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November 17, 2021 - 5:00pm
As I wrestled with the fallouts of my military tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, ranging from sleepless nights to a runaway temper, there was one thing that unexpectedly provided me with additional help to get through it: LSD.
A friend who left the army before me and experienced similar symptoms recommended micro-dosing once every six months “just to take the edge off.” Most recently, and after a testing period during lockdowns, I went for the LSD option on a balmy Spanish night in Seville. I felt truly joyous as my pain washed away.
The LSD I had taken was discovered on this day in 1938 in the laboratory of Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who was the first person to synthesise, ingest and discover the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide. Hofmann said LSD “gave me an inner joy, an open mindedness, a gratefulness, open eyes and an internal sensitivity for the miracles of creation.”
Research into the therapeutic potential of drugs such as LSD and MDMA collapsed in the early 1970s when the drugs were made illegal worldwide. Negative stereotypes about psychedelics have persisted ever since, but in recent years they have been undergoing a reassessment.
A new US study demonstrates that MDMA can bring relief to those suffering from severe PTSD when combined with traditional talk therapy. “Unlike traditional pharmaceuticals, MDMA does not act as a band-aid that tries to blunt symptoms of PTSD,” the New York Times reported. Rather, when combined with therapy, the drug “seems to allow the brain to process painful memories and heal itself.”
The study notes that MDMA does not automatically produce beneficial results when taken without therapy, which I can attest to. My earlier mind-altering trips were fun and appeared to help in the short term. But they ultimately failed to ameliorate my PTSD.
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Subscribe“Seriously” in the title is quite unnecessary.
Haha!
Well played!
This is not the first time I’ve read this… it definitely demands more discussion.
Because of the recreational use, apparently use of these drugs for therapy is difficult. Articles like this one might help open some doors. We are clueless to resolve addictions and PTSD troubles, why not try and see if people can be helped?
There are many companies working on this solution as we speak. We are on the brink of some major breakthroughs in this area.
Until the day you have a bad trip….
Seriously, anyone contemplating taking LSD for the first time needs to have a completely sober friend nearby, just in case.