Hello, I have been suffering from severe social anxiety disorder, GAD, depression and even PTSD for many years. I would like to know if psychedelic like ayahuasca could help me to relieve of these issues ? I am aware of that aya will not working in a way 'one drink now everything is totally fixed' (as I read somewhere), but after I tried over 40 pharmaceutical drugs, various supplements and a lot of therapies (unfortunalely without any long-time improvement in my case)... I wonder, if ayahuasca could be a possible way how to deal with my everday struggle ?


Also, Is there any chance, that i could take ayahuasca by myself, alone at home ? I am from Europe and in my country, mushrooms are legal, but there are no any provider who could help me with treatment or to help me to undergo trip. I have seen a lot of documentaries about ayahuasca and i am planning to read up on specific informations to preparation and other stuff....but at the end, there will be no one (as sitter ) except me.

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Thanks!

Well, set and setting are very important. Your anxiety might be an impediment. You should try relaxation and meditation techniques to still the mind before you venture off into the world of DMT. Set and setting applies to meditation too, for good reason. Meditation is like a natural self imposed DMT trip. Except nowhere near as intense, unless you can reach true enlightenment. Give it a go to test the waters before you take the plunge.

Hi, welcome to the nexus, firstly please delete the links to sources even though they are legal there it is against forum rules.
Have you had any psychedelics before? I say that because if you have had experience then it probably wont be a problem doing it alone however if you havent then its not really advisable unless it is a threshold/low dose.
Are you on any medication? Ayahuasca contains alkaloids that could be VERY dangerous to mix with pharmaceuticals and certain medicines.

Many people have benefitted positively from ayahuasca, if you are not taking medication and would like to explore that option then you should be looking at either syrian rue or banisteriopsis caapi and acacia confusa or mimosa hostilis, or even psychotria viridis.
Im not experienced in this so others will be able to help regarding amounts used for each dose level etc.

Hi thanks for your response,

I am now free of all antidepressants however I am still taking Xanax in a range of 0,5 - 1,5 mg and almost on a daily basis. Thats also a reason why I was thinking about ibogaine first, because i am feeling a bit addicted to BZDs drugs ( I have been taking them on and off for more than 10 years). Recently I tried to come off them for a few days but my anxiety went through the roof and i was more isolated from peaople than when i am on xanax. I also taking Stilnox (Ambien in US) for problems with sleeping.

I have never tried any psychedelics before and I have never taken any drugs like cocaine, amphetamine or even marijuana.

I am really do not know which way i should go, I mentioned ayahuasca cos I have read up on it and I have seen a lot of documentaries and I am quite familiar with this plant (only theoretical level of course), but there are a lot of other options and some other people recommented me to try psilocybin, or even to undergo treatment with "flood dose" of iboga (however they recomended me to never do it by myself). I think i can get all of them legally in my country.

As for Iboga therapy, it would cost me about 2000 euros for a treatment in a neighbouring country (somewhere in Czech Republic)… I really do not know if it is worth of this money, especially when there is no guarantee wahtsoever. I read about a guy who tried iboga TA for his social anxiety , depression and other mental issues. He wrote about his success experience with Iboga on this site (i hope its not against the rules):
http://www.socialanxiety...-do-here-before-1370897/
...maybe it is a scam or maybe its only worked for him (since there are no any reports with Iboga related to mental issues such as social anxiety) , but if I get a chance to try it for 500 euros i would definitely go for it.

I'm all in favor of taking Ayahuasca for healing purposes, I used to be a benzo addict (clonazepam) and Ayahuasca helped me immensely on that, I don't take them anymore ^^. The first few times I took the brew I had taken clonazepam the day before and it turned out fine (I did puke a lot, the benzos had to get out of my system), although staying a few days without would probably help. Also worked great on my depression, past traumatic experiences and helped me get rid of the panic attacks I used to have, so yes, I recommend it greatly!

Although I must emphasize you should get at least one close friend or family to help you out, specially since you haven't tried any psychedelic before, Ayahuasca can give you a body load that it's hard to even go to the bathroom alone, so I'd say it's necessary at least for your first few sessions.

