Feeling depressed? Get stoned.

[mistermack]

Feeling depressed? Nothing seems to help? Find yourself a dealer, and score some magic mushrooms.

It's official : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41608984

[Brian Peacock]

Yes, take the mushrooms and your journey to the dark side will be complete.

[Rum]

Apparently depriving oneself of sleep works too. Also less risk of madness and shit.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... epression/

Sleep deprivation is a quick and efficient way to treat depression. It works 60 to 70 percent of the time—far better than existing drugs—but the mood boost usually lasts only until the patient falls asleep. As an ongoing treatment, sleep deprivation is impractical, but researchers have been studying the phenomenon in an effort to uncover the cellular mechanisms behind depression and remission. Now a team at Tufts University has pinpointed glia as the key players.

The researchers previously found that astrocytes, a star-shaped type of glial cell, regulate the brain chemicals involved in sleepiness. During our waking hours, astrocytes continuously release the neurotransmitter adenosine, which builds up in the brain and causes “sleep pressure,” the feeling of sleepiness and its related memory and attention impairments. The neurotransmitter causes this pressure by binding to adenosine receptors on the outside of neurons like a key fitting into a lock. As more adenosine builds up, more receptors are triggered, and the urge to sleep gets stronger.

In the new study, published online January 15 in the journal Translational Psychiatry, the scientists investigated whether this process is responsible for the antidepressant effects of sleep deprivation. Mice with depressivelike symptoms were administered three doses of a compound that triggers adenosine receptors, thus mimicking sleep deprivation. Although the mice continued to sleep normally, after 12 hours they showed a rapid improvement in mood and behavior, which lasted for 48 hours.

The results confirm that the adenosine buildup is responsible for the antidepressant effects of a lack of sleep. This finding points to a promising target for new drug development because it suggests that mimicking sleep deprivation chemically may offer the antidepressant benefits without the unwanted side effects of actually skipping sleep. Such an intervention could offer immediate relief from depression, in stark contrast with traditional antidepressants, which take six to eight weeks to kick in.

The study may also have implications beyond depression and sleep regulation, according to Dustin Hines, lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts. “For many years neuroscientists focused almost exclusively on neurons, whereas the role of glia was neglected,” Hines says. “We now know that glia play an important role in the control of brain function and have the potential to aid in the development of new treatments for many illnesses, including depression and sleep disorders.

[Svartalf]

horsepucky, I'm sleep deprived (insomnial) AND depressed...

[Brian Peacock]

It's been a long time since I was stoned. I didn't give up, the guy I used to get it from got gnabbed by the fuzz and I never found a replacement.

[Feck]

Yes . Tripping can "reset " moods. The trouble is that your head actually goes back to where it was in about a month.
I'd presume that I have more experience of mixing hallucinogens and depression than most .
I'd recommend HUGE doses of LSD If you ever become involuntarily single ( It's not pretty and you need good friends to baby-sit while you wail and talk shit )
I think the Hallucinogen VS Depression thing is cathartic but also If you can steer your way out of the HORRIFIC bad trip mixing hallucinogens and depression (or emotional trauma ) causes
Then you are probably going to survive .

[Tero]

Do depressed people sleep more than nondepressed?

[Feck]

No but we TRY to go to sleep much more often !

[Brian Peacock]

...
I'd recommend HUGE doses of LSD If you ever become involuntarily single ....

I think there should be an opportunity for people to do at least one heroic dose of LSD/mushrooms if they choose to. I imagine a network of friendly government supported clinics in every region, tastefully and comfortably decorated, with access to nature and experienced, reassuring staff on hand. That kind of do-it-yourself counselling can often be very productive, in my experience.

[Feck]

IF you are going to take a Massive dose of LSD then you need : practice , "Babysitters" you trust ( I mean Really Trust !) , tolerant companion animals ( some animal friends get freaked out ) and lots of good booze ( you won't get drunk but it is reassuring ) .

[JimC]

In my 3rd year at Uni, almost every weekend was either an acid or a magic mushroom weekend. Fond memories...

[cronus]

It's like PCP/Angel Dust. The high comes from a permanent brain fry. Life long flashbacks and damage to short term memory, happier has side effects...when you use magic mushrooms to attain it.

http://hallucinogens.com/psilocybin/dan ... mushrooms/

[rainbow]

Drugs are not the answer, but at least you no longer care about the question.

[Scot Dutchy]

I have strangely never touched drugs although I did kick around in the 'scene'. I lost a good mate at 15 from heroine. That really put me off.
Personally I think drugs are madness or is that the intension?

[Hermit]

...
I'd recommend HUGE doses of LSD If you ever become involuntarily single ....

I think there should be an opportunity for people to do at least one heroic dose of LSD/mushrooms if they choose to. I imagine a network of friendly government supported clinics in every region, tastefully and comfortably decorated, with access to nature and experienced, reassuring staff on hand. That kind of do-it-yourself counselling can often be very productive, in my experience.

That is one piece of music which makes me regret not having a surround-sound system and a recording of it designed to make use of it. Imagine eight five-part choirs in two tiers, and you sitting in the middle of them... Almost enough to believe in heaven.

I have never used hallucinogenic drugs in order to get me out of a depression. My preferred method is to drink enough alcohol to enable sleep. It works for me, possibly because my depressions are not due to a chronic disposition to that state.

As for Feck's comment that you need good friends to baby-sit whenever you do acid, I accidentally discovered the truth of it one evening when my partner got the full works of a bum trip. Strangely enough, though we both swallowed the same number of tiles, the only effect they had on me was around sunrise, when I saw a pink cartoon-like elephant (think Pink Panther) amble from one end of the three metre wide window in the sunroom that served as my abode to the other, pausing briefly in the middle to look at us, while she felt her arms and legs shrivelling into non-existence and experienced a boatload of other similarly distressing hallucinations. Her nightmare lasted for ten or twelve hours. At around 8 am a friend of mine called in to pick me up for a spot of sailing in his Cherub that we had arranged earlier, but I had to beg off. He was royally pissed off about that for several days.