Health - Mushrooms and Adverse Psychological Reactions

[abortive]

last true time SUnk dosed shrooms were highly potent 4g which sent him to a place of which that he stays to now, triggered HPPD and mental crisis came to the surface. horror trip which sunk was going through the typical tough teenage depression, anxiety, smoked 3g of pot through the nose during the trip just to escape these problems, thing is, sunks mind is what escaped.

had a bad trip upon first dose of 2.5g, people just weren't receptive to what he was going through mentally as they were inside the shroom void, four and half years ago at the age of 15, though the tail end sunk came to some deep almost profound thoughts on life and the usual shroomery. had sunk believe there's more to a mind then what's obvious and proper self-help without using could open a new kind of person.

at first party he ever went too, drank a bit to keep an edge off sunk's second dose of roughly 1.7, smoked weed also. wasn't too intense, plus insight, which he loves out of all things with psychedelics. the party itself was outside at a factory with punks all around, for some moments he understood how and why social events worked to the culture, but was cut off. beautiful light enhancements and such, didn't care for self consciousness regarding the event, good trip.

SUNK doesn't hear voices and remains undiagnosed to now since finding help during a phase of reclusive anxiety which lasted for months following a breakdown. Sunk has learned to control paranoia through self-thought and reasons (hopefully) rooted in reality to now.

sunk finds pot very self-insightful and was wondering if a 2g (or less) would bring upon more insight of which sunk truly needs in order to have a realistic life outlook. though again, three years prior sunk had smoked into a spacey kind of psychosis which persisted until this year actually.

sunk is looking for proper, non-deluded introspection, no matter how harsh the truth could get. panic attacks aren't a problem, sunk has clonazepam prescribed and used to be on low doses of serqs (50mgs) and zoloft (125) where there's a drawer full of when sunk ceased use.

sunk has never been truly psychotic, no aural hallucinations (even after rigging more white then the mind could tolerate), sunk has suffered HPPD since the last horror trip three years ago yet hallocinogens such as lsd, dxm, even pot don't have sunk hallucinate, at all really. it's odd. sunk suffers from a rare neurological impairment related to anxiety, could be lobe damage.

any advice by experienced users?

[Heretic.Ape.]

sounds to me like mr sunk has a predisposition toward adverse psychological reactions to such psychoactives. Continued use could lead to serious problems; even psychotic break. I would recommend that he look for insight elsewhere.
Tell him to try paying attention to life and his own reactions to daily life and not to fool himself that he's going to have some ultimate experience on mushrooms that will revolutionize and fix his mind. It just doesn't work that way.
Tell him to take it slow and keep grounded and to lay off drug use (including marijuana). If he really wants insight he just needs to keep his eyes open.
h.a.

[abortive]

ultimate experience? sunk is looking for more then what is when his eyes are open.

yes he is concerned over a possible meltdown as he went through before. not an elitist point in the other direction regarding being naive to something he usually doesn't put up with.

then i get an infraction or whatever? grow up.

Reputation Comments on this post:

rude

[Heretic.Ape.]

I'm sorry if you have misinterpreted my comment as elitist. You asked for an opinion and I gave you mine, which you are free to take or leave. My first priority here is the safety and well-being of the members who come seeking information.
The infraction was due to neglecting the rules that you agreed to upon joining the forum and was not personal.

[abortive]

well the opinion wasn't a tactful "no you shouldn't mess with the unknown with these mental issues" not a dogmatic slap in the face to wake me up.

sunk don't use psychs on a regular basis, he was asking for a single stand to learn about himself..

sorry for my misunderstanding as well. kinda hasty on the warning huh?

abortive added 13 Minutes and 2 Seconds later...

like sorry, that i am oblivious to more then what i know but i'm trying to get past.

whatever, sunk will dose a good 1.5g and see what comes. since his expectations were something informative or insightful to take with him on the trip as assurance.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Chill out.

[Heretic.Ape.]

Now that I have a free moment I would like to expand on my above statement.

