LSD Forces People To Think About The Present/future And Not The Past

[haidut]

I have written before about the well-known tendency of people with depression, PTSD, and other traumatic disorders to ruminate and focus intensively on analyzing past events. This is one of the reason people with such conditions tend to abuse alcohol. In addition to temporarily lowering stress hormones and increasing metabolism through increasing NADH levels, alcohol also has amnesic effect which becomes very pronounced in higher doses.
This study found that LSD has effects on a part of the brain associated with remembering past events and made people not think about the past so much. Peat has written many times about how looking forward to new experiences and entering uncharted waters is a sign of good metabolism and health. If LSD has such an effect, then it speaks about its beneficial effects, which are probably due to both antagonizing serotonin "receptors" and inhibiting serotonin synthesis.

Brain imaging study examines how LSD changes the way people think about time

"...Compared with the placebo condition, participants reported dramatically less thinking about the past after being administered with LSD. At the same time, fMRI analysis showed significantly lower DMN activity after using LSD than after receiving a placebo. These results support the view that at least some of the temporal perception effects of LSD use are caused by the action of LSD on the DMN system."

"...The authors of the study suggest that these results may have implications for treatment of depression. Excessive focus on one’s own past is a symptom of depression, and previous brain imaging studies have found that people suffering from depression tend to have elevated levels of DMN activity in comparison to people without depression. If the chemical components of LSD that modulate DMN activity can be identified, it may one day be possible to exploit its potential to help control this harmful rumination on the past."

 

[meatbag]

Peat has written many times about how looking forward to new experiences and entering uncharted waters is a sign of good metabolism and health.

The authors of the study suggest that these results may have implications for treatment of depression. Excessive focus on one’s own past is a symptom of depression, and previous brain imaging studies have found that people suffering from depression tend to have elevated levels of DMN activity in comparison to people without depression

Forgive my ignorance, but would you expect Cyproheptadine and Mianserine to have similar effects by antagonizing serotonin?

 

[jaa]

Interesting you mentioned alcohol. I was listened to two separate podcasts on very different subject matter where the guest was a recovering alcoholic and talked about how being drunk constantly forced them to be in the moment lest they completely fall apart. Both guests said they had problems with rumination and mind chatter that made it extremely difficult for them to be present otherwise.

Personally, I give LSD a lot of credit for turning me off alcohol. It happened after a camping trip with friends where the usual copious amounts of alcohol was consumed strangely enough. I have very fond memories of the trip and it was a great experience. No nasty hangovers or anything like that to turn me off alcohol and I was in a great mood after, but my desire for alcohol had dissipated.

That was 2 1/2 years ago and I've drank a bit here and there since, but the desire was never the same, and I'm going alcohol free for the year and it's been a breeze. I think this diet has certainly made things easier. Pansterone has helped even more so than the diet with the mental clarity it gives me. Methylene Blue also helps lift the fog and stabilize my vision a bit and therefore my mind.

 

[HDD]

@jaa what visual problems do you notice? My son frequently talks about his vision.

 

[thegiantess]

I used to drink to ruminate more completely. Reveling and ruminating was my favorite past time. What's that song quote... "It takes 2 beers to remember and 3 more to forget."

 

[haidut]

Forgive my ignorance, but would you expect Cyproheptadine and Mianserine to have similar effects by antagonizing serotonin?

Given that serotonin is required for the formation of traumatic memories, anything suppressing its synthesis or opposing its action will likely help.
Serotonin is involved in the formation of traumatic memories

So, it is not surprising then that substances like theanine, cyproheptadine, mianserin, lisuride, cabergoline, etc have been used for PTSD treatment and for depression. Anyways, IMO the answer to your question is yes.

 

[haidut]

I used to drink to ruminate more completely. Reveling and ruminating was my favorite past time. What's that song quote... "It takes 2 beers to remember and 3 more to forget."

I like that quote. Btw, I think the harm of rumination is mostly related to revisiting traumatic memories, so it's not all bad when it comes to thinking.

 

[Makrosky]

Definitely. I can confirm that with n=1

 

[allblues]

Wow! Very timely. My n=1 can also confirm.
Before LSD, it was impossible NOT to ruminate. The shift has been amazing.

Also tried cabergoline a short while, unfortunately it produced some weird low blood pressure/fatigue issues.
Wasn't expecting that from a dopamine agonist/stimulant but there you go.

 

[jaa]

@jaa what visual problems do you notice? My son frequently talks about his vision.

I found it difficult to fixate on an object for any length of time as my vision was shaky and pulsated (similar frequency to a heartbeat) to varying degrees depending on my condition at the time. If I was hungover or tired the amplitude would be much greater than if I was well rested. I have amblyopia and this was more pronounced in my lazy eye than my good eye, but still noticeable in my "good" eye.

