Reddit reviews The Psychedelic Renaissance: Reassessing the Role of Psychedelic Drugs in 21st Century Psychiatry and Society (Muswell Hill Press)
We found 3 Reddit comments about The Psychedelic Renaissance: Reassessing the Role of Psychedelic Drugs in 21st Century Psychiatry and Society (Muswell Hill Press). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
two years ago things had built up to a point where i felt completely lost. i had gone to therapy before, when things where less dramatic, but had no idea what i was looking for and felt underwhelmed by the results, to say the least. the thought of going through various therapists to find something that would work, seemed ridiculous to me, even more since i had no idea what was going on in my head. i just knew there was a whole box of issues, but didn't know where to start.
i did a lot of research on how to affect my mood and mental calmness and changed a lot of habits. meditation, exercise, outdoor activities, healthy food, active social life (the hardest part) and tons of reading on mental health (shows you're not alone), philosophy (shows people have battled these issues since, like, forever) and whatever interests there may be (shows the world doesn't revolve around you and your shit) all played their part.
at the same time, a friend offhandedly mentioned ayahuasca and i extended my research to the vast field of psychedelic "therapies", a topic i had incidentally been interested in since i was a kid, even with no real exposure up to this point. as a decidedly non-esoteric person i was put off by a lot of the lingo and out there-themes being discussed, but i also found a lot of medical, historical and scientific material on the use of psychedelics. i ended up going to peru and did four sessions with ayahuasca in a center dedicated to "healing". i won't bore you with another tale of "amazing" tripping and puking in the jungle, so to cut a long story short, it helped me a lot and in unexpected ways. biggest thing was probably that i came back to several weeks of positive mental clarity, which helped me find the kind of therapist that would get me ahead.
the most important thing when attempting to go down this road is to do your research. it's still almost impossible to legally use any psychedelics (i'm including mdma here) in an officially controlled setting, so extra care has to be taken to insure the right environment and quality.
i discussed the experience with my therapist and while she readily took it into account as something that had opened some doors for me, i was surprised to learn, that her knowledge of psychedelics seemed stuck in the 1950's. this isn't like homeopathy or some other old remedy that is based on esotericism, superstition or lack of knowledge. there is a huge body of serious scientific work on the topic and in growing numbers.
reading recommendation:
http://www.amazon.de/The-Psychedelic-Renaissance-Reassessing-Psychiatry/dp/1908995009
If you'd like to read up on the use of psychedelics for creative and technical problem solving, check out:
These are some of my favourites:
That's apart from Timothy Leary's "The Psychedelic Experience" and Huxley's "Doors of Perception" thought, those are must-reads.