The use of psychedelic drugs for self exploration can be highly worthwhile according to such diverse sources as Mexican shamans to Stanislav Grof's work on psychedelic psychotherapy.

However it is also abundantly clear that the use of psychedelics can be rather fraught with pitfalls. Anyone who knows people who have found "the answer" or similar while on acid or other drugs can tell you that the frequency of long lasting sensible and meaningful gain are outweighed by the number of people who just sort of "lose it".

The word "psychedelic" itself indicates "mind manifesting" and in the midst of what one's mind manifests during such a trip a great deal of what one comes across is likely to be a bunch of clutter and the amplifications of normal issues, in which insight can be found like jewels buried in earth.

If one already has difficulty in their mental health, which is the impression I get from such facts as the prescription for zoloft and clonanzopam and the triggered hppd, it is usually recommended that one not undergo extreme mental experiences such as psychedelics without supervision of some sort to help us keep grounded and from simply making worse our extant issues.

In a nutshell, it is not recommended that an individual predisposed to mental health problems embark on psychedelic exploration without supervision, preferrably a trained psychologist (though current legal ramifications make this unlikely), or at least a well developed ability to weigh one's experiences objectively and patiently (something that young people who have mental health issues may not be best equipped with).

There are other methods of self exploration and gaining insight into one's life. In the end these more "orthodoxed" methods tend to be superior. While psychedelics give one a big picture show with fireworks, in the end the person comes back down; frequently more confused than before.

I would recommend therapy combined with regular practice of meditation, the stability from which is gained can build a base or launchpad from which one may venture into the more dangerous practices.

I am sorry that the original poster feels as though I am persecuting him (which strengthens my opinion of his current mental state) and has decided that rather than abide by our rules he will go elsewhere to find a place where people will tell him what he wouuld like to hear. I truly wish him the best and a safe voyage, and more importantly, resolution to the personal issues that keep him from peace.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Well done my good man.
	written like a true gentleman
	Good advice, and very well stated.

[Panthers007]

Now it's my turn...

Most who go back to the early days of psychedelic exploration value the insights achieved with them. But have moved on for another look to figure out: "What the Hell was THAT??" And the answers were about the same - that was a good look at how the human mind operates. Where the angels and the demons dwell. And what they are there for - the knowledge that "there are no accidents in this business." From there came (also part of human nature - curiosity and elucidation) the desire to define and structure the experiences gleaned - starting with seeking out road-maps from earlier (pre-psychedelic scholars and writers) works that give insight into what the psychedelics laid bare.

Some turned to religion for answers. Some towards psychology. Some to atomic physics. And all went towards everything that presented itself. All roads were taken to find the answer that was true. And, aside from a few flakes, it was found that all answers are true: There is no one simple and profound truth or map that shows you everything. There is no word to describe the full and undiluted - through ego - view. This view is what Aldous Huxley referred to as being "ineffable." "To describe the ineffable is impossible." Look it up somewhere. So this all boils down to psychedelics being important and useful portals into a realm where one is aware of more then one was previously. Then one understands that the psychedelic didn't put anything there that wasn't there before. So the psychedelic acted as a catalyst nudging one to explore this issue of "more" more fully. And it was found that psychedelics were limited in their scope. This may be hard to believe, but it's true. If one wants to know more about all these wider places within one's psyche, then one must move on to other methods of finding out what lies within. It's rather amazing how quickly the quest for knowledge reveals that taking a drug that seemed miraculous a little while before - is now boring and lacks challenges. "So that was fun, now for the REAL look."

So if one has a bad go with the psychedelic approach, then move on. Onwards but not abandon the plan to find out the inner realm's seeming secrets. There are plenty of other portals available to something as inquisitive and ingenious as a human mind. If one is curious what some of these portals may be and how to approach them, please start a new thread in the proper place and we all can relate tales from the trenches of the hidden frontier within.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	good post
	Very well said.
	Well thought out with almost poetic prose.