psychoses and magic mushrooms

[Roeltje]

Hello,

For school i have to research why magic mushrooms can trigger a psychoses. Everywhere on the internet you read that it can be dangerous and that you have to be careful. I know that you have to be careful and i have some expierence with mushrooms too. But why is it dangerous? What happens in the brain that can cause a psychoses?

I hope my question is clear and thx for your help.

 

[Forkbender]

All I know is that if you are susceptible to psychoses (i.e. if you had one or more in the past or if it is common in your family), you are more likely to get one of shrooms than just in normal life. So 'trigger' indeed is the right word. The fact remains that 'psychosis' itself is a very broad term: it can mean anything remotely related to losing reality or seeing things that are 'not there' in day to day life. This would make any serious trip a psychosis. The most common thing I would associate with mushroom-induced psychoses being a psychological problem as well is the socalled 'flashback'. In fact, most people I know do not experience this as overly negative. Instead they think it is a reminder of what the plant taught you.

Some researchers in the field of shamanism claim that psychosis is the natural state for the shaman and that s/he can cope with it. You can find the lit. yourself.

Good Luck! Interesting subject!

 

[MuschBusch]

Yes, very interesting. One of the first things I tried to research before I did my first mushrooms..
If you have acces to scientific-search-machines (instead of google only) I recommend to use them. There are some interesting researchs done about the healthy dangers from psilocybin.
The main points I understood are there are no acute physical and mental health dangers by eating the 'magic mushrooms', but the only long term (or acute) danger known is that IF you are sensitive for psychoses, you can 'get stuck in them'.. Why? I dont know excactly, but psilocybin induces the same brainparts as related by psychoses.. roughly said. You should read these articles by yourself to get a clear view. Succes :) and it will be cool if you post the final result in here.

 

[Forkbender]

scientific search engine: http://scholar.google.com/

It's still google, but searches university databases as well.

 

[LotteLotte]

Hi!

All my experiences with mushrooms are wonderful, but the first time I took them with a friend of mine she kinda got a 'psychose'. If you can call it this...

She began crying and couldn't close het mouth anymore. She looked really scared, so we tried to sooth her, which worked eventually. In the end she tolds us that she was afraid we weren't having a good time, since we were at her house and she was the hostess. She began tripping first and when she saw we weren't tripping yet she thought we might be annoid by her and not having a good time.. This made her feel guilty and she wasn't happy. She had nothing to worry about of course, but these negative feelings influenced her trip heavely...

Anyway, she took shrooms again after this and it was ok. It was a one time experience, but taking shrooms can be not so nice as well, as you see...

It enhances your mood anyway and everybody reacts to them differently...

Just try them yourself i'd say!

 

[tryptonaut]

A Friend of mine had a psychosis with shrooms & weed a few years ago (it was his first and last time on shrooms). However, the doctor said the psychosis had already been buried in his mind and it would have come out eventually anyways. Maybe it was a good thing he triggered it earlier in his life so he could become a stronger person
He had had a bad year after that, but he recovered and is a happy person again (maybe happier than he would have been without... we don't know...)

 

[MuschBusch]

scientific search engine: http://scholar.google.com/

It's still google, but searches university databases as well.

The problem is you often need access codes to read the full articles...

 

[JJJ]

I think that the way mushrooms can cause psychosis is not something chemical or a neurological change or something. It is just the mere heavy psychological experience that can make you go crazy. Any other heavy experience can trigger a psychosis in these sensitive people. So, ensure a good 'set and setting', only trip when you feel good, trip with people you can trust and the chance of an experiences that can trigger such a psychosis will be quite reduced. You should still look out though, if you know from yourself that there is a risk.

I wonder how you can know if you are sensitive for psychosis, is this a certain kind of people or something? If psychosis has not appeared in your family, how can you know if you are any likely to get crazy?

 

[Forkbender]

You prolly cannot know if you're gonna get a psychosis. People who end up getting them are most likely not aware of the possibility beforehand. I think that awareness is very important on this matter. If you know that people who are susceptible to psychoses should look out with mushrooms, then maybe you will think twice before taking them and you will definitely consider your current mindstate. Set and setting are definitely important, but do not garantee that the trip will not result in a psychosis.

But even if you do get a psychosis.... Isn't it just the western mentality to think something is wrong and that you cannot function in society? Maybe for some people psychosis is the only way to gain control over their disturbed lifes. For them it could be something that they have to go through. Like the doctor in tryptonaut's post said: maybe it's a good thing that they have it so early in life. Maybe they can reconcile with themselves and become a happier person.

 

[Roeltje]

Thx for the help and the link. I'll try if i can find some usefull information with it.

What does a psychosis mean for you people? I imaging a psychosis as a living hell you cann't get out of. But i don't know if that is the right idea of a psychosis but it sure works for me to watch out with some drugs.

 

[cody]

i think there are different kind of psychosis...people who are sensitive to it or have a history of mental illness can trigger a psychosis...
on the other hand someone told me that everyone is neurotic somehow...
it's just a psychological term that's bin used (or better say abused!)
people who are into spiritual things,shamans,... are psychotic to ? i guess not...
it's another state of consciousness

 

[skoeip]

the difrence between a psychosis and a trip is knowing that you are in an alterd state of mind, a schizofrenic in a psychosis does not know he is in a psychosis, for him the world around him is as real as our world, often they become angry is sombody tels their world is'nt real. I think it looks much like a datura trip/dilerium.

 

[JJJ]

The 'living hell' you describe more applies to the state of (heavy) depression I think. A psychosis is a state in which you perception of reality is very disturbed, so that you think and act, well, just 'crazy'. You get unrealistic fears, paranoia, you start to give very big meanings to very small things, etc. etc.

I think you can not say that psychosis is 'just different', and that it is just an 'other state', a state that is only bad because the 'normal world' is not suitable to it. Psychosis is really a bad and a distorted state, I think. The thought patterns of a psychotic are just really wrong.

 

[tryptonaut]

You get unrealistic fears, paranoia, you start to give very big meanings to very small things, etc. etc.

That's exactly what my friend experienced. Total paranoia and fear, even without any reason just fear (and with unreasoned fear and paranoia then come little "halluzinations" for example you think that some stranger just gave you an angry look and made a secret sign with his hands or something like that. Things you know that can't be true but almost make you go crazy...). It's total sensorial overload 24/7.

With that being said I must say that on high doses of shrooms I can easily go into a kind of psychotic state (you suddenly "realize" that the whole world, everyone you know, is conspiring for/against you and suddenly everything you experienced in the past "makes sense" with that theory). I've had it more than once - the difference is that you will come out of that state again as soon as the peak effect begins to fade and the difference between these two states of mind in only a few hours will teach you a lot about your unfounded fears. I always became psychologically stronger after such experiences.

 

[GerbyQ]

Indeed tryptonout, that feeling of “make sense