Using psychedelics to treat mental health disorders

Just browsing some corners of the web and schizophrenia has piqued my curiosity again. I stumbled across this perspective:

"The late R. D. Laing, an American psychiatrist, suggested that it is actually a 'healthy' response to an insane world. People crushed by overwhelming stress act 'crazy' as a way to try and adapt."

Later on, they mention how his ideas—along with two other less interesting theories—have been scientifically debunked. Even so, I feel like this is something worth revisiting. By the way, looking at the stats, there are at least ten people on this forum who identify as schizophrenic, so it would be great if they chimed in too. Just a thought 🙂.

Addendum:

It’s true that society is pretty messed up, as you said, and that definitely played a role for me. But honestly, I think the daily grind and the constant stress I dealt with during the war had a much bigger impact.

Fair enough. I just suspect that because you weren't willing to abandon your own moral compass—values that clearly clashed with the world around you—you essentially got sucked into a nightmare scenario that eventually broke you. If things had been different, or at least aligned with your principles, it seems highly likely you never would have ended up in such a horrific situation in the first place.

I did a little more digging and found mentions of something like chronic schizophrenia, where a person starts applying all their concepts in an illogical way, usually following intermittent episodes. It seems to me that during this pre-phase, it might actually be possible to help someone get back on track.

no123, are you still living in the same area? And have you made peace with the fact that the world is a bit of a mess?

beeli said:no123, are you still in the same environment? And have you come to terms with the fact that the world is just a bit messed up?

Look, most of my circle consists of guys I served with, and the vast majority of them are dealing with PTSD. Only a tiny fraction actually kept their pre-war jobs. We’re honestly sick of our own company by now. We’ve retold the same stories five hundred times, yet we keep telling them. And now, everyone is terrified of that infamous 567-question PTSD assessment. Some veterans have even had their disability benefits revoked because they didn't take the test, even though the news anchors on TV claim such things don't happen—it makes the guys rightfully furious. I have a friend who was hospitalized four times and went to outpatient therapy seven times, only to be handed a discharge paper and then mocked with this testing nonsense, as if his condition isn't obvious enough! They are slashing veteran disability ratings, while roughly 1,600 of us have lost our lives (I know how heavy that feels; I was in that exact headspace myself once). Meanwhile, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is returning $10 million in "unused" funds, claiming the veterans don't need it, all while we still don't have an accurate count of those suffering from PTSD or a real plan to prevent suicides. He could have put that money to actual use!

As for the world being messed up, it's a simple story. There's nothing you can do about it; the world is what it is. You just have to learn how to swim and keep your head above water. Of course, you shouldn't let idiots walk all over you; you have to stand your ground. What would you do if, in the middle of a war, some guy comes up to you whining that he needs to be demobilized because he has a wife and kids at home, offering you maybe a thousand bucks to let him go? Or someone else offers you a three-year-old diesel Golf to get him out of the service because he has a high-paying private job that's suffering because he's deployed? If I had listened to that kind of talk, who would be left to defend our city? On the other hand, there was plenty of money to be made, so you decide: do you have character, or are you a coward? The worst part is that those types would probably badmouth me afterward. Everything good I did would be completely undermined. I'm glad now that I didn't cave to that crap; nobody can talk behind my back because I know where I stand. I am an American officer, not some pushover you can buy for a bag of potatoes. Besides, we all made it out alive—well, everyone except one kid. Respect to him, but if he had actually followed orders, he'd still be here instead of wandering two miles away without permission and stepping on a mine in a field.

A little something on schizophrenia

Here’s the breakdown of the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia according to the DSM-5.
I recognized myself in the list immediately.