..DSTiamat..i haven't had a chance to read others' replies..i empathize with you..
i think aya/dmt can aid in growth and unblocking if combined with exerciese/good diet/ meditation or spiritual practise etc..they work better if worked with..
psilocybin i wouldn't suggest for the very reasons you kind of given..
the harmala MAO inhibitors in ayahuasca are plant-based anti-depressants, but more dietary restriction is needed than with prescription anti-depressants (which were partly developed to get around the diet issue)
importantly, most modern prescribed SSRI anti-depressents are dangerous in combination with aya..and some would argue dangerous on their own.. see Plant Based Anti-Depressants..
take some time researching the medicine of aya (& dmt) ..they can help with subconciousness/inner problems, but helpful friends to reflect with/get advice and lifestyle contribute a lot also..
wishin you well..

It's not a scare tactic..it's just that with certain pharmaceutical MOAI's there is real dangers to consuming tyramine in combination with them..so people naturally assumed this was true of harmine and harmaline as well.

Harmine and harmaline though are RIMA's though, only effecting MAO-A at the doses taked about here. If one was to take enough to have any MAO-B activity the tyramine would still displace the harmine or harmaline becasue the MAO enzymes have more affinity for the tyramine. Harmine and harmaline are converted in the body to harman and nor-harman(I think, endless?) in the body also, which have some maoB activity..but still the tyramine will boot the beta carbolines out of the way.

Basically the metabolism of tyramine wont be effected to any appreciable degree. At most with high doses and lots of tyramine ingested few people here and there claim to get a headache..but I am not even entirely convinced the headache is not random or due to some other thing.

Natives in the junge eat tyramine foods and then drink ayahuasca and seem to not think twice about it. Plantains are eaten before hand for instance.

There are far worse things to worry about when it comes to harmalas..like overdoing caffine, other stims like MDMA etc..SSRI's and other medications. The tryamine thing is really the least of a persons worries.

hey I agree with Mescaline-man that Mescaline would be a choice drug in your situation. DMT can definitely pump some momentary excitement and wonder into an otherwise dull or depressing evening. But mescaline works on you all night, and from my personal experiences with it, is way more appropriate for curing a depressed mindset. Gahh I've never felt more intention to live and keep on living than after smoking DMT at the peak of a mescaline trip. I truly believe I saw past+present+future of my evolving DNA; and it was fucking incredible, majestic, beautiful. I could barely keep myself from screaming with happiness and comfort. I felt centered, in my body mind and soul. Reborn.

..it's mainly the very real danger of SSRIs+Harmalas i wanted to emphasise..

while the majority don't need too specialist an 'aya diet', i've heard so many complaints from the large minority that i just say start with a mild irreversable-MAOI diet..it's not going to hurt! minimise risks..

"It is the very essence of depression to make the sufferer's own, private world appear gloomy and uninhabitable. Sure, there are degrees of suffering, and it's better to be healthy, rich and depressed than sick, poor, and depressed. However, imagery of birds chirping joyfully and blue summer skies is not likely to dissipate a depressed person's inner turmoil.

I see psychedelics as a double-edge sword. At first, it's certainly nice to become aware of these other dimensions, whatever your own interpretation of the hyperspace may be. However, there's a possibility here that the explorer will become less invested in the more conventional reality, even more so if you're already not satisfied with the said reality (as your eggs aren't all in one basket anymore).

Now it's probably safe to assume that most of those who go chasing rabbits are a bit off-center to begin with. However, if you just use the drug to facilitate your escapist tendencies, then that's where the benefits end, and it's not all that different if you're taking psychedelics, doing other drugs, or watching reality shows all day.

The importance of integrating the psychedelic experience has been often emphasized on this forum, and I think that's a topic you may want to explore if you are interested in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. When discussing his journey towards personal growth, someone on yogaforums said that, once he passed a certain milestone, the bills were still there, but the longing was gone. I think that if your psychedelic experiences help you come back to your everyday life and be there, be present (instead of getting stuck in the loop, building theories about the ultimate truth etc), the journey was well worth it. "

I believe that much of my depression comes from loosing my beliefs in anything but this physical world, which is pretty much messed up, so even experiencing another dimesnion would be of help to me, I think. I never tried to escape this world, in any way, I just want to get in contact with new insights, so that I could change some of the beliefs at the root of my depression.

"You have my sympathies, DSTiamat - depression can be horrendous.

You ask mainly about DMT, but you also mention "aya" a few times. Don't forget that you absolutely cannot take MAOIs (i.e. the Caapi/Rue part of ayahuasca) while you are still taking antidepressants. Modern life is full of ridiculously overcautious health warnings, but that isn't one of them! Serotonin Syndrome really does kill - which would cure your depression, but not in the way you envisaged.

I wish you well, and hope you find your way through it."


