[HN Gopher] Human brain changes after first psilocybin use
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Human brain changes after first psilocybin use
Author : XzetaU8
Score : 31 points
Date : 2024-10-15 19:52 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.biorxiv.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.biorxiv.org)
| ericmcer wrote:
| I took a fair number of trips when I was 16 and I think it
| literally brought my consciousness online. There was a pretty
| stark contrast between the me before who who just wanted to play
| video games and hang out with friends, and the me after who was
| overwhelmed by natural beauty and my smallness in relation to the
| vastness around me. It might have been responsible for the next
| 5+ years of my life where I shirked school/career in favor of
| delving pretty deep into hallucinogens and a hippy type lifestyle
| in search of some "Truth".
|
| I don't know if it was just timing and it jump started a natural
| part of aging, or if it triggered something that would not have
| occurred otherwise. Either way it definitely did a number on my
| 16 year old brain, still unsure if it was a net positive or
| negative.
|
| The sad part is they don't have such a profound effect on me
| anymore, it can still be pretty interesting but the life altering
| trips seem to be reserved for the first few times. My only
| expectation from them now is to feel nice and have some pleasant
| visuals. I don't approach it seeking some lesson or greater
| truth, just have a nice time, which is maybe the final lesson
| lol.
| namaria wrote:
| McKenna would argue that's how apes became humans
| sameoldtune wrote:
| my layman viewpoint is that psychedelics make things that
| seemed immutable more...mutable. Everyone has some short list
| of things they are endlessly hung up on. Mushrooms might make
| you realize there are more viewpoints and more options.
|
| But after you've taken them a few times, there isn't so much
| resistance. It's just a goofy light feeling for a few hours.
| Chasing that feeling when you first took them and realized that
| "borders are just like, made up man!" is just like chasing any
| other high.
| ne0flex wrote:
| >I don't approach it seeking some lesson or greater truth, just
| have a nice time, which is maybe the final lesson lol. I relate
| to this a lot. After a friend died in 2020, I started down that
| rabbit hole increasing dosages for look "perspective" or
| "truth" that ended up cumulating into an overdose and an
| overnight hospital stay. At that point, I realized that going
| into these things searching for something / using as a coping
| mechanism is fruitless and it's a more "enjoy the journey" type
| of thing. I was hoping for an epiphany that would set me on
| some steel-willed journey, but that never came.
| mistermann wrote:
| > At that point, I realized that going into these things
| searching for something / using as a coping mechanism is
| fruitless
|
| One failure does not prove something is not possible.
|
| When under the influence, have you ever encountered knowing
| that the reality we experience here is not what it seems to
| be? Bringing these things back (especially in a persistent
| manner) is tough, but most people can recall the phenomenon
| abstractly.
| Jerrrry wrote:
| Lol depersonalization and derealization and dissociation
| and DMT elves are awesome, but the reason the ideas are so
| fleeting, consulate, vague... yet determinate; is because
| they are completely fabricated illusions of abstract
| collective unconscious archetypes.
|
| They are no more or less real than the rest of our
| artifacts from evolution.
|
| But attempting to give any more credence to these phenomena
| than to dreams or intrusive thoughts is essentially a
| dragon hunt of sorts.
| hipshaker wrote:
| Seems to me like you did learn something. That you were not a
| steel-willed journyman prone to epiphanies. I know it may
| sound silly, but there is some true value to that. Who's to
| say those experiences didn't speed up something you may
| orherwise would have spent even more time and resources on
| pursuing. Disclaimer: I of course do not know you or anything
| about you except for your comment.
| bamboozled wrote:
| Once you get the message, hangup
| 486sx33 wrote:
| Personally this drug in not real heavy doses helped me tackle
| some issues in my life when I was younger that helped me become
| more psychologically free. I recall having a bonfire on my lawn
| in the middle of the day while burning my taxes. Sounds weird but
| it did help
| hipshaker wrote:
| Psilocybin, MDMA and Salvia divinorum have had a profound effect
| on my life and the person I am today. Of course it's impossible
| to say who I would be, had I not tried these. Has it been for the
| better? Maybe. For the worse? Maybe. I do know that they are
| experiences I would not want to be without. They taught me a
| great desl about myself and helped shape my perception of the
| inner and outer world surrounding me. Am I smarter and more
| enlightened, probably not. May be I even shaved off an IQ point
| or two in the proces. But having my reality altered, even totally
| disintegrated (salvia) certainly paved the way for acceptance of
| other states of mind that people may exist in. This is very
| valuable to me, as it helped break down a black and white coccon
| I see many people live in (some break free by orher means, some
| never escape it). To me, it was bungee jumping for the mind but
| from the comfort of my own home. It certainly has helped me take
| on and be comfortable with opposing viewpoints, being very
| tolerant in general and able to reach further into the corners of
| my mind. It's been decades since those first jumps, but the
| effects will last me a lifetime.
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