Just for a little anecdotal evidence: I ate some psychedelic mushrooms multiple times about 8 years and and haven't been depressed since. I was previously diagnosed with clinical depression and took a moderate amount of Seroquel for it. I haven't taken anything since and I've been great.
Without specifying the relative proportion of those who went up, in your experience, along with the massive amount of people who went down, your counter anecdote is weakly armed.
I think either case is weak. Parroting Leary here seems appropriate - set and setting are just as important as dosage when it comes to these substances.
I've heard it being used as an augment for people who have trouble with other treatments, or if they're also looking for synergies with the other effects of it.
A couple of antipsychotics or even more esoteric drug types are used (off-label and otherwise) for antidepressant effects, often at dosages lower than they'd usually be thought to be effective for whatever the primary usage would be. Why does it work? Ask again in 50 years, maybe.
- Seroquel (off-label)
- Adderall/Ritalin for people with drive problems
- Wellbutrin is a smoking addiction aid, antidepressant, and SAD-specific antidepressant (because why not, biochemistry)
- Strattera is nominally an ADHD med but has been using it as an antidepressant off-label for at least 15y (source: I was given it for that, then)
- Abilify is on-label used as an anti-psychotic, anti-depressant augment, and Tourette's med, because again, why not
- Also, one thing a lot of people don't realize is that you don't want to mix a unipolar antidepressant with untreated bipolar, because surprise, side effects may include P(manic episodes) approaching 1, so the options for each of those can sometimes overlap and sometimes not
Biochemistry is really weird, and neurochemistry is one of the densest places for it in the body.
Where I live (Sweden), there are rigid restrictions on what a psychiatrist can prescribe, in the sense that off-label prescriptions aren’t a thing what so ever.
What you said makes perfect sense to me. My reply was just me being surprised by someone who apparently got an antipsychotic for clinical depression alone (... which turned out to not be the case, but yeah...)
Seconded. Try mushrooms, acid, or DMT. Maybe mushrooms if it’s your first time. Watch some trip report videos on YouTube to get an idea of what you’re in for.
It doesn’t “cure” depression... it’s more like it gives you an audience with... something... that then tells you exactly what you need to know about life, the universe, and everything. It’s up to you to then make sense of it, integrate, and execute, which can in itself be difficult for people.
With all psychedelics, it's very important to integrate the insights you gain during the experience back in to your ordinary life, or they are likely to fade.
It's also important to use psychedelics constructively: with a constructive intention, with an experienced sitter that you trust, in a safe setting. There are lots of other things one can do to prepare. I'd recommend reading "The Secret Chief Revealed" and "The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide".[1][2]
