Re:Psilocybin for major depression granted Breakthrough Ther...
by fpgaminer on Tuesday November 26, 2019 @11:54AM
(#21640054)
> Remove those dangers, and remove most of the struggle (although we will always re-define what struggle is) and we're a bit like fish out of water. We're still trying to adapt.
I suppose this is a bit like that one theory of allergies and autoimmune disorders; they may be caused because we aren't exposed to parasites anymore. That part of the immune system thus never gets trained and can sometimes go haywire.
Remove those dangers, and remove most of the struggle (although we will always re-define what struggle is) and we're a bit like fish out of water. We're still trying to adapt.
I took Effexor (Venlafaxine) for a few years due to severe social anxiety along with a couple of other issues. It had an enormous impact on me, dramatically reducing virtually all anxiety. It did for sure remove emotion in a lot of contexts, particularly remote empathy type situations. On the flip side it made me much more rational -- suddenly remote risks and dangers just didn't raise alarm anymore.
I stopped taking it because it was making me sleepy almost all the time and....the anxiety never returned. It's like a medically-induced cognitive behavioral therapy, but I really worried about a return of those social and avoidant behaviors...but they never did.