 

[Makrosky]

Wow! Very timely. My n=1 can also confirm.
Before LSD, it was impossible NOT to ruminate. The shift has been amazing.

Also tried cabergoline a short while, unfortunately it produced some weird low blood pressure/fatigue issues.
Wasn't expecting that from a dopamine agonist/stimulant but there you go.

Do you take it often ?

 

[Luann]

Am interested in learning if it also helps negative mood, just to "train" the brain to fix itself on the future and present.

 

[Rafe]

LSD helps to treat alcoholism
Here's a link to a Nature article on the results of meta-data analysis that shows that LSD treatment as part of alcohol abuse treatment is pretty successful. It's from 2012 and got some popular coverage. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, MAPS, is trying to rehabilitate acid study for therapy. There are probably others in this forum who know about these efforts. The older I get the more indignant I get about good treatments of all kinds being denied and the human potential wasted as a matter of fact.

 

[Makrosky]

Am interested in learning if it also helps negative mood, just to "train" the brain to fix itself on the future and present.

In microdoses, it helps with negative mood that is for sure. I don't know if it's long term or not, but since there exists negative feedback loops it's possible that if you take it for a while it might fix some things for the long term. Sometimes people lose the good mood and don't even know what was it so they can't go back to that. Peat has warned about taking too much LSD because it can cause serotonin rebound or something like that. Can't find the exact quote right now.

 

[Luann]

personally I've met people who over-did LSD (I think it was LSD - one of them for sure it was LSD) who are not the same, to put it mildly. In very small doses, its more believable that it is a helpful drug.

 

[Stilgar]

personally I've met people who over-did LSD (I think it was LSD - one of them for sure it was LSD) who are not the same, to put it mildly. In very small doses, its more believable that it is a helpful drug.

In what way not the same? I know what you mean, but can you elucidate?

 

[HDD]

In microdoses, it helps with negative mood that is for sure. I don't know if it's long term or not, but since there exists negative feedback loops it's possible that if you take it for a while it might fix some things for the long term. Sometimes people lose the good mood and don't even know what was it so they can't go back to that. Peat has warned about taking too much LSD because it can cause serotonin rebound or something like that. Can't find the exact quote right now.

Is this the quote?
LSD
[long-term effects] It acts as a learning experience, and can affect your general attitudes; if the amount is excessive, causing depletion of brain glycogen, I think it can lead to prolonged defensive attitudes, probably with a rebound of serotonin.

And a few more all from Peatarian email exchanges:
Serotonin
The small doses, like coffee, help to optimize normal processes. Giant doses of either will deplete energy stores. Sugar, salt, milk, gelatin, juice, etc., help to restore the reserves [LSD].


If I were in a place where it's not illegal, I think I would want to occasionally use 10 mcg quantities. I think it's one of the things that can help to maintain the proper electronic resonance of the organism. (Have you heard any of Luca Turin's talks on resonance?) [LSD]

 

[Barry Obummer]

It's mostly all fake stuff out there today - AMT etc. It's not 1969 anymore. Be careful out there. Fancy paper doesn't mean anything.

 

[allblues]

Do you take it often ?

I take about 10-20 mcg once a week. Weekends is usually the best time.

Just to get a bit more nuanced - diet, light and things like tianeptine have made great differences for me already but
LSD really is like flipping a switch as far as anxiety, avoidant behaviour is concerned.

Edit; Another fun thing is my voice! I don't know if any of you others have experienced this.
But when i'm in a bad spot physiologically, anxious mood, irritability, vasoconstriction (uh-huh) etc, my voice is very tense and tends to lose its bass.
After 10 mcg i can speak nice and easy, deeper in tone. I'm guessing it could be related to the vasoconstrictive effects of serotonin being antagonized.
Breathing deeper and easier also goes with this.

 

[squanch]

It's mostly all fake stuff out there today - AMT etc. It's not 1969 anymore. Be careful out there. Fancy paper doesn't mean anything.

Yeah I agree, not really worth it unless you somehow manage to synthesize your own.

Also in my opinion, while micro doses have their place, most of the longer lasting beneficial effects come from at least 250mcg, preferably more. But tripping for 12+ hours while not being able to eat is extremely hard on the body and is probably what Ray meant with the depleting brain glycogen thing.

Psilocybin is superior in so many ways: Short (~6 hour) but very intense trips are possible, you don't have to go without food for very long. You could theoretically grow your own cubensis... The trip also somehow feels more "natural", but that's personal preference I guess.