Last Week in Psychedelic Sundays

We’re depriving millions of people of a better life by not making use cleverly of what has been known throughout history. Psychedelics are tools to heal, to treat, to get to another level. – Amanda Feilding

For those who follow my work, it will be no surprise that the topic I research the most is Psychedelics. In this post, I will share with you some of the hidden gems of my recent journey through the psychedelic digital jungle of interesting articles, podcast, and studies that I have found.

---

Once An Alcoholic, I Lost My Desire To Drink After Taking LSD

Another unexpected outcome of my psychedelic use was that I lost my desire to drink for 12 straight years. The urge had simply vanished. I did not attend AA once during that time. Eventually, I did relapse on alcohol, and when I attended AA and mentioned my 12-year sober stint that resulted from LSD, you can be sure that nobody in the program wanted to hear about it! I pointed out that even Bill Wilson, AA’s founder, had experimented with psychedelics and had positive things to say about them regarding his recovery. Nobody wanted to hear that, either. Fully immersed in the AA culture for nearly five years, I read all the recovery literature and was keenly interested by the concept of ego-death in recovery. Had LSD prompted such a temporary ego-death in me? Certainly, psychedelics command a degree of humility and surrender.

PROFOUND EXPERIENCES LINKED TO MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS

Majority of survey respondents attributed lasting positive changes in their psychological health—including life satisfaction, purpose, and meaning—even decades after initially experiencing 'God' or 'ultimate reality,' whether that experience was spontaneous or associated with the consumption of psychedelic substances

Why 'Microdosing' LSD & Other Hallucinogens May Be The Saving Grace For People With Severe Depression & Anxiety

"Microdosing involves taking roughly one-tenth the 'trip' dose of a psychedelic drug, an amount too little to trigger hallucinations but enough, its proponents say, to sharpen the mind. Psilocybin microdosers (including hundreds on Reddit) report that the mushrooms can increase creativity, calm anxiety, decrease the need for caffeine, and reduce depression."

---

Scientists want to give psychedelics to people in vegetative states

"Psychedelics as a treatment for disorders of consciousness," was published in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness, and written by researchers from Imperial College London, one of the world's top universities, which just opened the world's first center dedicated to psychedelic research.
The paper proposes giving psilocybin — magic mushrooms — to people who are in vegetative states. A trip could wake them up.

Confronting Sexual Misconduct in the Psychedelic Community: An Interview with Daniel Pinchbeck

As I considered what to say in this interview, I had many conflicting thoughts. I kept feeling the desire to explain myself and intellectually rationalize my actions in various ways. I thought about going through an account of past acts that I now see as wrong, but I don’t see what value that would have. In speaking about this subject, I only want to contribute to the ongoing healing of anyone I have hurt and the healing of the larger community.
What may be of value is what can be learned from my experiences—as someone infected with the virus of “toxic masculinity” who is seeking to heal—to prevent further abuses or harm. This has a few different elements to it. We do have to explore cultural conditioning and upbringing as it shapes the psychology of men and women in our society. While my situation was unique and particular, there are also generalities that apply to many others. We can’t fix the psychological conditioning of current adults, but we can consider ways to create different structures and cultural containers that prevent abuses from happening or stop them from recurring when they do happen.

Psychedelic Communities, Social Justice, and Kinship in the Capitalocene

The task is to make kin in lines of inventive connection as a practice of learning to live and die well with each other in a thick present. Our task is to make trouble, to stir up potent response to devastating events, as well as to settle troubled waters and rebuild quiet places. -Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble.

---

The Magic of Mushrooms

In the study, researchers in the United Kingdom recruited 20 patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression. Patients were first asked to complete a depression screener and a personality test measuring the Big-5 personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness). Then, over the following weeks, participants were given two doses of psilocybin (10 mg and 25 mg doses, respectively). Finally, after a few more weeks, patients filled out the same depression screener and personality test they did at baseline.

World-first Centre for Psychedelics Research launched in UK

"This new Centre represents a watershed moment for psychedelic science; symbolic of its now mainstream recognition," says Carhart-Harris. "Psychedelics are set to have a major impact on neuroscience and psychiatry in the coming years. It's such a privilege to be at the forefront of one of the most exciting areas in medical science. I am immensely grateful to the donors who have made all of this possible."

A Guide to Starting a Community Psychedelic Integration Circle

The structured circles always start with an intention to “co-create the space.” We share experiences, stories, dilemmas, concerns, hesitations, ideas, questions, information and news. Some members come in with the intention of silent presence to show solidarity and support with the community. Like a tribe sitting around the fire, through the different voices in the gathering a theme is woven to discuss topics such as ego transcendence, spiritual emergence, samadhi states, personal traumas and struggles, and safety preparation techniques.