Data from population surveys in the United States challenge public fears that psychedelic drugs such as LSD can lead to psychosis and other mental-health conditions and to increased risk of suicide, two studies have found1, 2.
In the first study, clinical psychologists Pål-Ørjan Johansen and Teri Suzanne Krebs, both at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, scoured data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual random sample of the general population, and analysed answers from more than 135,000 people who took part in surveys from 2008 to 2011.
Of those, 14% described themselves as having used at any point in their lives any of the three ‘classic’ psychedelics: LSD, psilocybin (the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms) and mescaline (found in the peyote and San Pedro cacti). The researchers found that individuals in this group were not at increased risk of developing 11 indicators of mental-health problems such as schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, anxiety disorders and suicide attempts. Their paper appears in the March issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology1.
But they can make us look like a steak dinner to them.
Just imagine being a psychopath for a moment, a psychopath with much power and ability. How might a person on drugs look to you? And how could you use drugs in your favor? It would be an excellent smoke screen.
I used to believe in the devil and that when I was drunk or high I was more susceptible to his influence. ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ though. Was just me masking and misunderstanding my own impulsivity. Also validated it and made it more concrete. Total paradigm shift since then. I’m totally in control of this sensory system that is the body. Barely any impulses at all. Am I a Vulcan yet? Will these hallucinations stop?
I think its a bunch of bull ■■■■ - I know from first hand experience that Mescaline triggered me into full blown psychosis.
Drugs like LSD and other psychedelics are not good for those of us that have “sick” minds.
They do contribute to psychosis - Syd Barrett is a good example of someone who messed with psychedelics often and later developed SZ/Bipolar
It’s misleading. It says nothing about people who take TOO MUCH.
THAT is the problem. I know of people who got REALLY screwed up by taking two or three or four hits of acid at once. I am POSITIVE that taking too much LSD triggered my schizophrenia. I figure I would have eventually became schizophrenic anyway but the acid tipped the scales.
The problem in making this assertion that psychedelics cause psychosis lies in that psychedelics are mind exploring drugs. They aid you or at least make you think you are aided in finding answers about yourself and the Universe. We SZ people are searching for answers which is why we take psychedelics often and in excess and get screwed up from them. I’d be willing to garner that many of the people who fall in love with psychedelics are more likely to be mentally ill because they trick you into thinking you are finding answers. Whether they do or not? I think they do. But part of it is a trick also.
I know when I first took psychedelics it gave me insight that I said “Everybody in the world must do LSD, because I sure as hell wasn’t capable of thinking this way without psychedelics.” So I took more and more trying to “catch up” to the rest of the population and eventually had a bad trip that triggered anxiety, depression and anger. Which caused me to go on wellbutrin which triggered my psychosis.
TLDR: People prone to SZ are more likely to take hallucinogens because they are searching for answers that psychedelics make you believe you are finding. If that makes sense.
LSD was definitely the start of my SZ and psychotic symptoms. But not the start of my mental illness.