Has anyone been to a psychedelic retreat/had psychedelic treatment for depression/anxiety?

[corbynswiltedturnips]

I am thinking of going to a retreat to take ayahuasca, psilocybin, mescaline or iboga (not sure which yet) for psycho-spiritual therapy to treat my lifelong depression and anxiety which seems to be completely resistant to normal anti-depressant treatment. I have heard that psychedelics can reset the brain and give some clarity. I don't think this will be a panacea but I think it could help me and give me some breathing space from my incessant negative self-talk.

Has anyone done such therapy, what did you take and how effective was it?

Have you gone back to the 1960?
Is this CIA funded? As in Project MKultra?

I am all for a non meds approach to MH issues whenever possible. However, this is snake oil crap.
Have you any research evidence that shows this works? Would love a link to it.

Exchanging one set of chemicals for another set of: "your personal choice" is the likely road to a psychotic episode.

Your body, your money, your choice though.

Why not go the whole hog and go for electro convulsive therapy?

Please try to find some peer reviewed research on the efficacy of this before you try it.

Not tried an ayahuasca retreat but I have psilocybin mushrooms in various doses throughout the year. We've been having high psychedelic doses for a brain reset just at home whilst we're off work for Christmas holidays.

A brain reset? What exactly does that involve?

Do thorough research. I don't know how easy it is to find peer reviewed research, I'd love to know if you find any.

Psychedelic experiences can be life affirming - or even life changing IME. I'd want to be very sure I was with people who knew wgat they were doing though if going to a retreat / organised event of some sort.

There is research supporting this. If I had treatment resistant depression I would be tempted to try it. Probably psilocybin.

www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_12-10-2017-16-22-36

"Brain reset" sounds as scientifically sound as "detox diet". Agree with others, you should do some thorough research into what this would involve.

'Brain reset' was the way some of the participants in the clinical trials described the experience. The positive effects were not just self reported but were backed up by brain imaging.

I don't understand the need for the retreat as you can easily just take the same drugs at home without spending a fortune.

If you quibble over the term brain reset I guess you've never taken decent psychedelics! It's not a pseudo-scientific term promising some kind of elusive "brain reset" it's simply a description of the experience.

It's being used in a very similar way you might use it to describe going on a holiday.

If you said, for example, "I had such a great holiday, I really recharged my batteries. I forgot all about work and reset my brain".

No one thinks you actually recharged any batteries or "reset your brain" - it's understood that they are metaphors used to describe an experience.

The same goes for "resetting your brain" on a psychedelic. It's being used as a description of an intense and positive experience.

Psychedelic trips certainly can give you insights and make you look at yoir lufe differently, with new eyes, as if you've just come back from holiday. No coincidence It's called a trip!

Detox diets on the other hand are bullshit as they do claim to actually detox you.

A recent clinical stalky showed Ketamine to be extremely effective in treating mild depression. Although it's not strictly psychedelic, I recall a fair few hallucinations from my younger years.

Mushrooms have been trialled similarly. Having taken many psychedelics recreationally, and suffered from depression, I'm not sure they're something I'd advise for someone who's new to such drugs and potentially psychologically vulnerable.

I have thought about it - but you need to be free of all psychotropic medication before undergoing treatment, according to the places I contacted to find out more. (I have resistant major recurring depressive disorder and GAD)

I've had several rounds of ECT in the last few years, to no avail, but as it's only the drugs keeping me alive at the moment, it's sadly not an option at the present time. Apparently, it can be fucking awful though, both in terms of the experience and the vomiting, so maybe I've had a lucky escape!

I've heard of ayahuasca retreats and they sound really interesting but I would definitely do your research and possibly go with a trusted friend or partner rather than on your own.

Also, check out this book by Ayelet Waldman, a writer based in Berkeley, California. She talks about taking microdoses of LSD to alleviate her moods and to 'save her marriage' since she took it with her husband. She says it worked wonders for both of them.
A Really Good Day

That "research" link is not the research itself though is it?
So, according to the link apparently....
A very tiny sample of initially 20 people, ( later reducing) take this chemical and then give some very loose verbal feedback.

