[alva]

Lots of people with positive experiences with psilocybin in this thread. I have also had many incredible experiences and advocate its use, with conditions. But. And this is a very important thing to know before anyone reading decides to try it for the first time.

Psilocybin experiences can be truly traumatic. If you have existing mental health issues, please be very, very careful before you decide to take it. Do all the research you can. I have one friend who went completely over the edge, reached the point of no return. It triggered a predisposition to a horrible mental illness. It has destroyed his life and his familys. For a small number of people, this can happen.

If you think you might be vulnerable to this but still want to go ahead, please make sure you are responsibly and get an experienced sitter and a safe, familiar setting.

[fucking_tragedy]

> I have one friend who went completely over the edge, reached the point of no return. It triggered a predisposition to a horrible mental illness. It has destroyed his life and his family.

Have any details you're comfortable sharing? Particularly the mental illness, what happened when they were triggered and how often they dosed?

[alva]

Sure. They had an incredibly bad time with the trip, far worse than what you usually associate with a bad trip. Violence, screaming, paranoia, gibberish. All stuff (maybe apart from the violence) that can happen on a bad one, but this was extreme. Setting was familiar and safe, no external stresses during the period. This was his first time with mushrooms, although regular cannabis smoker (which also might have caused an issue). Regular dose.

The next few days he was still recovering, but thoughts still very scattered and incoherent. Unfortunately this didn't taper off. I had not seen him for a few weeks until his family were in contact. The behaviour had become drastically worse, violence and paranoia. Eventually he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

From what I have read, with a certain kind of predisposition it would have probably manifested itself later in his life if he was unlucky.

I don't want to put people off Psilocybin as it can be an incredible thing. Just be damn careful and do your research.

[fucking_tragedy]

Thanks. I ask because I've also seen this happen before to someone who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. They had a history of dosing often, enough that I'd consider it unhealthy for someone who had a clean bill of mental health. They've returned to "themselves", but clearly suffer significantly from the disorder along with their family.

It's more than sad that this can happen to people. I'm someone who has had beautiful experiences with mushrooms, but also have a family history of schizo-* disorders. It's put me off from taking psychedelics again. It's a risk I don't want to take now that I'm old enough to realize the possible consequences. I recently "lost" a cousin in his late 30s to drug induced schizophrenia after he experienced psychosis on cocaine.

Psychedelics are amazing substances, but family mental health history and set/setting are crucial to keep in mind before ingesting.

[primitivesuave]

Wanted to add my own story to this - freshman year in college, guy in my dorm takes LSD with friends. He goes completely berserk, starts breaking anything he can get his hands on, causes thousands of dollars of property damage. At some point his friends could no longer handle him, and locked him out of their room. He starts wandering through the hallways and begins urinating/defecating everywhere (even on himself). He was taken to the hospital by the police (which is a truly horrible place to come down from a trip).

He developed schizophrenia and had to drop out of college (a very good one). Never found out what became of him. His parents were extremely embarrassed and apologetic, having to pay for all of the destroyed property. Most of the monetary restitution went toward replacing textbooks that were ripped to shreds.