Yes, I know, almost died once from Serotonine Syndrom, so Im aware of this topic.
DST

"I'd like to add something. My life has neer been a bed of roses but for some strange reasons I'm happy. I haven't always been happy, but I am today and it may well be that my occasional use of psychedelics has contributed to that happiness although it has also brought me lots of pain in the past.

On the other hand, I actually keep an ongoing list of things that I'd like to do before I die; things I want to learn, places I'd like to see, etc. This always keeps me striving towards something so that my life never feels empty, and I know that as soon as I find myself a real job I'm gonna start saving up for some crazy-ass adventure. Perhaps this is something to think about?

Life is only what you make of it so do your best to enjoy it! Big grin"

Yes, good idea, will begin to keep such a list

:Try a small dose of K. Supposedly, small doses of K can cure a week long depression in five minutes. I have yet to test it myself so I am speaking from an article that suggested this. Ultimately, as you know drugs / medicine are only a temporary solution and should be used sparingly.:


I have tried MXE, which is similar to K but stronger, It was nice but didnt cure depression, not a bit.
DST

:Try a small dose of K. Supposedly, small doses of K can cure a week long depression in five minutes. I have yet to test it myself so I am speaking from an article that suggested this. Ultimately, as you know drugs / medicine are only a temporary solution and should be used sparingly.:


I have tried MXE, which is similar to K but stronger, It was nice but didnt cure depression, not a bit.
DST

"in my opinion if you are open minded enough to accept or appreciate/see it from that point of view. then dmt might help. i belive psychedelics pull back the veil showing us what true and if we are not ready to accept the truth it does no good. go in with a good intent. yes like previous posts have said ull still end up with a ? mark above your head but in a way its good. you start to question everything. you learn what you feel and what you believe you become self aware. just my opinion pyschedelics actualy have helped me out of a 16 year bipolar depression self destructive path."

You nailed it, exaclty what I thought, TY

Try looking into natural and synthetic supplements OP.

St Johns Wort, Rhodiola rosea, Fish Oil(DHA,EPA), Kava if you struggle with Anxiety too, and SAMe are all just a small list. Amino Acids would be good to look into also.

Mindset is a huge part in overcoming depression, I don't say that lightly either.

I have used mushrooms to treat depression that comes with winter,and it helps alot.
A good mushroom trip delivers me from the low energy and cleanses the main disc.

Syrian rue tea with mushrooms is also recomended for long lasting effects on psyche.

Hey I used to take sertraline and think they are literally the devil's pharmaceuticals they messed me up PROPER bad.
So bad I'd be replying to conversations 2-3 conversations later and not even realize I was doing it.

IMHO I'd stay clear away from antidepressants and get back to nature.

I used to be quite badly depressed and It took me ages but I learnt so much which put a whole new spin on things.
and it goes a little something like this:

No thing is nothing is nothing is nothing....
everything happens for a reason,
you can try and polish a turd but in the end everything is One!
we are eternal beings and as so we've got a lot of time to do stuff...
So enjoy this life!

Oh but all those problems in life well...
The problem is everyone thinks theirs a problem....
Darwinism or creationism we didn't become what we are by being imperfect.
See we're all perfect but we chose to come to earth and live a human existence, do something with it.
If you get a flat tyre, don't complain say "hey let's see where this takes me"
Life is great when you flow with it. When you try and control everything; bad stuff happens.

This is all just my Opinion but if you take psychedlics prepared to learn from within no matter what you might find, and do some meditation and some physical activities even if it's just walking around places you'll start feeling great.

Also ART!!! everyone watches Television these days, which in the words of a fellow spiceman "they were watching a ball of chewed up regurgitated silliness."
Screw That! Create ART
Writing, painting, drawing, ANYTHING and psychedelics really bring out the artist in people who didn't ever consider themselves to be.

Also if there's matters of your life with people you're not getting along with but really want to or someone you feel you're neglecting then try to do nice stuff for other people out of the good of your heart with no hope of praise just of a better world around you.

We all make our own worlds, things and people come and go the thing you're always stuck with is yourself.
.... If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a change!!!

Peace! (Sorry about my topic the other day didn't mean to break rule just wanted opinions)

any time. i feel so empathetic with you on the situation seeing as i was in the same spot not too long ago. any thing you need feel free to ask

What´s wrong with finding the good things in one selfes life. In depression it is more likely to see the bad things and spiral on them. I would say that following this advise is common practise in psychotherapie. Often one is not aware that there is still good in ones life which takes away the motivation for anything. But finding good is finding value, I think.

thats a good way to also put it 5htp.i think with the help of pyschedelics could be of great benefit

There's nothing wrong with focusing on the more positive aspects of life. However, with depression, it's not so much that you can't identify the good, but more about not being able to internalize this awareness of all not being lost. Take, for instance, people with a specific phobia who, let's say, have a terrible fear of fluffy white rabbits: someone telling them that fluffy white rabbits are not particularly ferocious is not going to help. Psychotherapy uses more sophisticated methods, but often results are still modest in the case of depression.

