CrazyCatLushie

Have you looked into the psilocybin studies being done in regard to mental health? I truly believe there IS hope for the future of psychiatric medicine, but it will take a few years at least.

A lot of people microdose with psilocybin and are thrilled with the results. I personally didn’t find it very effective; it made me even more emotional and sensitive than I already am on a daily basis. I usually “trip” on psilocybin once every three or four weeks. I ingest 2-3 grams of dried mushrooms, lie down somewhere comfortable with a sleep mask on, and listen to instrumental music. Then I let my brain go wherever it goes.

Sometimes it’s unfathomably beautiful, sometimes it’s mundane, sometimes it’s ugly. I honestly believe that whatever needs to come out of my mind and be resolved will come out. I’ve seen scenes from my childhood I’d consciously forgotten. I’ve seen fantastic, absolutely bizarre and nonsensical things. I’ve had my ego dissolve and learned to understand the “oneness” of everything.

The current science theorizes that psilocybin quiets something called the Default Mode Network in the brain. It’s visibly less active under an fMRI in a person who’s tripping on psilocybin. The DMN is largely responsible for common patterns of thinking, our sense of who we are as people, and also for rumination, especially in people with anxiety and depression. When this network is quieted, it allows new pathways of communication to open up. Parts of the brain that don’t typically communicate with one another are suddenly sending impulses back and forth. Psilocybin literally forces new ways of thinking.

For me, the anxious and negative thoughts I typically have - especially about myself - are much quieter for weeks after a psilocybin dose. The voice in my head that repeatedly and relentlessly tells me I’m a failure and that everything is going to go wrong is just mercifully absent. It goes somewhere else and leaves me alone. It feels like a miracle.

These days I’m much more productive. My apartment is clean, I take better care of myself. I’m even working a little for the first time in three years. I’ve been able to decrease my antidepressant dose from 30mg to 10mg a day. I think most importantly, I feel like me again for the first time in over a decade. I don’t feel numb and I don’t feel awful all the time.

Most of what I know about psilocybin, I learned from Michael Pollan’s book called How to Change Your Mind. If you’re interested, it’s a great read.

I absolutely understand where you’re coming from. Psilocybin isn’t legal where I live so I can’t recommend trying it with any seriousness, but it has changed my life immensely for the better. I have major depressive disorder, severe generalized anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and complex post traumatic stress disorder. Nothin has worked to alleviate my symptoms like psilocybin has, and I’ve tried six different therapies and 12 psychiatric medications.

I believe in the future when these medicines are approved, they’ll be given out by doctors who, just like with current psychiatric medications, can assess the potential risks/rewards and prescribe them accordingly.

110% yes.

The most reliable, safest source is honestly to grow the mushrooms yourself, which I feel the need to mention is highly illegal in almost every country. I didn’t feel comfortable buying from people I barely know so I grow my own, but they are around and available almost everywhere if you know who to ask. If you know anyone who sells black market weed, they may be able to point you in the right direction. I’m told they can be purchased online (again, illegally) but I’ve never gone that route.

If you’re comfortable with the idea of growing or if you want to be sure that what you’re buying from someone else is indeed the right kind of mushroom, the lovely people at r/shrooms should be able to help you. It’s easily the friendliest Reddit community I’ve ever found.