redditusernaut

Hello! Thank you for taking the time to spread awareness and answer others questions!

I have a question regarding the studies being done, and how that relates to recreational use.

Most of the studies that I have seen, there has been a lot qualitative studies, and when assessing the association between psychedelics and mental health status, there often seems to be a lot of biases (recruitment bias for example), and a lot of limitations in the external/internal validity.

All of that being said, I believe that based on the studies, its hard to generalize which people in the population will benefit from psychedelic therapy. I personally believe that psychedelics have a huge potential to revolutionalize psychiatry, and even our own beliefs of the nature of mental disorders and how it relates to neuroscience. However, I feel like there are only certain contexts where therapy would be beneficial. For example, one can do psychedelics too much, or be in the wrong mental/physical setting, or even therapy might not even be indicative for the individual- all of these could talk away the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drug therapy.

My questions:

1) with your studies, do you think that they generalize to the normal population? I have seen people post your studies that are indicative for people with PTSD or end-of-life anxiety, and using your studies to justify irrational drug use, and actually recommending drug use to minors.

1b)In that sense, what kind of people do you feel will benefit from certain therapies, or do you think that everyone can (both long term and short term)?

2) What limitations do you see in your studies, and what does that mean in terms of your results and the potential for type 1 or type 2 error?

3) What could the potential adverse effects of drug therapy with psychedelics be?

4) Where do you see psychedelic drug therapy in 10 years? As a leading question, do you think they should be distributed by prescribers where they are able to monitor, or do you think they should be free to the population.

5) What do you see as the optimal dosage for mushrooms/LSD, and how often would you recommend usage per year to see the most optimal benefit?

I understand that I am asking a lot of 'skeptical' questions, and I hope that doesn't cloud my interest in the work you are doing- this is just so that I can learn (and hopefully others as well). Keep up everything you are doing - I see huge potential for these drugs in not only in therapy, but also in our understanding of the human condition.

Answering any of the 5 questions would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

Hello,

I am going to ask you a very vague question, but I thought I would take a shot in the dark. As a aspiring psychiatrist, I got very interested in different mental disorders and how it relates to its pathology ( and its relation to environment).

As a hobbie I became interested in philosophy, particularly philosophy of the mind. Without going to much into detail I pondered a lot about semantics, and language in general and I found that I often gotten into a "thought block"- a situation where I couldn't dig deeper, rationally into my ideas.

My question is, what is your theory of mind. Is mind and body separate, and how do you see conscious in general?

I know that my question is getting into the realm of pseudoscience... I still find it interesting to ponder.

I would love to hear your educated opinion on the questions I've posed- I understand that there isn't even a right answer, I am just curious if you have pondered the nature of consciousness.

Thank you for your time!

What is the most existential thought you've had, and what promoted it?