Not to delegitimise your experience, but every time there's a discussion on HN about recreational drugs, there's always someone who claims that MDMA/shrooms/LSD/ketamine/weed/etc cured their depression.
It's not just for mental health issues, but for any health issues, everyone on HN seems to have their pet cure. Just look at the 20 different (often contradictory) opinions that appear every time there's a discussion on diet or weight loss here.
I'm not saying that psychedelics (or other drugs) won't help with depression or other mental health issues, but from experience it's certainly not necessarily the cure-all like some people here like to make it out to be.
Different treatments work for different people in different situations. People should be wary of taking medical advice from Hacker News.
He's not saying it'll work for everybody but that people should have access to a treatment option which may work for them.
Let's not forget that this experience is not just this poster. There have been quite a few studies showing positive affects on the depressed with the use of hallucinogens.
Also, I'm not totally sure, and I may be wrong, but I have a feeling if you read that comment and are interested your first step isn't to immediately walk outside and go to Jam band concert to score some hallucinogens so you can test this theory out for yourself ;-). I have a feeling people do a bit more research.
But it's true especially for people with mental illness that hallucinogens should be taken with extreme care.
I agree with your sentiment, but there is a lot of off label prescribing and research on ketamine for depression. Much more so than any of the other substances.
It's still in its infancy and doctors are still scamming patients with $600+ IV infusions.
It's important to set the context. Those with treatment resistant mental illness are looking for other options. It makes sense, but often they are vulnerable to pseudoscience.
When you find a treatment for something that has been plaguing you for years, the only thing you want to do is shout it from the rooftops. GODDAMIT IM FREE! Here’s how I did it...
What about the people being prescribed benzos, SSRIs, etc. for life to cope with the issues brought on by a single does of psilocybin/LSD/salvia/DMT/etc?
They don't exist. Continuing to repeat reefer madness propaganda does not make it any more true.
Show one scientific study that shows any long term effect from a single dose of any of your listed substances and I will be happy to take your comment seriously.
"Perceptual disturbances may last for 5 years or more and represent a real psychosocial distress. We reported here a case of a 18-year-old young man presenting HPPD after a mixed intoxication with psylocibin and cannabis. This report shows symptomatic recurrences persisting more than 8 months."
"Evidence supports the association of LSD use with panic reactions, prolonged schizoaffective psychoses and post-hallucinogen perceptual disorder, the latter being present continually for as long as 5 years."
"Hallucinogen-persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is a syndrome characterized by prolonged or reoccurring perceptual symptoms, reminiscent of acute hallucinogen effects. HPPD was associated with a broader range of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)-like substances, cannabis, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), psilocybin, mescaline, and psychostimulants."
I have met a lot of people who have experience psychedelics, and I know people who avoid them after a negative experience (much the same way people avoid tequila after one particular night), but I'm yet to meet anybody, or hear of anybody, who has had long term negative effects from psychedelics that requires medication.
I'm sure that maybe they do exist, but it's an exceedingly small percentage of people who try them. People are also allergic to peanuts, yet we don't ban peanuts for the few that will die if they come into contact with them.
I know a guy who seriously overdosed on LSD and had to spend a weekend in a hospital. Other than a severe aversion to psychedelics he wasn't seriously harmed, at least not to the point where he needs daily medication to deal. He has the worst Adderall tolerance his docs have ever seen but that's unrelated. I suppose I could ask him whether his OD made his ADD worse.
For sure chronic abuse of psychedelics will cause permanent effects but I'm not aware that anything other than a life-threatening overdose of psychedelics will cause someone to need lifelong medication to manage the consequences.
Instead, they probably need to go deeper into the material that came up on the trip in a supportive setting (at least, that has worked for me a number of times).
It's not just for mental health issues, but for any health issues, everyone on HN seems to have their pet cure. Just look at the 20 different (often contradictory) opinions that appear every time there's a discussion on diet or weight loss here.
I'm not saying that psychedelics (or other drugs) won't help with depression or other mental health issues, but from experience it's certainly not necessarily the cure-all like some people here like to make it out to be.
Different treatments work for different people in different situations. People should be wary of taking medical advice from Hacker News.