Hi. I started talking about my friend as an aside in another thread and since then she's revealed to me that she's struggling and will begin seeing a psychologist. I don't want to hijack the subject of that thread and this is about healing so belongs here more anyway. I am pondering the usefullness of DMT or cactus for her. All advice will be gratefully appreciated in helping a lovely but troubled girl.
Here's the story so far...

as far as whether DMT or cactus would be good for her?
well with out proper guidance it might not be...
it took years for SWIM to figure out how to make my relationships with entheogens healthy...
unless shes doing it with a shaman... i wouldnt recommend it with out her going to counseling first and formost... I would recommend that she finds her self a transpersonal psychotherapist in her area...

I would second the advice about finding a transpersonal psychologist. In fact if she decides to go see a traditional clinical psychologist, or worse, a psychiatrist, with this story, it is likely that they will pathologize it and may recommend medications that have a good chance of fucking her up worse than any psychedelic could. This story truly does reek of schizophrenia, but that is not so bad, since there are many contexts in which a schizophrenic episode can play out in a way that results in major growth and self-improvement. The problem is that these contexts and the people who understand their dynamics fully are not all that common. Homework must be done.

I am wary of giving specific advice like this because I am not myself a trained healer of any sort, so take what I say with a grain of salt. However, it is well known that psychologists come under all sorts of flags and colors and have all sorts of ideologies through which they interpret symptoms. Transpersonal psychologists and people who generally have a Jungian psychoanalytic orientation have a pretty good grasp on the dynamics of "weird shit". Many of them trip. They can interpret these symptoms in a positive and constructive way, and will not be put off by them.

As far as giving her spice, I would say fuck no although I'm not sure how much spice can really bring about deep psychological restructuring anyway, since the trips are so short and the content is so overwhelming. I have known of people who've described wonderful and healing spice experiences and have failed to integrate them in any apparent way. On the other hand, if she feels "an episode coming on", and she takes something like shrooms or huasca or anything strong and long-lasting, it may bring about a very intense experience that you may not be competent to guide her through.

The other problem with someone like this taking psychedelics is that working with psychedelics in a truly beneficial and empowering way requires a big overarching scheme or worldview that allows you to reconcile the trip content with the stuff of daily life. This requires a basic awareness of the extent to which trip content is internal or transpersonal, and is something to be worked on either by yourself or with people who can access the same headspace at the same time (i.e. people who are also tripping, or experienced healers). The fact that your friend tells you to mind the ghosts in the hallway and wonders why people at the bus stop don't hear what the universe tells her means that she doesn't have this kind of awareness. This is a serious obstacle because if she sees intense shit in a strong psychedelic trip and isn't able to process, it can easily worsen the schizophrenic tendencies.

Thanks for the advice. The story so far: she has been referred, the surprise being that the doctor doesn't think she's bipolar or schizophrenic, but suspects that she has 'post traumatic stress disorder'.
The one soldiers get... I guess her childhood home must've been a bit of a warzone. It's not a diagnosis yet though.

ohayoco, is your avatar supposed to be 'photobucket bandwith exceeded upgrade to pro today' ?

back on topic:

I recently got the psychology diploma but dont feel like I good give any better advice than people already did in this topic, you guys did a good job

In my university there was very little of transpersonal psychology but I mentioned Grof and others in my final dissertation about the therapeutic potential of entheogens. Maybe indeed it would be a good idea for your friend

I think the problem is not that she hears things or whatever, but that she can't incorporate it healthily to daily reality. This is in what the work with her has to focus on, and the classification of her condition (schizophrenia, bipolar, etc) should be secondary.

The problem is that a lot of psychologist nowadays come with some limited number of pathologies they remember, and fit people into these pre-made forms without noticing the particularities of the case. There is a lot of influence nowadays from the pharmaceutical industries, and all these convenient invented pathologies such as ADHD. So just like in every profession and group, there are the good psychologists and the bad ones, so finding a good one would be a very productive thing.

Maybe psychedelics can be a part of her 'cure', but to come to that conclusion takes a lot of responsibility and one needs to know her personally and really be sure of it.. I still wouldnt find myself prepared for this. It would be interesting someday go to one of these alternative universities in California, and make a course on psychedelic therapy.

I often look into this thread and think about it for a while .


Please know about the Spiritual Emergency Network Stanislav Grof established.

As we've seen in another thread , being injected with Neuroleptics while psychedelics can lead
to SERIOUS complications , Stanislav Grof has some Pages on the Topic in his Book "LSD Psychotherapy"

Absolutely recommended Lecture!!


And also , take a look into MAPS' " MDMA assisted Psychotherapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder"
They have promising studies going (www.maps.org)

Thanks all. I'll keep you posted on her progress and I'll pass on your tips.

Aww, yeah that photobucket thing is just them being greedy. Apparently I have posted so much now that my avatar is getting a lot of hits and I have to start paying (as if) to stop it happening at the end of every month. I'll have to downgrade to a less exciting avatar

In case anyone's wondering what happened to her, she's on a waiting list to see a psychologist. She has to wait at least 6 weeks. She's trying to hold on until then. I've leant her my yellow book and ask her how she is whenever we speak, and have told her she can ring me whenever she wants to talk about it and that she shouldn't worry about burdening me.

"Hearing voices" or variants of that are strongly considered to be signs of schizophrenia (and I'm surprised she found a psychologist who seems to NOT think that's her problem).

As I understand it, early experiments with LSD in the 1950's on schizophrenics caused no particular problems, but didn't help, either.

I wouldn't want to be the one who gave powerful psychedelic substances to someone who was unstable mentally (slightly psychotic)--especially since there's not much evidence I've heard of that such substances can HELP in those cases.

She doesn't hear voices. The messages are more like instincts or telepathic emotions, from what I've gathered. And what with her imaginary friends as a child and all, it makes me think that these could be coping mechanisms to find love and support- her parents didn't give her it, so the imaginary friends and now nature and the universe do instead.

She talks about her coping mechanisms a lot but isn't exactly clear on what they are, other than telling me that keeping herself busy is one, so she doesn't think about her problems. Course that doesn't help so I guess that's why she's in a state now, it must be incredibly stressful to actively ignore your issues for so many years.

I agree smoking DMT is a no-go. But I wonder if aya would help, though SWIM wouldn't feel qualified to give her it.

Firstly I will say I have only recent and limited experience with Ayahuasca, and none yet with pure spice.

To my point: I think that if you were going to give her anything, Ayahuasca could be the one. I would start with a pure Caapi brew, no DMT plants to begin with. I would then move to gentle doses of Chacruna along with the Caapi, when she feels ready. Caapi brews alone have deep healing qualities that can carry on working for days, weeks, months afterwards.

However its also important for her to work on herself with the help of others. Personally, I found the books of Don Muguel Ruiz to be really helpful. "The Four Agreements" and "The Voice of Knowledge" in particular (in that order).

Best of luck to you both.