The risk is that it’s a false idea triggered by the psychedelic.
Maybe a better example would be my friend who took psychedelics and then believed he was in communication with Elon Musk. This one is more obviously a false idea, but nevertheless he was convinced it was real for a period after the psychedelic experience.
There’s a mystical concept that psychedelics open your third eye to see the world as it really is or something, but psychedelics are notorious for giving false ideas and making them seem like revelations. It’s obvious when it’s nonsense (like telepathy with Elon Musk) but it’s less obvious when the implanted idea is something like “your husband secretly doesn’t love you”. Another strangely common report is the belief that people around you have been replaced by clones, which can get scary very fast if the person can’t separate the idea from reality.
Yeah I agree with you 100%. it's interesting folks immediately taking the experience and result at face value when we understand so little about what's happening, even without psychedelics is most cases.
In the referenced anecdote it could be as simple as an excuse needed for someone who's been thinking about it for years. Though maybe that's enough to be a benefit
Anyway I like your example and look forward to what is learned about using psychedelics to help people :)
It sounds like your friend had a predilection for psychosis. I feel like the nice things about psychedelics is that they don't alter my processing too much (as compared with other drugs), moreso they just give me different 'inputs' into my senses / experiences, and then I process those.
> It sounds like your friend had a predilection for psychosis.
No prior history of any mental illness in him nor any of his family.
This is a common excuse: Blame some hidden susceptibility, not the drug. It doesn’t matter what it was, though. The drug caused it and there were no warning signs. Fine before the drug. Not fine after the drug.
> a common excuse: Blame some hidden susceptibility, not the drug
It's the interaction between that person and the drug.
I have a crustacean allergy. That doesn't mean crustaceans are bad, or other people shouldn't eat shrimp. It just means it's a bad mix for me.
One of the benefits of administering psychedelics in a clinical setting is that telepathic nonsense is more likely to be noticed early and corrected for, whether by reducing dosage or suspending treatement. (And treating it as medicine allows us to study those people who react negatively to it, further reducing harm.)
Maybe a better example would be my friend who took psychedelics and then believed he was in communication with Elon Musk. This one is more obviously a false idea, but nevertheless he was convinced it was real for a period after the psychedelic experience.
There’s a mystical concept that psychedelics open your third eye to see the world as it really is or something, but psychedelics are notorious for giving false ideas and making them seem like revelations. It’s obvious when it’s nonsense (like telepathy with Elon Musk) but it’s less obvious when the implanted idea is something like “your husband secretly doesn’t love you”. Another strangely common report is the belief that people around you have been replaced by clones, which can get scary very fast if the person can’t separate the idea from reality.