Do you think psychedelics could cause ANY brain damage?

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There has never been any proof that psychedelics cause damage to any brain function. Your mental state after can be a different story. Some people have bad experiences that may affect their life but a vast majority get wonderful things from them.

For example when LSD was still legal, and used in psychology, the rate of alcoholics that stopped drinking after just one LSD treatment was 1 in 3. 10 years later the relapse rate on these people was almost 0.

AA can’t even dream of putting up numbers like that. Psychedelics are still not very accepted by the medical community, and there is allot of misinformation on them. Don’t believe everything your psychologist tells you.

 

i like the point you made about the SSRI's, i feel the 6 months i was on them they did more damage than all the psychedelic drugs have done in my whole life.

I think excessive use of psychedelics could cause brain damage but i guess that can be said about excessive use of any sort of drug legal or not.

As for your psychiatrist i would not worry to much about what they said most of them would not have very much knowledge in the field of psychedelic drugs. Personally im glad i waited until i was atleast 20 to start taking psychedelic drugs, i think as long as you remember moderation is the key then i doubt you will see any long standing issues devloping from your use of them.

 

No, they don't (LSD, DMT, Mushrooms, ketamine). But that doesn't mean you should take them carelessly either. They won't cause damage to the brain in the physical sense, but they can be a catalyst for other types of psychological issues if misused.

.. And I'm unsure about "Research Chemicals" ..

 

i don't think you're psychiatrist is an idiot, he's probably just extremely misinformed. LSD was "said" to halt brain development when younger people took it, but i've never seen this substantiated in any way.

I personally don't believe in a true objectivity, and the people on this forum are probably just as bias as your doctor [in a different way of course] so we will lean toward their respective sides.

I've personally seen psychedelics have both positive and negative effect on the anxiety disorder of friends and myself. I have gotten a professional [very liberal, but still kind of square] therapist i saw as a minor to admit that mushrooms had helped me.

I've never really liked psychiatrists for a few reasons; every one i've ever seen has been a moderate [to say the least] elitist, and they feel that they are correct about everything, the clients shouldn't try to understand how things work, and every single one i've seen has expected me to make a "ritualism" [this is very specific, look it up.] out of their every word.

...All of this is coming from a psychology major.

 

Use responsibly, practice moderation, etc. If you take a moderate dose once in a blue moon for experimentation, psychological, or spiritual reasons you'll probably be fine(and I don't say this authoritatively cause I'm not a doctor, I'm just trying to throw some common sense on the issue). People have been making use of psychedelics for thousands of years, but historically they were only used in specific settings by wise men(which atleast to me shows that ancient/tribal people had enough wisdom to constrain/moderate their use). I don't think your psychiatrist is stupid, infact he/she is probably very knowledgeable, but doctors tend to always give you advice for the ideal to your health. A doctor will tell you drinking is unhealthy so you shouldn't drink, but your response maybe instead to drink only in moderation for example.

Anyone who says they are harmless is more bias than your doctor IMHO, and much more foolish. I've personally known enough people who have had issues from abusing all sorts of things, but don't take it from me look at Syd Barret! How many hits of acid a day was he taking? And he spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.

 

ACTUALLY he didn't, he lived on his own when he died...but I understand you're completely correct. I think that has something to do with the fact that the psychedelics that had been used in the past [ancient times...not lastweek ] weren't in any way "candy psyches" and were never thought of as "drugs". The people who used them weren't taking them just to get high, and abuse was never an issue [from what i've read at least]. Any 'psychonaut' should know that something so powerful can be just as harmful as helpful.

i've made acquaintance with Tourguide in the short time i've been posting on this forum, and i don't think that THAT is the issue here...

 

Yes I do think if you snort 50mg of 2c-t-7 or 5-meo-det you could get some brain damage.
Just to mention 2.

 

Yes they can. If you do too much acid too quickly you will damage your brain function, memory and your emotional well-being. However in my experience it's not permanent, or at least not that bad after a few months without it.

Just don't expect that you can keep doing lots of drugs all the time forever and it won't hurt you mentally.

 

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some forms of schizophrenia may mimic brain damage (inability to hold a conversation, lack of care for basic hygiene, etc.) but are products of an illness which may have been triggered by acid, but it's not that LSD "caused brain damage" per se. even that is still a bit inconclusive. but what i mean is, most people who are "fried" are probably more likely to be mentally ill than actually brain damaged.

however i do think that dissociatives are worse than classic psychedelics for your brain... partly based on "research" that, while not definitive, is pretty suggestive... but also based on the feeling... i mean, dxm and ketamine feel like they have potential to do some damage... they aren't exactly "healthy" feeling, DXM moreso.

but i have heard that LSD and psilocybin may counteract the neurotoxicity of DXM and K. so it's all about balance i guess

of course i don't know any of this for sure... and none of the studies i'm referring to are all that definitive... so, yeah.

 

i never really liked the whole "lsd triggers schitzophrenia" argument. i tend to think that schitzophrenia is triggered by psychological expiriences that the expiriencer is unable to process. perhaps a minor distinction...idk, the mind is complex.

 

it's definitely a complicated issue with a lot of possibilities.

but i'm saying that negative/destructive responses to LSD seem to be more in line with mental illness than brain damage/mental retardation so if psychedelics DO play a role in brain-related problems, it's more likely that they contribute to mental illness rather than brain damage which the OP was asking us about.

 

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a lot of the info about dissociative was from research conducted with dizocilpine [mk-801 i believe], which is basically "Super PCP".

ketamine is said to be relatively safe...it's up in the air about dxm, but i've read things that suggest it's worse for youy than ketamine...really who knows.



AT ANY RATE...responsibility.