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Comment by nope96 | Hacker News Reader

I've never taken hallucinogens, but I had many friends that did:

Best friend and his girlfriend did LSD, the girlfriend had an immediate mental breakdown and was hospitalized. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in the following months, has been a life long schizophrenic ever since.

The best friend developed "schizoid personality disorder" over the next year and was never the same. Both were normal, happy go lucky teens that changed dramatically over a summer.

Another friend took mushrooms several times without issue, but one time had a breakdown afterwards and developed a severe anxiety disorder immediately after that never went away.

I could list about 5 other friends with similar experiences, but the point is, some people have extremely negative reactions to hallucinogens, and I'm glad I never tried them.

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I find the idea that you personally know 8 people who have suffered significant mental health issues after using hallucinogens to be absolutely shocking. I can't think of even a single person I have known where mushroom or LSD use resulted in any acute problems. And I do a lot of drugs! I frequent drug-friendly events and hang with drug-friendly people and I even used to sell hallucinogens a lifetime ago. It's not that certain drugs can't trigger or exacerbate mental illnesses - I believe that is actually very well-documented - but by most accounts those types of reactions are incredibly rare.

Sometimes I wonder if it's also a matter of dose, impurities, or other ingredients. There's already so much variance among people before introducing exotic compounds.

> "I frequent drug-friendly events and hang with drug-friendly people"

Adults or Children?

My friends were all "gifted kids" who hung out in the same social circle, and did lots (and lots) of drugs (acid, DMT, mushrooms, coke, weed) from age 15-18.

In all cases it was great until one time it was suddenly NOT great. Yes, I actually witnessed at least 3 "meltdowns" where someone started acting really, really scary-strange, "We should call his mom!" strange.

All of them have negative feelings towards drugs as adults. There was no internet then to look up correct dosage, "safe" usage. No reviewed darknet dealers selling "real stuff" vs. random shit you'd buy from a stranger at Lollapalooza. I don't know what to say, but it's true, I saw people get messed up (long-term) from hallucinogens and swear them off forever.

These days, adults. But I had a similar group of friends in High School and the people I was closest to - including a core group we referred to as the Fry Kids - are now all successful and well adjusted adults in their early 40s. I did mushrooms with one of them the other day! Though most of them do few if any drugs any more.

As for "meltdowns" aka "bad trips", I have seen plenty and heard about plenty more. But what I never saw or heard about were long-lasting effects after the bad trip.

I'd also note that DMT is known for it's intensity and dramatic after-effects. I wouldn't lump it in with those other drugs.

Sounds like they had some underlying issues if they were doing "lots" of hard drugs at age 15. Hallucinogens likely didn't cause their issues, just made them more apparent.

Could you elaborate on the girlfriend, best friend, and other friend? How did their experiences play out? What about it changed them?

They are in their 40's now. The girlfriend struggled with mental health and never really held a job. The guy on mushrooms went through years of therapy and anti-depressants, and seemed to have a normal life. The best friend still struggles with what he calls random "dissociation" and " depersonalization" episodes. He's a fairly self-destructive person that clearly has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder#...

It's all anecdotal - maybe the drugs accelerated something that would have happened anyway? Maybe they were more vulnerable as teens? who knows! I do know that none of them would ever touch hallucinogens today.

How is that girl approaching her quest for a cure ? she has hints of what could help ? or is she alone at sea ?

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