Reddit reviews Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development

The short answer is yes, it could really help. However the long answer is: it's complicated--especially for someone in your situation.

To get the best effect you shouldn't be on certain medications. Many meds will dull a psychedelic experience. Some mix badly and can make you feel very sick. It's tough to know how you will respond.

The tricky part is that off your meds, you are more susceptible to mania/depression anxiety, etc., which itself might complicate your trip.

In an alternate reality someone like you should be evaluated by a doctor who can determine what meds you are taking may interfere, or should be removed due to improvements from the LSD, and work with you to step down. You should have counseling before you trip, a trained professional present to guide you, and counseling sessions in between. You should have several trips at building intensity over the course of several weeks or months.

Psychedelics are a tool, a catalyst, a teacher. But you have to do the inner work. The learning and the healing. That's why sick people need a program of healing, therapy, diet/exercise, carefully controlled meds, etc to get the most out of psychedelic medicines.

This is the safe way to do psychedelic therapy with people with pre existing mental illness and a history of medication.

I treated my bipolar with psychedelics and it helped a lot, but I wish I had more guidance and structure. Doing it on your own might really help you, but it also might not.

My advice is if you are interested, go to Amazon and look up some books. Do research. You have to be your own shaman and psychiatrist with this stuff, so learn as much as you can.

LSD Psychotherapy https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0979862205/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506105089&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lsd+psychotherapy&dpPl=1&dpID=512SI51Jk3L&ref=plSrch

Psychedelic Healing https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1594772509/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_15?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VZ888GJ11QSTBM8B9MTA

Acid Test https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0147516374/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_22?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ABDPQHSAZR5QJA1A02Q0

A Really Good Day is about microdosing https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0451494091/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=H660FJWZ0YXV9CXPRYRW

Hope this helps.

Advice like this is dangerous, because it leads people to think that this is all they need to know. If you want to know the best practices for using drugs like LSD then you need to actually read a book on them, e.g.

http://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Healing-Entheogens-Psychotherapy-Development/dp/1594772509/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310502437&sr=8-1

Psychedelics are a great tool. Used correctly, they can provide insights about how to become a better person. Used irresponsibly, they can cause harm. It sounds like your psychedelic use was un-disciplined and reckless and it bit you.

Alcohol is literally poison. I used to drink a lot. I was afraid. Alcohol (temporarily) makes people feel less afraid. Alcohol also makes people stupid. I got tired of acting like an idiot and being a monster, so I quit drinking. It wasn't a hard choice at all.

Diet, exercise, meditation, and other, similar tools are the keys to successful integration of the psychedelic experience.

I'd recommend checking out Neal Goldsmith's book, Psychedelic Healing: http://amzn.to/2rhnvtT I sat down with Dr. Neal on Saturday and had him on my podcast. I should have it up by Wednesday night. I'll follow-up with a link, if you're interested. We go into great detail about how to avoid damaging yourself with psychedelics and how to incorporate a daily practice to make maximum use of the insights gained. I should have a Daily Practice blog post up by Friday as well; it may prove helpful to people experiencing similar challenges.

There are books out there that detail the healing process with psychs. Some only available in pdf form due to them being out of print. Read up. I can recommend Psychedelic Healing but took most of what I tried form listening to Terence Mckenna, FWIW

I do not have a history or family history of mental illness but have enjoyed some long term effects from the "sensory deprivation + mushrooms" method. It isn't a fix-all pill like Leary told all those poor kids in the 60's who know occupy homelss shelters follow The Dead or are dead. It's more letting the psych offer up things from your memory/imagination/subconscious and then thinking about them after the fact. Often you might get insight from this retrospection, but you are in no way guaranteed illumination, although you may have this type experience. You have to work with it more than a few times in my experience.

I feel ya, man :) It sounds like you're really serious about self-exploration, and I gotta commend that. I think when we read about the successes in psychedelic therapy we hope that one trip will be the panacea we need. It's only natural. However, as we're all wound differently, we all need to unwind uniquely, and that involves a lot of confusion and discomfort as we disentangle from everything we've been told, and thought, we are.

I don't know just where you're at, so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious for you. Do you know that the ego is terrified of change? It seems to want predictability even if its predictable schtick is painful. So it doesn't surprise me that your trips feel very unstable. The ego is your habitual world orientation, and ego-lessness is a total reorientation and disidentification. This process is probably already happening in you, but you can only see it in retrospect, as the ego seems to really act up when you start sniffing around to see what it really is.

So as much as I'd like to tell you the one thing to do to make it all come together, you're probably going to have to do some digging to discover the nature of ego, fear, mind etc. You'll probably want to explore something like spirituality (in the broad sense of the word) in whatever ways you're drawn to. Some kind of meditative or contemplative practice is really helpful so that you're more able to be with your experience as it directly presents instead of through the filters of conditioned mind.

Anyway, I'm rambling here. As for the psychedelics, maybe start reading up on the therapeutic literature out there. Stan Grof's LSD: Doorway to the Numinous and Neil Goldsmith's Psychedelic Healing might be good places to start.

As for the spiritual side, you'll have to figure out what you like. I think some of the more helpful ones out there are Mooji, Rupert Spira, Adyashanti, Douglas Harding.... Galen Sharp's What am I? is one of my favourite books for self-exploration, but who knows what will resonate with you?

Anyway, good luck with your explorations. This is challenging work, but the greatest thing a person can explore.

Oh, and I almost forgot...

> With that sort of level, am I to expect strong visuals or... I mean... what's gonna happen?

I don't know. That's the point. Prepare your set and setting, and then let the medicine show you what it needs to show you. It very well could have visual elements, but not necessarily. It might reframe memories and make "important things" seem trivial. Sometimes there's a humbling chapter of the journey where there's an atoning for ways that you've wronged people, and sometimes it can even be a more collective sense of grief and healing. Rest assured, though, the clearer you see the more you realize it's all motivated by love. I'm sure it sounds corny, but it really starts to come across like everything you've ever had to go through (and your current curiosity) are based in a profound love that you're beginning to discover. It can be a very powerful practice to just start to sit and cultivate the feeling of love - not love for anything in particular, just unspecific, undirected love.