Interesting, I would never have thoought that shrooms could help someone with psychological problems. I would have thought just the opposite although the article did state that "Even under the controlled conditions of the study, a third of participants reported significant fear, and some experienced temporary feelings of paranoia."

In my own personal experience I would have fallen into the 1/3rd. I used to do lots of shrooms but made the mistake of eating a rather large dose ( bit over a 1/4oz) during a particularly stressful time in my life. I had a really, really, really bad trip which I still find disturbing nearly 10 years later.

Now that I think about it, I guess they could help. That one trip had a profound, long term effect on me. But if a bad trip can do that to a person why can't a good trip? The key would be for the psychological community to find a way to control the trip to garuantee a good experience.



Quote Originally Posted by 420mory
The reasons shrooms and LSD were viewed as dangerous have more to do with the political environment and the effect of the substances had in terms of being able to view the propaganda at the time with some detachment. They quite literally seemed to free people's minds fromm the war hysteria and civil rights debate an d allowed people to make up their own minds about what's what. That didn't sit well with the authorities, in my opinion.
Definitely a good point! Psychedelics were associated with the whole hippie counter-culture back in the late '60's. The hippes were such a challenge to the whole typical "Leave it To Beaver" mind set of the time that it's no wonder the gov't would look for a scapegoat and make it illegal. "See, logical people wouldn't grow their hair, wear love beads, and prtest the war and government. Its the evil drugs that made them that way"

Ever read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test? It's a really entertianing true story about Ken Keysey (Author of One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest & the West Coast's version of a Leary like acid guru) and the development of the whole West Coast hippie culture. Definitely a must read for anyone interested in psychedelics.