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Comment by root_axis | Hacker News Reader

I am skeptical of this. I have personally witnessed psychedelics enlightening minds, but also destroying them. I am also concerned with the reliability of evidence from psychedelic trials since I'm not clear on how a double-blind study could be conducted. At the end of the day, I'm fully in support of continued research, but I am hesitant to accept the kind of dramatic outcomes suggested by these studies.

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> I have personally witnessed psychedelics enlightening minds, but also destroying them.

As with any drug. Any drug that can heal can also hurt. All drugs are a risk. Compare the rare side effects of psychedelics to the horrible (and also rare) side effects like Stevens-Johnson syndrome that you'll see in pharmaceuticals, the same ones that save people's lives.

> Compare the rare side effects of psychedelics

I don't know if we have enough scientific data to say how rare they are. My anecdotal experience (including my own as an individual afflicted by HPPD) makes me believe they are not as rare as is often suggested.

Has this been in the care of an experienced sitter or guide?

These are subjective credentials, but IMO yes, and I've seen on several occasions an experienced sitter fail to prevent a bad trip. I don't blame the sitter for this, and we were always aware of the importance of set and setting, but it's my opinion that we are far less in control of the outcome of a trip than I think most pyschonaughts are willing to admit.

Any experienced sitter would have prepped someone with the idea that there are no “bad” trips, just difficult ones.

They would have prepared someone to navigate that terrain and having come out the other side, the tripper would be able to see the importance of it.

This is part of the mindset piece — proper preparation, navigation and integration are needed.

If one is able to understand that, it can help!

Thank you for sharing your story.

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