<story><title>US could soon approve MDMA therapy</title><url>https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01296-3</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Starcrunch</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m glad to hear from someone else who&amp;#x27;s honest about their negative experience.&lt;p&gt;Psychedelics seem to somehow have simply amazing PR: plentiful testimonies of their life-changing abilities, encouraging us to try them, but very little acknowledgement of their dark side. The subculture is very quick to brush away anything that goes against the narrative of the &amp;quot;mind-opening wonder drugs that big pharma doesn&amp;#x27;t want you to know about.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;My experiences with psilocybin over a few months started with awe and wonder and spiritual awakening (or what seemed to be at the time), and ended with horrifying lasting harm. Insomnia, constant vivid nightmares, sleep paralysis, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, tics, and all kinds of weirdness at the periphery of conscious experience that I can&amp;#x27;t really explain.&lt;p&gt;It feels like I flashed my brain&amp;#x27;s firmware with no way to undo it. I took all the precautions I thought I was supposed to. I wish someone had warned me.</text></item><item><author>wnolens</author><text>Nice to read your journey. Glad you found a way through.&lt;p&gt;I had a similar experience to the first half of your story. Was so unfulfilled in tech that I ended up quitting and took time off not working, trying lots of different things, getting very frustrated and depressed along the way.&lt;p&gt;I did try LSD (ok, a lot of LSD) and instead of it helping me process&amp;#x2F;sort through&amp;#x2F;integrate some of my troubles it added new ones and created recurring intrusive thoughts. Overall, bad experience &amp;amp; wish I didn&amp;#x27;t do that.&lt;p&gt;After ~2y outside of full time employment (i did some contract work eventually), I found myself more depressed than when I left. I had tried a lot of things (hobbies for joy, tech in non-FTE ways, entrepreneurship, travel, classes, intimate relationships..) but found no grander meaning or goals at the end of it, just some isolated interesting experiences (some were peak positive, others a pit). So back to tech. I don&amp;#x27;t love it, but having an external demand of me was sufficient to lift me out of the pit of despair i was in.</text></item><item><author>Glench</author><text>Personally, I left tech in large part to become a therapist doing psychedelic-assisted clinical work when it becomes legal. It really does seem like it can be a potent tool for relieving great suffering. You can read a little about my story here: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;glench.com&amp;#x2F;WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;glench.com&amp;#x2F;WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kimukasetsu</author><text>I had a similar experience. I took psylocibin a few times, but after the last one I started getting panic attacks and feeling derealization quite often. This led to negative recurring thoughts and I felt really bad for a while. Got better after a year of cognitive behavioral therapy and six months taking a light dosage of antidepressants. Routine exercises and zen meditation helped tremendously as well. Get help, it is possible. Your brain can heal itself with your help.</text></comment>
<story><title>US could soon approve MDMA therapy</title><url>https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01296-3</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Starcrunch</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m glad to hear from someone else who&amp;#x27;s honest about their negative experience.&lt;p&gt;Psychedelics seem to somehow have simply amazing PR: plentiful testimonies of their life-changing abilities, encouraging us to try them, but very little acknowledgement of their dark side. The subculture is very quick to brush away anything that goes against the narrative of the &amp;quot;mind-opening wonder drugs that big pharma doesn&amp;#x27;t want you to know about.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;My experiences with psilocybin over a few months started with awe and wonder and spiritual awakening (or what seemed to be at the time), and ended with horrifying lasting harm. Insomnia, constant vivid nightmares, sleep paralysis, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, tics, and all kinds of weirdness at the periphery of conscious experience that I can&amp;#x27;t really explain.&lt;p&gt;It feels like I flashed my brain&amp;#x27;s firmware with no way to undo it. I took all the precautions I thought I was supposed to. I wish someone had warned me.</text></item><item><author>wnolens</author><text>Nice to read your journey. Glad you found a way through.&lt;p&gt;I had a similar experience to the first half of your story. Was so unfulfilled in tech that I ended up quitting and took time off not working, trying lots of different things, getting very frustrated and depressed along the way.&lt;p&gt;I did try LSD (ok, a lot of LSD) and instead of it helping me process&amp;#x2F;sort through&amp;#x2F;integrate some of my troubles it added new ones and created recurring intrusive thoughts. Overall, bad experience &amp;amp; wish I didn&amp;#x27;t do that.&lt;p&gt;After ~2y outside of full time employment (i did some contract work eventually), I found myself more depressed than when I left. I had tried a lot of things (hobbies for joy, tech in non-FTE ways, entrepreneurship, travel, classes, intimate relationships..) but found no grander meaning or goals at the end of it, just some isolated interesting experiences (some were peak positive, others a pit). So back to tech. I don&amp;#x27;t love it, but having an external demand of me was sufficient to lift me out of the pit of despair i was in.</text></item><item><author>Glench</author><text>Personally, I left tech in large part to become a therapist doing psychedelic-assisted clinical work when it becomes legal. It really does seem like it can be a potent tool for relieving great suffering. You can read a little about my story here: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;glench.com&amp;#x2F;WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;glench.com&amp;#x2F;WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>phonescreen_man</author><text>People seem to think they can just take a load of mushies and it can solve all lives problems. The great art requires a lot of hard heart work and suffering.</text></comment>