There is an MRI scan showing a bit of increased blood flow to a part of the brain. Showing them a picture of Mr. Blobby could do the same..
Reading on...ok... righto leading to the authors to suggest that the drug "may" give some improvement for up to 5 weeks? A bit of a stretch really imo.
Nope, not convinced on that at all. My dog food has had more comprehensive research and trial testing than that. According to my dog that is...Eight out of ten pets can't be wrong. etc.

However, I agree depression is a dreadful thing to suffer and people will do anything to climb out of that deep pit. Not attacking the OP. People do desperate things sometimes. Other people are often very happy to take their money. The bigger the wedge the more convincing the cure.

I doubt that Imperial College are the folks funding the OP's proposed sojourn.

Those scoffing at drugs for therapeutic reasons obviously don't know their drugs history!

Alexander Shulgin, for example, who invented MDMA was a pioneering chemist researching new drugs for therapeutic use. MDMA was of great interest for counselling - it makes people feel empathetic so it has fantastic potential for exploring feelings and for couples counselling.

Shulgin didn't advocate recreational drug taking of MDMA on a large scale - for him it was a research pursuit.

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/01/magic-mushroom-ingredient-psilocybin-can-lift-depression-studies-show

Would be a lot more pleasant than iboga as well, having watched Bruce Parry suffer on it during an episode of Tribe.

At the moment, psychedelics are not legal for use in the UK and I would want to do it in the right setting, with experienced guides. There is lots of information on the internet and lots of retreats, especially in places like the Netherlands where drug laws are a bit looser with certain things. Seems to be quite popular now. There has been a lot of new research into things like psilocybin, ketamine and even MDMA in treating treatment-resident depression and PTSD, so this isn't some woo-new age mumbo jumbo, people like Professor David Nutt (ex advisor to the Government) are very supportive of research into the use of treating mental health with psychedelics.

The Psychedelic Society offer a weekend experience in a safe and legal setting (and that is the kind of thing I am thinking of) but there are quite a few retreats in various places;

psychedelicsociety.org.uk/experience-weekends

Magic mushrooms lift severe depression in clinical trial

"A clinical trial, which took years and significant money to complete due to the stringent regulatory restrictions imposed around the class 1 drug, has found that two doses of psilocybin, the active substance in the mushrooms, was sufficient to lift resistant depression in all 12 volunteers for three weeks, and to keep it away in five of them for three months.

The size of the trial and the absence of any placebo means the research, funded by the Medical Research Council and published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, is a proof of principle only."

More on the same trial including the words "reboot" and "reset" from the participants

www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/13/magic-mushrooms-reboot-brain-in-depressed-people-study

Not an actual retreat, but I've taken psychadelics a few times. At the right dose and in the right setting, I've found it to be a really beneficial experience, leaving me with a feeling of peace that has stayed with me for a good while afterward. I imagine this is where the retreat element comes in; you need to be with people who know what they're doing. Very easy for things to go pear-shaped otherwise (and there's no guarantee that wouldn't happen even if you did everything 'right')

My MH survivor history a lot better than most here, so spare us the patronising lectures on drugs.

What I don't like is people with vested interests passing off anecdotes or small sample stories as genuine research.

New Scientist magazine: "the world’s first randomised clinical trial of ayahuasca for treating depression has found that it can rapidly improve mood."

"The trial, which took place in Brazil, involved administering a single dose to 14 people with treatment-resistant depression, while 15 people with the same condition received a placebo drink.

A week later, those given ayahuasca showed dramatic improvements, with their mood shifting from severe to mild on a standard scale of depression. “The main evidence is that the antidepressant effect of ayahuasca is superior to the placebo effect,” says Dráulio de Araújo of the Brain Institute at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, who led the trial."

www.newscientist.com/article/2127802-psychedelic-drug-ayahuasca-improves-hard-to-treat-depression/

Also from New Scientist:

"Though most of the patients found the ketamine experience itself unpleasant, once it wore off they had a far better feeling: the disabling and suicidal depression they had lived with for years had vanished"

www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325876-600-tackling-depression-with-ketamine/

Shit a brick do people really do this? Irl?

corbynswiltedturnips do you have a friend you could take with you?