I went to psychedelia, but it was closed.
September 23, 2021 4:55 PM
Looking for anecdotes from people who tried psylocibin in a monitored, therapeutic environment who were skeptical that was going to change their life. What happened? Did anything change ... and stay changed?
Thinking of trying psylocibin in a monitored, therapeutic environment.
I'm fifty-something, never tried psychedelics before, not looking for a high... but my way of thinking has never been all that broad and has only narrowed with age. I'm wondering if that could be changed.
Meditation does not work for me as a way to get to "other places." I get a little bit of calm out of it but I simply can't settle down enough mentally for the experience to be any more profound.
Also, I'm autistic and I've heard that it can have profound (good) efforts on our openness to new experiences. That being said, I do NOT believe that autism can be cured.
Problem Statement: I am exactly the opposite of suggestible. Tell me "it all depends on your attitude going in" and I'm like, oh well, this will be prosaic af. I've heard that the depth of one's experience on psychedelics depends on one's belief that it will in fact blow your mind and unite you with the universe.
Wondering if there are others out there who were skeptical but went ahead with the psylocibin anyway. Tell me about it.
I am interested specifically in psylocibin here, not ayahuasca or any other psychedelic substance. And I am most definitely not interested in trying it on my own, or microdosing. I am looking only for experience reports with psylocibin in a supportive environment.
Feel free to message me privately. I'm currently in Mexico and will be doing this only in a place where it's legal.
Thinking of trying psylocibin in a monitored, therapeutic environment.
I'm fifty-something, never tried psychedelics before, not looking for a high... but my way of thinking has never been all that broad and has only narrowed with age. I'm wondering if that could be changed.
Meditation does not work for me as a way to get to "other places." I get a little bit of calm out of it but I simply can't settle down enough mentally for the experience to be any more profound.
Also, I'm autistic and I've heard that it can have profound (good) efforts on our openness to new experiences. That being said, I do NOT believe that autism can be cured.
Problem Statement: I am exactly the opposite of suggestible. Tell me "it all depends on your attitude going in" and I'm like, oh well, this will be prosaic af. I've heard that the depth of one's experience on psychedelics depends on one's belief that it will in fact blow your mind and unite you with the universe.
Wondering if there are others out there who were skeptical but went ahead with the psylocibin anyway. Tell me about it.
I am interested specifically in psylocibin here, not ayahuasca or any other psychedelic substance. And I am most definitely not interested in trying it on my own, or microdosing. I am looking only for experience reports with psylocibin in a supportive environment.
Feel free to message me privately. I'm currently in Mexico and will be doing this only in a place where it's legal.
Following. I’m a 50-something autistic person who’s done a ton of therapy, likes meditation, loved the Michael Pollan book, have been expanding my mind a lot, and would love to try psychedelics in a solid therapeutic setting some day if it becomes accessible in my jurisdiction.
posted by matildaben at 8:07 PM on September 23, 2021
posted by matildaben at 8:07 PM on September 23, 2021
Not confirming deep experience with the material, but, let's say vicarious experience. Try this:
If you are skeptical and automatically expect prosaic, you're self limiting. For the traditional skeptic, the uses of the material are now a public, empirically proven science (and has been).
Additionally: it absolutely does not have to be this: "it will in fact blow your mind and unite you with the universe," the first time or every time (..or any time). Also, listen to the previously written sentence. That's a tall glass, yea?
Micro ingestion or other light uses can produce a light introduction, you can specify on one small miracle to create awe within. ..then build up later.
Flash assessment: you sound like a skeptic, seeking flaws, a response in it's depth often relying on building safety or understanding. Not negative, but do you want to have fun, or not?
It's not necessarily the approach. You don't need to expect to be Pollan or other profile figures, right away. It's a plant, and has a unique relationship with everyone.
If possible.. try to focus on aforementioned tiny revolutions, or even no expectations.
Bring an upbeat, grounded friend if possible.
