Psychedelics for mental health treatment, good or evil?

[The_Patriot21]

2 minutes ago, Cyoder said:

My wife suffered the trauma, not me.  I'm not claiming PTSD because of what my wife suffered.  In my opinion, there's a huge difference between actually suffering from trauma and knowing someone who suffered trauma. Comparing the two was insulting to me.  I shouldn't have reacted the way I did but you have no idea the amount of suffering I've witnessed and been through with her.  

I never said I did, nor would I, because your right, I have not been there. All I can do is provide a listening ear and pray, which I am doing. All I'm saying is Jade absolutely has been there, and can be of help if you let her.

[ayin jade]

I debated about responding and finally decided that it could help others.

Ptsd can happen to anyone, whether they are a victim of or a witness to a horrific event.

If anyone is distressed and suffers due to something they saw or experienced, please seek help. You do not have to have experienced military action or physical/sexual abuse to have ptsd.

If anyone is interested in what happened that triggered mine, you can pm me.

[Marathoner]

On 1/15/2025 at 5:26 AM, Cyoder said:

My wife suffered the trauma, not me.  I'm not claiming PTSD because of what my wife suffered.  In my opinion, there's a huge difference between actually suffering from trauma and knowing someone who suffered trauma. Comparing the two was insulting to me.  I shouldn't have reacted the way I did but you have no idea the amount of suffering I've witnessed and been through with her.  

In the OP, you asked for the thoughts of others. When someone else obliged, you became insulted and offended. 

No one else has an idea because they weren't there with you. Just the same, you have no idea either because you weren't there with others who share. It goes both ways, yes?

Whenever one lashes out at others who merely obliged their request for input, this has the effect of ensuring that few, if any, will weigh in again. Consider that. 

 

Edited January 16 by Marathoner

[Marathoner]

It's important to keep in mind that we aren't engaged in a contest to determine who has suffered the most or for the longest period of time. There is only one other who knows every detail of what each of us have experienced and suffered on this earth: the Lord. That is more than sufficient, my friends. 

My calling sees me serving individuals and families who have endured terrible things. I listen... I offer counsel when asked... and I help them in the healing and recovery process. I was prepared for this calling by virtue of what I experienced in this life. I do not judge those who seek me, nor do I judge others whom I overhear. I do not say to them, "You shouldn't feel this way" nor, "You have no right to make that claim." How can I, when only the Lord knows all of what they have experienced and suffered in this world? 

When I had surgery done on my eyes to compensate for the effects of muscular dystrophy, I was not supposed to be awake nor aware in the OR, and yet I was anyway. How one copes with a situation such as that is not standardized at all; there is no right nor wrong way to cope with it. It's certainly traumatic for some... in my case, it wasn't. This does not mean that I'm somehow "stronger" or "tougher" than others. That's preposterous!

It's simply a matter of my personality and disposition. I'm inclined to cope with it well. First, it was for a good cause: it was either that surgery or legal blindness. An excellent motivator to be sure! Second, I tolerate pain very well. Third, I found the fact that the surgeon was carving up my face to be utterly fascinating. I couldn't wait to see the results after the procedure was over! Fourth, I asked the surgeon questions during the procedure. Why stop when I wasn't freaking out on the table? Apply some local anesthetic because that knife is starting to hurt and keep going. Thanks!

So, it didn't bother me. So what? None of us are exactly the same. 

[Marathoner]

14 hours ago, ayin jade said:

I debated about responding and finally decided that it could help others.

Ptsd can happen to anyone, whether they are a victim of or a witness to a horrific event.

If anyone is distressed and suffers due to something they saw or experienced, please seek help. You do not have to have experienced military action or physical/sexual abuse to have ptsd.

If anyone is interested in what happened that triggered mine, you can pm me.

Indeed. My adopted mother suffered terribly while I was sliding towards an inexorable grave. This was someone who was abandoned by everyone she knew, including her own children; I was like a son to her which was meaningful in more ways than one. Why? Her first child --- her only son --- was taken away from her in the hospital. I came to her out of the blue and supported her in every way possible. In less than two years, she watched me change from the picture of health and strength to bedridden and emaciated. She was at her wits end trying to get me to eat food. Over time I lost the ability to speak, and she witnessed teeth fall out of my mouth. She experienced nightmares from it all. I would listen to her crying at night. 

