Re:The Bad Trip Detective
by jtr1 on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @09:19AM
(#40144051)
It seems obvious to me that anyone supportive of psychedelic treatment should be supportive of this kind of investigation. It does no one any good to suppress or ignore stories of negative experiences with psychedelics. On the contrary, research like this can help develop better screening protocols or follow up treatment to help minimize these effects, or even treat people who are suffering long term negative impact from a difficult trip.
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I agree! I also think it would make sense for people not supportive of psychedelic treatments to be interested in this, for various reasons, including what you said, and also as an educational tool too teach kids so they don't try it illegally, which seems to be a major concern among those not supportive of this kind of research.
Full disclosure: I live in Sweden,a country famous among other things for it's Draconian stance on drugs, and I'm less than amused by the propaganda that passes for narcotics education here.
Re:The Bad Trip Detective
by kiliantics on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @09:37AM
(#40144241)
While better understanding is certainly useful, the framing does seem a little unfair to me. It's not like other treatments don't have their downsides. Most people will tell you they don't like seeing the dentist but few would say it's not worth it.
I've had bad trips on psychedelics and I actually think they tended to be some of the more beneficial ones for me in the long run.
Seems unfair to compare a "bad trip to the dentist" to a person experiencing severe psychological effects liking being unable to make human connections and feelings of loneliness for 30 years
Many of these experiences seem to have drastically impacted peoples lives in a very negative way. Much worse than a toothache!
Compare to a lifetime on SSRI medication, or untreated depression, or PTSD. Etc. Etc. On aggregate, people are aware of the difficulties that come with psychedelics and still chose to go through, because the known alternative is in fact much scarier.
Also, I think a lot of the persistant issues people are experiencing are due do the still marginal status of these interventions in our society, where it's still not so common to find people who've been through it for guidance.