Last, and this is rhetoric: why would autism need to be cured.
posted by firstdaffodils at 9:48 PM on September 23, 2021
If you are skeptical and automatically expect prosaic, you're self limiting. For the traditional skeptic, the uses of the material are now a public, empirically proven science (and has been).
Additionally: it absolutely does not have to be this: "it will in fact blow your mind and unite you with the universe," the first time or every time (..or any time). Also, listen to the previously written sentence. That's a tall glass, yea?
Micro ingestion or other light uses can produce a light introduction, you can specify on one small miracle to create awe within. ..then build up later.
Flash assessment: you sound like a skeptic, seeking flaws, a response in it's depth often relying on building safety or understanding. Not negative, but do you want to have fun, or not?
It's not necessarily the approach. You don't need to expect to be Pollan or other profile figures, right away. It's a plant, and has a unique relationship with everyone.
If possible.. try to focus on aforementioned tiny revolutions, or even no expectations.
Bring an upbeat, grounded friend if possible.
Last, and this is rhetoric: why would autism need to be cured.
posted by firstdaffodils at 9:48 PM on September 23, 2021
Oregon Legalizes
I have had psylocibin in a very controlled environment and in a very NOT controlled environment. Without going into personal details, the controlled environment was a net positive. I went in with low to medium expectations and at the end, felt the experience was beneficial. It has stayed with me for 2 decades. I will sometimes use my memories of it to help me address other issues. The not controlled environment involved a 20 minute Other One and drum solo and Truckin' 2nd set mayhem.
Like anything, you get out of it what you put in. I do not think you have a lot to lose by trying it even if it turns out to be an experience that does not suit you.
posted by AugustWest at 10:04 PM on September 23, 2021
I have had psylocibin in a very controlled environment and in a very NOT controlled environment. Without going into personal details, the controlled environment was a net positive. I went in with low to medium expectations and at the end, felt the experience was beneficial. It has stayed with me for 2 decades. I will sometimes use my memories of it to help me address other issues. The not controlled environment involved a 20 minute Other One and drum solo and Truckin' 2nd set mayhem.
Like anything, you get out of it what you put in. I do not think you have a lot to lose by trying it even if it turns out to be an experience that does not suit you.
posted by AugustWest at 10:04 PM on September 23, 2021
With a sufficient dose of psilocybin, you will experience an intense something. Whether you interpret that something as a spiritual journey or merely a powerful distortion of perception does depend on your mindset going in, but if you take enough to get over the threshold of a psychedelic experience, it will not be “prosaic”.
Even going in with completely skeptical, materialist, scientific frame of mind, you can expect things like:
Sensory distortions and synesthetic effects which can give insight into the limitations of sensation to accurately report on fundamental reality.
Increased tendency to follow associative chains of thought, “runaway trains” of thought, pattern overmatching, dissolution of the distinction between metaphor and referent. In some cases insight may emerge from this, in others mere confusion or hilarity.
Partial or complete dissolution of ego, loss of the distinction between the observer and the observed. Depending on initial conditions this can be frightening or grant a peaceful sense of unity, or in less intense experiences increased empathy or ability to appreciate foreign points of view.
Music will sound really good.
I guess what I’m saying is that if you take enough psilocybin, it will objectively do stuff to your brain chemistry and thereby your thoughts and perceptions that cannot be dismissed or diminished by skepticism. How you interpret, experience, and integrate those effects is where set and setting make a big difference.
As a bit of a skeptic and a materialist myself, I find the value of psychedelics to be that they reveal things about your prosaic, everyday experience and consciousness by forcibly removing you from them and placing you in a wildly altered context.
Whether you take that to be a spiritual experience or a mind-blowing one or merely a pretty light show of randomly firing neurons, it can still be a valuable change in your point of view.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:22 PM on September 23, 2021
Even going in with completely skeptical, materialist, scientific frame of mind, you can expect things like:
Sensory distortions and synesthetic effects which can give insight into the limitations of sensation to accurately report on fundamental reality.
