Hi All,

I am curious to know the viewpoints of others regarding the potential use of lsd to help swim work through some of the ongoing psychological issues that he experiences.

Swim has long suffered from obsessive and neurotic tendencies which have hindered him in his everyday life; these tendencies have manifested in excessive counting, analysing and meticulous attention to detail. Several years ago swim was diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder, and greatly struggles with his asymmetrical facial features, and generally how he perceives himself to look.

Swim used lsd many times in his teens, although has long since sworn off it. Looking back he realises that he just used lsd as a way of getting ‘messed up’, and no thought was ever given to ‘set’ or ‘setting’. As such, he experienced many bad trips.

Several years ago, he discovered Ayahuasca and more recently Iboga. These have been invaluable in helping swim in the healing of his emotional problems, and there is a feeling that they both may be lifelong allies.

Swim has just managed to get some lsd blotters (120 micrograms) and has been curious as to whether it may be beneficial to try working with lsd again in a more thought about way.

There is concern, however, that a potentially difficult experience may set swim back, and that his obsessive and neurotic tendencies may very much increase. That would be very bad news indeed.

I would very much welcome any thoughts, opinions or advice from others

- Emu

If you ask me it's worth it even just to see what it's like with your adult self under a new light. It's amazing!
Whether it helps or not I can't imagine it causing any setbacks if you start off with a lower dose and your mind set and setting are all in order. You know your body best so do what feels right.
Those are good intentions to have though and will provide lots of food for thought during the reset. Seek root causes and work to implement their severance on a daily basis.
I wish you a glorious psychedelic meditation!

I had a lot of obsessive compulsive behaviour when I was younger and what really helped me
see it was exactly LSD.
I did not go out looking for an answer to my problem though, it kinda just happened.
Seeing the problem is only the beginning though, then you have to "stop feeding the monster".
Every time you give in to your compulsion you maintain those unwanted
neural pathways.
To me it felt like not getting a really deep breath which is annoying as hell!
This feeling went away though and I'm no longer combing the ends of my carpet.
For me it was the insight that I even had a problem that I wasn't aware of when seeing
my self from a "third person" perspective.
You seem pretty clear on what the problem is though.

Did you try therapy?
That is what I strongly recommend you do before any psychedelic experimentation.
If it didn't work with one doctor/method try another professional.
LSD may or may not work for you but your question if psychedelics can make your problems worse is something to take quite seriously.
Therapy probably won't make your OCD worse.

If you decide to use LSD, do in a place where you feel safe and relaxed.
You have used Ayahuasca and Iboga so I take it you know something about safe ways of
using psychedelics. If not, use the search function on this forum and you'll
find lots of information regarding safety.
Don't take a whole blotter the first time, maybe try a half or even a quarter and gradually work your way up.
Personally I don't see LSD as being more prone to giving someone a difficult experience then
say mushrooms if used in a safe and responsible way.

I do strongly suggest you seek professional help before using LSD

LSD is just another medicine, follow the medicine path

Thanks for your replies

Several avenues have already been explored: CBT and SSRI medication specifically for the OCD/BDD; and ongoing psychotherapy for relational problems and the working through of childhood difficulties.

Swim has twice already ingested 40mcg over recent weeks and felt somewhat 'stirred up' - the feeling that his difficulties become more magnified.

His concern is that a higher dose may render him incapable of human interaction after the experience due to the increased fear that he has something seriously wrong with how he looks.

- Emu

It's possible it could definitely help a lot but there are some risks that it could make things worse, and these risks can be minimized by paying careful attention to your set/setting going into it, and preparing your mind and body in general. What you put into it can reflect what you get out of it in major ways.... My most healing LSD experiences were ones that I ritualized and prepared for in the days beforehand...Even just engaging in a lot of yoga/meditation/calm breathing exercises beforehand and throughout, with music and healthy food that you love readily available during the experience can make a world of a difference. It would probably be a good idea to avoid mirrors during the experience as well. It could be even more healing, but the risks are greater imo.

Personally I think the risks aren't as large if you tried something like mescaline, psilocybin, or ayahuasca instead. LSD is just so long, more stimulating, and IME can be "abrasively psychoanalytical". Don't get me wrong though...It could definitely help...it might be just my personal experience/bias talking. Although it has helped me much in the past for issues, when used carefully

There has been studies in this area btw, which you should look into (don't have the links to the actual studies off the top of my head, but I have these lying around):

http://discovermagazine....-acid-trip-cure-your-ocd
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16304852/#.UzXn5vldWPs

Could you elaborate on this a bit?

