An article from the psychedelic frontier talking about a paper published in low impact journal (Impact Factor of slightly more than three) does not seem like an unbiased source.
To be fair, I'm hardly an unbiased source, as a good friend of mine jumped out a window an hour or so after taking a rather large dose of LSD.
Did he jump out of the window because he wanted to end his life, or because he thought he could fly?
One of those cases where it's not really the thought that counts in the end, either way.
Clinical studies at the population level will not provide substantial evidence for or against any purported effects of individual overuse. Anecdotally, acid brain sure seems real to me. Whether it is a physiological change or merely the ideological ramification of repeatedly obliterating fundamental notions like permanence or selfness, I don't know.
Ultimately all changes are recorded physically, so I'm not really sure the distinction has that much meaning.
The claim is that the individual has direct knowledge. The study doesn't counter their personal experience.
Around 20 years ago three friends of mine had bad acid trips around the same time. One of them was rushed into emergency, strapped down on the stretcher. He was crying out for Jesus to save him (he was not religious). Since then he cannot hold down a thought, never mind a job. He lives with his parents.
My other two friends went high to a houseparty and committed suicide by shooting themselves in the head. It was all over the national news.
new account, no support for these claims. This is not what most people oberve with psychedelics
The double suicide happened about 1986-1988 in Brantford Ontario. The Toronto Sun called it a "Death Party". It made the front page. I searched but my Google fu has failed me (or the news was never archived online in the first place).
I'm not going to share the name of the other friend, for obvious privacy reasons.
http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/01/08/026988111456...
Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population
"Psychedelic users showed a significantly lower likelihood of recent psychological distress, as well as less suicidal thinking and fewer suicide attempts, than non-users. Users were 36% less likely to have attempted suicide in the past year.
Use of other illicit substances, say the researchers, are “by and large associated with an increased likelihood of psychological distress and suicidality.” The use of non-psychedelic substances is a suicide risk factor, they conclude, but psychedelics appear to have the reverse effect."