What I'm trying to say here is that your advice is, essentially, a more polite version of "just pull yourself out of it". Funny enough, while depressed people don't like to hear it, many agree that, when all is said and done, it's the only way out. Nonetheless, it is very hard to do.

Once you've experienced very extreme moods on the abject depression -blissful happiness continuum and saw how different the outside world can appear (even when nothing has objectively changed), you may even start wondering if people you meet in everyday life share your reality at all and how effective communication is.

tango i love that you said that " you may even start wondering if people you meet in everyday life share your reality at all" iv found myself wondering that alot these past couple years its a quite odd question to continually ask ones self.

I don't know if this will help at all, but I know 2 people personally who were severely depressed (one has a combo of depression/anxiety) and they are doing very well today.

The first one is M (no, not me): Her depression stemmed from an obvious source. Her mom was a huge party girl when M was very young and M ended up in some very dangerous situations, namely her mother's male friends molesting her. When M became a teenager her mother cleaned up her act, but they never received any sort of counseling together. M was FULL of anger and hostility, which was buried beneath her very kind, benign personality. I was M's manager at work and noticed the hostility toward her mother. M moved in with me for a few months while waiting for her new apt. and I witnessed firsthand just how terrible depression can be; she hardly slept and was always tired, therefore she hardly left her bed on her days off and was always begging me to allow her to nap at work, which I did. She stopped eating and became anorexic. I finally suggested that she cut off all contact with her mom bc being around her seemed to set her off. She did, and it helped her a lot. She eventually quit her job at our work (she hated it, another contributor to her depression). She got a job at a yoga studio as a receptionist as she loves yoga. This job change helped her tremendously. She changed all of the things that contributed to or caused her depression and she's doing very well today.

Person # 2 is P. She seemed very happy and well adjusted, then the depression hit her out of nowhere in her mid 40s. The only thing she really complained about before that was not having a boyfriend, and she is a very beautiful and talented woman, she just hardly ever went out and therefore never met guys, and was too picky about the ones who liked her. She was divorced from a man she adored in the 80s and never quite got over it. Then some people in her family fell ill who lived in AZ. She packed up her house to rent it out, moved to AZ, absolutely hated it and it dawned on her right then how good her life in LA had been. After a few months taking care of sick people in a very conservative city in AZ she realized just how depressing life could be. She helped her family members heal and hightailed it back to LA. In the height of her depression she had been bedridden. Now she occasionally takes an anti anxiety pill if she wakes up and feels it's going to be a rough day, but generally she is great.

I'm no doctor, I don't know the causes of depression. But I've seen people fall into a rut and develop depression. I think we as humans are the only species who have that luxury, every other species is too busy fighting for food, shelter, water and survival to ever fall into a rut.

I struggled with mild depression growing up, I had a hard time as a child bc of my crazy and often neglectful family. I grew out of it in my late 20s when it occurred to me that those things I experienced as a kid didn't even exist anywhere outside my head anymore. That I had so much to be grateful for: good health, all of my limbs, basic civil rights, food, clean water, shelter, a job, a car, the list goes on. When I feel myself starting to feel that way now I change my surroundings. When work pisses me off I say "eff it" and jump on my bike (I am lucky to telecommute). When my husband drives me nuts I say "eff it" and walk to my local for a drinkie with the nutty old bar flies who always make me laugh. As a kid I allowed people to push me around, now I'm very assertive without being aggressive, I do not allow people to push my buttons. We have more power in our minds than most are aware of and can at the very least change our current mood.

The best of luck to you, from one human to another I sincerely hope you get through this. I don't want to sound like the answer is so simple, I just wanted to offer a new perspective and share what I've personally witnessed and experienced. The answers you seek may or may not come in the form a drug, psychedelic or otherwise. <3

I think the Ayahuasca, Pharma route is an option for depression without co-morbid anxiety or psychosis. But as has already been said, not with SSRI's. It's not reasonable ( or permitable) to suggest anyone stop their meds. Ask your Dr. about how he/she views you stopping them.

I don't know off hand the half life of Sertraline, but you'd have a wash out period as well.

Low dose Salvia divinorum has had some success with treatment resistant depression, but the emphasis really is on low dose. Pity it's legality is being put more and more under pressure.

The pharmaceutical companies seem to have hit a wall in the development pipeline for novel and effective a.d's.They have thrashed the SSRI thing to death and most dopamine and opiate boosting avenues are still off limits, probably because they are seen as abusable .

I know I've come full circle back round to plant based a.d's. With Aya analogues and salvia topping the list. Nature really does seem to know best.

Good luck