When BDD has been at its worse, the sense of shame and self-disgust surrounding his appearance has been so great that social interactions are extremely testing. It feels as if the other is scrutinising his facial features, and that a look of disgust is reflected back (more than likely pure projection but it feels so very real).

There is a concern that the after-effects of lsd may take him back to this state.

Universecannon: Sound advice about not looking in the mirror whilst under the influence. Also many thanks for the links - I will give them a look now.

Mushrooms seem to help against body dysmorphic disorder, there`s a publication from I think Dr Moreno, maybe you already saw it.

I would suspect LSD can work similarly, but with psychedelics, there´s always an uncertainty on what may happen when people have mental conditions prior to use.

I am no doctor, but I think that if you feel you really want to take it, and you take care of set and setting, get your intentions straight, find a way to reassure yourself during the experience, and have plenty of support and help integrating the experience and continue dealing with your condition after, then chances are it will be for the best. Also sometimes things get worse before they get better, I´d expect that there will possibly be some difficulty associated with working out your emotional issues... But be strong and remember why you are there in the first place

That being said, I agree with UC I`d probably go for ayahuasca/ mescaline/shrooms instead if you have the option, but LSD can be good medicine too if you decide for that.

Good idea to increase the dose bit by bit. Rushing in will probably result in a difficult trip. If you are anxious about having a negative trip, make sure you have 20mg diazepam or its equivalents around. Of course only, if there are no contraindications for taking diazepam with your disorder.

If it feels right to you do it, we can't decide for you, every drug is different and every dosing will give a difference experience, best suggestion I can say if you choose to partake again, is don't go into the new experience reminiscing on the past ones, as this could color your outcome, and I'd suggest at least for your first trial to have a sober sitter with you incase your fears manifest and you do have a bad reaction also keeping in mind alot of street lsd nowadays isn't even LSD sadly. So hopefully you have a way of testing or trust your source with your life. Go slow and again keep the past in the past, and focus on the here and now, and go into the trip with a mindset KNOWING what you want to get from it and really focus on that, and not to get fucked up as you said you did in the past.

as for bad trips, try to think of it this way your glass APPEAR empty of half empty but it always full, of air AND water or air and/or water... its never empty. so that being said to reinforce what I said earlier, if you feel a bad trip coming maybe consider having a benzo handy as a potential abort or cool down, and also sometimes a badtrip is as simple to remedy as changing to a new room, lighting adjustment, getting a drink or maybe alight snack, all of the above have turned horror show trips into renewed beautiful experience for me almost immediatly.

Interesting thoughts..

I had always had it in my mind that using a benzo durring a difficult experience may abruptly interrupt the process, leading to some kind of 'unfinished business'.

I am not quite sure where along the way I had picked that one up!?

You could see it as unifinished business most people don't LIKE using this method, But if you absolutely feel the need why not? Everyone has their own varying comfort zones

Perhaps spend some time reading before making your decision. Eckhart Tolle, Krishnamurti…. Anything you can do to watch your self in action before imbibing is helpful imo. If your aware of your identification with self then the separation of it will happen much more organically once your brain chemistry is under the influence.

You have no need to worry, your beautiful and your the same as every thing that ever was and ever will be. Don't separate who you are from everything else around you

Blessings to you

I fully agree... the fact that you've already looked into ayahuasca and iboga suggests you are approaching this matter with care and wisdom. You can prepare yourself for a day prior to starting your therapeutic voyage...meditating, walking in nature, reading some good books ... these things can help you launch in a good direction.

My favorite substance for journeys of self discovery has always been cactus, but by no means is that the only way to go.

I would recommend something less in your face and adrenaline fuelled such as cacti. Something you can use to gently probe the subconcious not prise it open with a neumatic drill.
Ive found harmalas on their own provide a psychedelic head space but with a calming quality without the distracting and sometimes overwhelming sensory overload.
They inspire compassion for the self and a rational deep analytical thought process.
Ive noticed they also provide good dream work too, dreams that are very to-the-point, suggestive but not cryptically methaphorical.
Ask yourself what is it about symmetry that you are really hung up on? Are you a perfectionist in other parts of your life? Is it modern advertising bombarding us with images of chisselfaced models that you grew up watching and aspiring to? Something to think about..