Increased tendency to follow associative chains of thought, “runaway trains” of thought, pattern overmatching, dissolution of the distinction between metaphor and referent. In some cases insight may emerge from this, in others mere confusion or hilarity.
Partial or complete dissolution of ego, loss of the distinction between the observer and the observed. Depending on initial conditions this can be frightening or grant a peaceful sense of unity, or in less intense experiences increased empathy or ability to appreciate foreign points of view.
Music will sound really good.
I guess what I’m saying is that if you take enough psilocybin, it will objectively do stuff to your brain chemistry and thereby your thoughts and perceptions that cannot be dismissed or diminished by skepticism. How you interpret, experience, and integrate those effects is where set and setting make a big difference.
As a bit of a skeptic and a materialist myself, I find the value of psychedelics to be that they reveal things about your prosaic, everyday experience and consciousness by forcibly removing you from them and placing you in a wildly altered context.
Whether you take that to be a spiritual experience or a mind-blowing one or merely a pretty light show of randomly firing neurons, it can still be a valuable change in your point of view.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:22 PM on September 23, 2021
murphy slaw has it right on the nail...
A breakthrough dose of psilocybin will broaden your mental horizons by, at the very least, landing an intense set of novel and unusual internal body and brain sensations upon you.
The lack of personal control of these sensations, and the way in which they evolve over several hours, makes them qualitatively different from any other "intense" experience I can think of.
Set, setting and attitude going in get a lot of the wordcount in trip reports... but the significance of the post-trip process of reflection and integration of the overall experience is, I feel, quite underemphasised.
I think distinguishing between Profound and profound is useful here; you can steer clear of the cultural baggage of the former, but still permit yourself to use the latter as a convenient label for a relatively brief experience which will provide a disproportionately large set of things to think about in its wake.
posted by protorp at 2:54 AM on September 24, 2021
A breakthrough dose of psilocybin will broaden your mental horizons by, at the very least, landing an intense set of novel and unusual internal body and brain sensations upon you.
The lack of personal control of these sensations, and the way in which they evolve over several hours, makes them qualitatively different from any other "intense" experience I can think of.
Set, setting and attitude going in get a lot of the wordcount in trip reports... but the significance of the post-trip process of reflection and integration of the overall experience is, I feel, quite underemphasised.
I think distinguishing between Profound and profound is useful here; you can steer clear of the cultural baggage of the former, but still permit yourself to use the latter as a convenient label for a relatively brief experience which will provide a disproportionately large set of things to think about in its wake.
posted by protorp at 2:54 AM on September 24, 2021
I haven't read the Pollan book but what I got from other reading is that setting matters a ton. If I was doing this, I think I'd be looking to experience a connection with the natural world, so I'd try not to do it in an office.
posted by slidell at 4:47 AM on September 24, 2021
posted by slidell at 4:47 AM on September 24, 2021
@firstdaffodils: I'm autistic and from what I can tell, one can't talk in safety about alleviating certain manifestations of autism with allistics in the room without the "wouldn't it be nice if you simply weren't autistic" banner being raised in some way. Not all allistics, but way too many of them. I think you and I are essentially in agreement on the fundamentals.
Won't come into the thread further. :-)
posted by Sheydem-tants at 4:52 AM on September 24, 2021
Won't come into the thread further. :-)
posted by Sheydem-tants at 4:52 AM on September 24, 2021
I have a suggestion which is to make sure you have some trees, plants, flowers, etc to look at and experience. Psilocybin seems to lend itself to appreciation of natural forms. Prepare to be able to go to your backyard, or a nearby park for a little while. Even just houseplants. You may want to experience nature more closely.
posted by panhopticon at 2:28 PM on September 28, 2021
posted by panhopticon at 2:28 PM on September 28, 2021
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