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Summary of article published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.042

Could it be that more emotionally stable people both tend not to have such mystical experiences on psychedelics, and tend to be more resistant to changes in their levels of anxiety / depression?

Thankfully, I have yet to have challenging trip because I don't play around with set and setting when it comes to psychedelics. But, I have enough evidence that life is so much easier to navigate while mezzo/macro dosing than when I am not.

I read a number of articles on this, even invested in Mind Medicine (total disaster). Does this have a chance of being legal?

Maybe. It's a hypothesis, and hypotheses are made to be tested :)

Psychedelics tend to work on specific serotinergic systems which are also related maybe to mood and emotional regulation, so the density, distribution, and prevalence of those receptors in different brai regions may change both the experience itself, and the effects that experience has afterwords.

A but if a cause and effect question: is it that the kore intense experience is beneficial, or does the intense experience and yhe benefit come from the same u derlying causes? (I.e. they are correlated, not causative).

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I once took magic mushrooms and suddenly I didn't hate life. Realized all the negative beliefs I had were pretty much bs. I cried laughing through the whole thing.

In my experience, and I am experienced, set and setting are still most pivotal. Your mindset regarding the experience itself is hugely important. It's not the placebo effect because there's obviously neurochemical interactions between the chemicals and yourself, but your own perceptions about whether or not the experience will have meaning do impact the long-term results in my opinion. I say this having seen other people's experiences with psychedelics and my own and being somewhat let down at the less mystical nature of the substances and more the fact that they did impact me but not necessarily in the ways that have been hyped up socially. There's absolutely impacts from taking psychedelics on your experience with the world around you, but whether or not it's a religious like experience, I think has to do more with the user. That being said, dimethyltryptamine is quite the ride

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Definitely had a few bad trips but even the bad trips leave lasting positive impacts, maybe even more so than the smooth ones. I’ve definitely had mushroom trips that were basically just hours of sobbing as I dealt with loss and grief and it’s like pulling a splinter out of your brain.

I would love to see a detailed comparative study of mystical experiences through meditation vs through psychedelic drugs (and comparing each drug) for patients suffering from depression and anxiety - by age, sex, background (trauma vs non), and so on.

We could probably also further divide by combination of sound/aroma therapy - and help from a psychologist post trip to integrate the experience.

What actually helps, how much, and how does that differ person to person?

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Pretty much my experience, waking up next day with a sore face from smiling/laughing.

No matter how stressful life gets, I can always be thankful I’m not on acid at that moment.