[BibleStudent100]

21 hours ago, Marathoner said:

I lost the ability to speak, and she witnessed teeth fall out of my mouth.

Wow--what a traumatic childhood.  I would be interested in your transition from a sickly child to a marathoner and servant of God.

[Marathoner]

1 hour ago, BibleStudent100 said:

Wow--what a traumatic childhood.  I would be interested in your transition from a sickly child to a marathoner and servant of God.

That happened during my early 40s.

[TheBlade]

"Here is my dilemma, is it evil?"  On that part only I would pray about it. Christ is real.. Know He hears you know He will answer. Ask Him to open all the doors to put you in contact with someone DR that knows believes in trusts in Him. There is no better DR then Christ. 

As for anything else.. you wife is not here so.. no one should be giving (no offense) any kind of medical advice. Know where your asking because you will not get just one answer. God said to Sarah as she laughed.. what is to hard for the lord?

[Sower]

On 1/15/2025 at 5:37 PM, ayin jade said:

You do not have to have experienced military action or physical/sexual abuse to have ptsd.

 

I was raised in an dysfunctional alcoholic family so I developed dysfunctional coping methods during my formative years. I do not know what adolescence is about, I think I missed it. I actually joined the Marines to get away from home,  knowing I would be sent to Viet Nam, and did spend two years there for two combat tours. I was more happy in the combat I was trained for, prepared for, than what I went through as a kid/teenager. I didn't to the best of my knowledge suffer trauma from combat. I was already prepared for trauma.

I say this to clarify what we don't consider. Say a farm boy from Iowa is drafted into the Marines at 18yrs whose worse trauma he ever  witnessed was helping at a birth of a calf. Another boy from Detroit is drafted, and he has a drunken dad who beats up his mom, his sister is a prostitute, his brother is in the pen, and he hears shootings in his hood weekly, and this was normal for him. They both go to the Nam, experience identical combat, yet one is traumatized, and the other one, prepared, is fine, having been there-done that.

Later in life I took the 12 step course at a large baptist church for drug addicts/trauma counseling. (Nicotine for me, the most difficult drug to quit) The people that signed up were divided into groups of about a dozen. Our group had about 9 women and two men. PTSD awareness wasn't around yet.

Before counseling we were ask in class to give testimony to others if we wanted to, and every one did. I thought I was going to really impress them with all my experiences when my turn came. I listened to those women testify and felt like weeping. I had no idea that human beings would treat other human beings like what I heard. There were scars and burns to prove their stories. I felt like a wimp compared to those poor women. But, we were all believers.

Point being, finally, they were not military, but they went through combat, and war is hell.
"Be kind. Everybody you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about."
        Men/women, boy/girl, civilian/veteran, lost saved..

 

[Cyoder]

On 1/12/2025 at 5:54 PM, BornAgain490 said:

I recommend you and your wife first read The Myth of Mental Illness, by Thomas Szasz. 

Bedore I was saved, when I suffered from PTS, I went the psych meds and counseling route at first.  But the best results for me that relieved my PTS was talking freely about it with others who were similarly situated. 

Believe me, there's more people out there than anyone realizes who have PTS and are just looking for someone to talk to. 

After I was saved, I weaned off the meds, kept the counseling and open dialogue with others going, but found my greatest ally in Jesus Christ and the word of God. He is our great physician. 

Drugs that alter your mind, found in nature or produced in a lab, are incompatible with our walk with Christ.  In Christ we have been promised a sound mind. Trust Him. 

 

Suggesting that mental health medication is somehow against God and that mental illness is a myth is pretty terrible advice.  I recommend you stop giving it.  People take medications for a multitude of problems, how is this any different?  You wouldn't just pray about cancer, you would go to the doctor as well.  Mental illness is no different.  I will agree that way too many people are on medications they don't actually need but it doesn't mean that nobody needs them.