3 replies to this topic

[jroseland]

People have often asked me:
Jonathan are psychedelics Nootropics?

I've done some preliminary research and I'm going to say NO.

While you could spend literally years (or decades) listen to all the podcasts singing the praises of psychedelics there’s good evidence for remaining skeptical of them.

• MAPS.org is the top resource for scientific study of psychedelics. The vast majority of the human research showing a positive result of using them is in trials involving addicts or those suffering from PTSD, the clinical evidence of them helping otherwise healthy people is scant.
• Pubmed lists no human clinical trials with a follow up investigation where a positive effect was noted on memory or cognition, which in contrast you can certainly find for Nootropics. 
• Some research indicates impairments of memory and mental functions while dosed which is kind of what you would expect.
• The closest thing to research I could find on positive effects on personal transformation was two studies done in 2017. The first was done Assessing the Psychedelic "After-Glow" in Ayahuasca Users at the University of Barcelona which showed sustained elevations in nonjudging 2 months later in a five facet mindfulness questionnaire. The second, Effect of Psilocybin on Empathy and Moral Decision-Making interestingly found that Psilocybin significantly increased emotional, but not cognitive empathy and In contrast, moral decision-making remained unaffected by psilocybin. These studies would seem to confirm the stereotype of the hippy-dippy wu-wu psychedelic lover but don’t provide much evidence of them as transformational tools like mindfulness or brain training.
• There’s this rather terrifying phenomena of Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder which means that auditory and visual hallucinations persist after a psychedelic experience for days, weeks or longer. And it doesn't just happen to hardcore psychonauts who are using excessive amounts of drugs and having jaring bad trips. It can happen after just one trip. There are over 40 science papers documenting HPPD so it’s not exactly a fringe phenomena.

Psychedelics don’t belong in the same risk-reward category as Nootropics.

Edited by jroseland, 29 October 2018 - 08:03 AM.

[Ruth]

Psychedelics(B. Sessa 2005) are multi-functional neuroactive serotonergics ( https://www.frontier...2018.00177/full ) ... increases plasticity and neural remodeling, BDNF same as ADs and cannabinoids.

Psychedelic information theory: Shamanism
in the age of reason

http://www.cosmosand...rticle/view/734

In the last decades, one of the psychedelic substances which has gained high attention for its implications in several para-psychological phenomena (including out-of-body states, deep changes in sensory perception, mood, and thought, travels in "hyperspace", and meetings with disincarnate entities, as well as other "breakthrough experiences") is dimethyltryptamine (N,N-DMT, or simply DMT). High dose DMT-containing plants (like Psychotria viridis, in Quechua language Chacruna or Chacrona) are one of the two principal ingredients of the Ayahuasca, the visionary Amazonian brew reported to induce a range of paranormal experiences, but it can be found as well in a huge number of different natural sources, even some of animal origin - e.g., the Sonoran desert toad, in the form of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine or 5-MeO-DMT. It was Rick Strassmann (born 1952), a medical doctor, psychiatrist and clinical psycho-pharmacologist, who had the virtue of giving a second birth to the academic interest in scientific research of psychedelics after the post-70's age of obscurantism lead by the American prohibitionist position on this field. Strassman is also the person who named this compound "the spirit molecule", in order to suggest the deeply psycho-spiritual implications concerning this substance. Here, we overview the scientific basis and evidences supporting the association between DMT and the pineal gland.

Edited by Ruth, 29 October 2018 - 02:46 PM.

[gamesguru]

This is from an actual academic journal, a Chinese academic journal.

 

According to the charts, dropping acid makes you smarter.

 

And since no one knows real stuff, it will be easier for China to off its NBOMe on the unsuspecting and indoctrinated American youth who are hoping to tap into the wealth of insight and the food of soul

 

Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity (2018)

These changes in neuronal structure are accompanied by increased synapse number and function, as measured by fluorescence microscopy and electrophysiology. The structural changes induced by psychedelics appear to result from stimulation of the TrkB, mTOR, and 5-HT2A signaling pathways and could possibly explain the clinical effectiveness of these compounds. Our results underscore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and, importantly, identify several lead scaffolds for medicinal chemistry efforts focused on developing plasticity-promoting compounds as safe, effective, and fast-acting treatments for depression and related disorders.

 

[jroseland]

Expanded discussion https://www.longecit...f-psychedelics/