Also keep in mind that healing with Ayahuasca is a process, such as therapy, so you can't expect one session to heal everything, you'll learn more from it every time you take.

mushrooms and MDMA are more helpful in this area IME.

Most effective rehab center in the world is Takiwasi in Tarapoto Peru - they use Ayahuasca and have a 70% success rating curing addiction (next highest rated rehab in the world is 30%!). Ayahuasca is great for addiction to pills and such.

San Pedro is another great option for emotional healing - I have gotten the best results with this medicine although Ayahuasca is really close for me. Ayahuasca does have a sharper learning curve though, and is sometimes harder to really get into at first (though high pay-off later). San Pedro is very gentle and loving - I kinda think of it as the wise plant version of MDMA....

could you pls write me more about your experiences ? Have you suffered from social pbobia ?

I used to have social anxiety and even ptsd. What cured it for me was syrian rue and acacia. The first time I drank it was like night and day, haven't been anxious since, it showed me the root cause of my problems. Each time since, with rue / acacia or caapi / chacruna has reenforced the healing and lessons learned. These days I'm quite comfortable with myself, I'd say give it a try.

I agree with Jamie. Mushrooms and MDMA are great for treating depression, PTSD and social anxiety or anxiety in general. There have been many studies conducted. Just do a google search for mushroom and MDMA studies. I did and several interesting article popped up.

My own experience with these two substance has helped me tremendously socially and personally. MDMA is great for seeing yourself and others in a new light. A true appreciation. Mushrooms seemed like they rewired my brain into a new thinking. My personal feeling about mushrooms is that they have more healing power than any psychedelic. I have not taken the following but have heard ketamine, mescaline and iboga are also great teachers.

The real work starts after the trip. Integration and choosing a new perspective. Choosing a new way to look at the world starts within. It can take some time to reverse some of the old thinking. Old neural pathways are strong and the new ones need time to take the place of the old. Positive thinking goes a very long way.

We are all human and we all experience some of the feelings you are having. Take some comfort in knowing that you are not alone in this. Just be yourself can seem like empty advice but it is so true. We compare ourselves with others and that can make any of us feel inferior at times. No one else can be you as good as you can. I love it when people are themselves and shine. So shine!!

Chewing gum can and does help when in a social setting. Sounds weird but it works. Try chewing gum everyday for a couple weeks. Below is a website that has many resources for social anxiety. Good luck!!

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/

When I had anxiety, I didn't even know why I was anxious, this was the incidious part. The real reason was that about 15 years ago, I had witnessed an accident in which two toddlers were killed in an unspeakable way. I had suppressed that memory. This lead to substance abuse and all sorts of reckless behavior, generally not giving a sh*t about myself or anyone else. It took oral dmt to bring this out, and it allowed me to leave it in the past. That was an amazing gift.

Maybe a good idea could be microdosing and then building up little by little over some days/weeks/months?

I'm no experienced with aya, wait for more acknowledged people.

Yes I have..pretty bad social anxiety and had to see doctors because of it as a child. Psilocybin mushrooms and MDMA, and cacti have all been more empathic and healing in this regard for me. Ayahuasca is useful, but it is not above some others IMO.

I haven't suffered with a lot of anxiety, but I tend to agree with Jamie here. Shrooms tend to elicit strong feelings of empathy in me as does MDMA (though it feels artifical to me somewhat...personally). Cacti are similar to MDMA but more natural feeling in come up, come down, and high.. though you have to set aside a solid period of time (24hs) to do a large dose of mescaline. Personally shrooms bring out a stronger feeling of empathy in me, but cacti are much easier to be around other people in an empathetic mind set.. Both shrooms and cacti carry these heightened feelings into the following week(s)...mescaline usually carry's 2 weeks while the initial glow of shrooms lasts 7-10 day's for me. a good solid dose of mescaline can induce a 2-3 week afterglo easily.

While MDMA works it defeintely has down sides that the other two don't... Just my opinion though.

Peace