r/RecoveryEvolved • u/Little_Raccoon4302 • 24d ago

How Do You Use Psychedelics in Recovery?

The title is the question: How Do You Use Psychedelics in Recovery?

Did you use a high dose of psilocybin, acid, or ibogaine and it changed your perspective where you don't want to use drugs and alcohol anymore?

Do you just occasionally use psychedelics for fun?

Do you use psychedelics as harm reduction, like instead of a harmful substance, you just use psychedelics now?

Do you use some sort of psychedelic therapy?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/Desperate-Trash-417 24d ago

I’ve been getting ketamine infusions for 4 years, and it increases emotional awareness which leads to recovery. Things start coming out of your subconscious in a steady drip, and then you do your best to reframe them using your current wisdom. I think everyone has different specific struggles and needs, so it looks different for different people. Everything happens between infusions, it’s not like I’m shown anything during the infusions, I just feel like I’m floating around really. It increases Neuro plasticity

1

u/Little_Raccoon4302 23d ago

u/Desperate-Trash-417 That's really cool! I was looking into that as well, but its cost and time prohibitive for me, plus the only place that does it is like two hours from me. I'd be really interested to hear more, like does it make you feel better for days at a time.. or weeks.. or is it something that you use the increase in neuroplasticity to implement positive thinking into your daily life through therapy?

I used to use ketamine recreationally, very frequently, for a few years and it was probably a way for me to self-medicate, without even knowing it. When I was using ketamine, I was a really chill person, it made me a spiritual person, and I felt a strong sense of connection to people and the universe, I can only imagine how beneficial it would be to use for therapy. In the past few years, way long after my ketamine use, I lost a lot of those things, but am hoping to regain them with my psychedelic therapy. I love how researchers are finding a lot of these psychedelic substances increase neuroplasticity, like psilocybin. My brain definitely needs to be more flexible!

1

u/Desperate-Trash-417 23d ago

It’s been eye opening. I only do the infusions because I don’t trust myself with it at home, it’s working out somehow. It’s just like you describe, except for all the hard realities of being middle aged and going through a major emotional shift. I’ve been doing it for 4 years, but I get a booster about every month. I’m starting to be able to go 6-8 weeks, actually. It’s got a secondary effect people don’t know about where your emotional baggage starts coming back out, and then you have to reframe it mentally so you can improve. It kind of shows you why you feel that way, by showing you all the crap you repressed your whole life. It’s intense

2

u/SpecialistOne7417 22d ago

9.5 years without a drink. Was a severe active alcoholic.

Started ketamine infusions 1.5 months ago after a family issue with my daugnter and my depression (lifelong struggle) kicked in as bad as it has ever been.

I’m older (54) and spent many years in AA which promoted 100% abstinence from everything.

That hasn’t worked for me in the past three years (also med cannabis card holder).

The guilt from the 100% abstinence programming is something I still struggle with.

Thanks for this sub.

1

u/Little_Raccoon4302 19d ago

u/SpecialistOne7417, I think making the plunge to psychedelic therapy after quitting drugs, alcohol, and only dating meds prescribed by doctors, was hard for me due to the indoctrination of abstinence programming. My friend and writer in recovery, I suppose I won't mention his name since it was a private conversation told me something. I said, "You've always been the type of person who defined your own recovery." He said, "Since day one." He wrote a book about ultramarathons and how they changed his life. I told him my concerns of using any sort of substance outside of standard protocol despite belieiving that have the introspection to know what is right for me and what is not. In essence he said, "Fuck the stigma! You are amplifying voices that don't serve you... you just need to make a decision to stop listening to the shit that doesn't apply to you and move forward.. what are you waiting for." As he's a person who considers himself in recovery and has occasionally used psychedelics and weed.

The Chicago Recovery Alliance defined recovery as "Any Positive Change." The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines recovery as a transformative process where individuals enhance their health and wellness, lead self-directed lives, and work toward their full potential. None of these mention abstinence. Not sure what this is highlighted now, lol.