How Was I So Wrong About Psychedelics?
Where I grew up drugs were rampant, but under the radar. I knew a ton of people that took every drug under the sun. Several girls I had crushes on in highschool would get “barred out” on xanax. I had no clue what xanax was.
My interest ended when I learned what they had been doing.
All of my gamer and poker friends were “marijuana enthusiasts,” to put it politely. Everyone except for me. Little judgmental me, sitting in my ivory tower looking down my nose at my friends. I won more poker games than I lost, and attributed it to sobriety. My friends undoubtedly had more fun than I did during those times, but I digress.
My vices were video games and girls, not drugs, and because drugs were not a vice of mine I viewed them as completely wrong.
I was completely wrong.
About a few of them at least. Cannabis has done well changing the public perception, and hey, as it turns out cannabis has no negative side effects for adults over the age of 25. So I was right to avoid it in high school, but I was so wrong to judge others.
Another class of drugs that seems to be changing public perception, albeit far more slowly than cannabis, are psychedelics. Specifically the class of psychedelics that decrease bloodflow to certain parts of the brain. Psilocybin, LSD, mescalin, peyote, and DMT.
Apparantly these compounds are all variations of tryptomines. What else is a tryptomine? Oh just seratonin.
What can seratonin do for you?
- reduce depression
- regulate anxiety
- heal wounds
- stimulate nausea
- maintain bone health
Fascinating. What are current phase 2 clinical trials using Psilocybin showing? Oh just amazing results of curing depression and anxiety. It also seems to be helping terminal cancer patients come to terms with death and dramatically improve their quality of life at the end of their life. That’s beautiful. It’s eve showing some promise in helping alcoholics fight their addictions.
Do you know anyone with anxiety or depression?
I sure as hell do. I’ve suffered from both myself throughout various stages of my life. In fact, the part of my brain that was so judgmental of psychedelics is the same part of my brain that causes anxiety and depression.
This part of my brain was simultaneously experiencing anxiety as well as disgust for a chemical compound that could CURE THE ANXIETY.
I am talking about the default mode network, a network of neural pathways connecting the prefrontal cortex to older parts of the brain where emotion and fear take place.
So what is my bottom line here?
There are more to these substances than many of us know. This information is extremely important as mental health becomes a primary issue in America. Especially with the rampant gun violence.
Could psychadelics administered by trained therapists in a controlled setting be a potential answer for the ever growing levels of anxiety amongst Americans?
How the hell would I know? But there is something here worth looking into.
Aside from the benefits I mentioned here, there is so much more these compounds can potentially do to help us take back control of our minds.
If you would like to read a lot more about this please read this book by a man much better at his craft than I am:
- How To Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
Not interested in psychadelics but still like the idea of reducing anxiety and depression through reduction of blood flow? Take look at my article on Meditation.
Both psychedelics and meditation help reduce self-centeredness (caused by that default mode network), and when you stop making everything about you, it is easier to take back control from anxiety and depression.
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Thank you for reading.
