depression is, that now I know for sure for sure that this one and the Creator are not the same person at all. But they both are, and always have been, within me. As well as without.
Peace be with you.
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