LSD blurs boundaries between the experience of self and other

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So LSD affects social interactions.

And it took a team of Researchers to figure this out?

What are these geniuses going to discover next…that beans give you gas?

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I wouldn’t recommend someone try LSD,

But I don’t regret my experiences with it one bit.

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We’ve known that for awhile. LSD and other psychedelic drugs erase the idea of the self and create a feeling of “oneness with the universe (or w/e)”. Also called an “ego death”.

Basically, you become more communal.

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Remember, as this relates to sz, the focus is using this new discovery to find ways of improving social behavior in sz.

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I think they call them “empathogens” with MDMA being the commonly recognized one. Though not all of them have this effect (walking on eggshells here).

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I microdosed LSD once, and it was wonderful. The other times I’ve done LSD, I’ve just gotten some mild hallucinogenic effects combined with some intense murderous intentions. For that reason, I never touched LSD again despite the interesting short-lasting ego death.

Edit: I don’t recommend anyone use it, however, without guidance of a doctor (since they are exploring microdosing as therapy).

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I really think this topic is gonna get shut down, but before that happens, the article is more about the serotonin 2a receptor, which antypical antipsychotics inhibit, and how we can use the new knowledge about that receptor which we have just learned to improve social functioning in sz. Not promoting or talking up this or that recreational substance.

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You can self induce ego-death without the effects of drugs, however I think the process might be more painful that way. On the other hand, I think a good teacher could probably teach a willing participant.

One guy suggested that they give an intravenous of DMT to a certain narcissistic personality to fix their problem. I thought that was an interesting idea. I wonder if it would work. I don’t think it is ethical, but interesting none the less. If someone with those kinds of connections found him, they might not let him go. That is assuming the guy hadn’t taken something of the sort already and is just acting that way because everyone in his life is that way.

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Yeah but that is just what the conversation goes to eventually because of people’s free flowing minds and what lies in their subconscious.

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If people couldn’t control their subconscious thoughts we would all walk down the street yelling obscenities. Like people with some form of Tourettes. We need to be in line with forum rules if we wanna keep this topic open, I don’t think that should be too hard.

Fair enough. The discussion is about the thing you posted, not about what people will do when they are in a trance of free association.

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I remember smoking up many years ago with my brother. The conversation went like this…

Me: "Hey bro, you know why I don’t like smoking up? Because every time I do, I just tell bad joke after bad joke and become a giant pain in the butt to everyone around me.

Brother: “So in other words, it has no effect on you at all.”

:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: lol!

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Interesting they said 2a agonism might benefit depressed people who only think of themselves and don’t engage with others. It’s a bit of a stretch, but if those could be considered criteria for depression then I have undiagnosed depression! To me they sound more like personality traits, and I don’t know much about medical ethics, but altering personality through pharmaceuticals seems like tricky territory to deal with when it comes to ethics.

They already have meds for personality disorders.

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Well, I suspect they aren’t very…tailored to the specific disorder. If they use antipsychotics, mood stabilizers or antidepressants to control outbursts in BPD for example…who is to say that would work for a narcissist, who does not suffer from the same issue?

Current psychiatric medications are simple, they relax the brain a bit in a very general way, while this may temporarily suppress undesirable personality traits, it won’t rewire the individual and make them a functioning member of society again. At least not permanently.

I like to think of the current situation as being that we have (limited) options which work (sometimes) for some stuff, but which are used very widely for many different issues. You can’t blame the prescriber, he or she does not want another suicide on his or her hands, so they do what they can, and sometimes we see positive improvement. At least that’s what we hope for.

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