{"id":176,"date":"2017-02-03T00:02:45","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T00:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/uncategorized\/psychedelics-marijuana-and-depression\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T00:02:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T00:02:45","slug":"psychedelics-marijuana-and-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/ask-the-old-hippie\/psychedelics-marijuana-and-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychedelics, Marijuana and Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t-All Praise the Old Hippy-<\/span><\/p>\n

much respect for you, the shaman of the next generation. I have an EXTREME
\nfascination w\/ psychedelics and have done acid and shrooms a good amount of
\ntimes. at first, when i was young, i had fun. now i always get caught in
\nthat grey, quiet, depressive state where all feels absolutely HOPELESS. i
\nalso have short bursts of this intense hopelessness feeling when sober
\nnow (spilt-second flashback?). i smoke weed everyday and am caught up in the
\nshould i be smokin’ everyday loop of depression. i guess my question is
\nthis. I have a good amount of problems, is it realistic to try and deal w\/
\nthese problems w\/ psychedelic use? or should i deal w\/ the depression
\nthrough yoga and meditation? Should i quit weed while working on the self, or
\nat least cut down? Does marijuana perpetuate my depression? Will psychedelics
\ndo more bad than good while you are depressed?<\/p>\n

i am 20, and have probably
\nbeen depressed for about 5-6 years. i have social anxiety disorder and have
\nnot responded to prozac, but haven’t been very proactive in dealing with my
\nproblems. Any advice you can give me about depression that isn’t well known
\nwould be very helpful. I’d also like to know if salvia is worth trying.
\nthank you very much.
\nmoonchild<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moonchild,<\/p>\n

Cannabis and psychedelic drugs are NOT anti-depressants, and should NOT be
\nused to solve emotional problems. And yes, they can make things worse. You
\nsay you’ve been depressed for 5-6 years. Have you been smoking pot that
\nlong? If so there might be a connection!<\/p>\n

Everyday use of marijuana really gets you in a rut, and the more you use,
\nthe deeper the rut. Get it? You can get so low you can’t even see above
\nthe ditch you’ve dug. So why not stop? Any change of mind will probably be
\na big improvement. Oh you might get a little more depressed for a couple of
\ndays when you first stop, but then, THEN, you’ll start feeling more alive
\nthan you have in a long time. This is the point at which you must be
\ncareful. I’ve learned that when you start to feel good naturally, it’s
\nlike getting high, but that often kicks in a I feel great, let’s get high
\nsyndrome that starts you smoking again. That’s the hard one to get beyond.
\nBut once you do, you may find yourself with more energy and more motivated
\nthan usual. Then you must focus that energy on something fun and
\nproductive. So plan out what you’re going to do when you get straight, and
\npsyche yourself to do it! Either go back to school, or get a new job, or
\ntake that trip, whatever, just take advantage of your newfound zest. Then
\nyou won’t need the crutch of drugs to define your daily life.<\/p>\n

Yoga and meditation are excellent for improving your mental and physical
\ncondition, which could be a large part of your depression.<\/p>\n

If you can manage that, and learn how to keep yourself straight when you
\nneed or want to be straight, then perhaps you can approach cannabis again as
\na therapeutic or recreational drug, not as a dependency.<\/p>\n

If you cannot manage the above prescription, then you really should seek
\noutside help (as you’ve just done by writing me!). Why be miserable, when
\nyou should be enjoying life?<\/p>\n

I highly recommend you DON’T use salvia until your depression is cleared up! It won’t help!<\/p>\n

Wishing you Health & Happiness,
\nThe Old Hippy<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Posted by: skip
\nViews: 49265
\nTopic:10<\/p>\n

 \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-All Praise the Old Hippy- much respect for you, the shaman of the next generation. I have an EXTREME fascination w\/ psychedelics and have done acid and shrooms a good amount of times. at first, when i was young, i had fun. now i always get caught in that grey, quiet, depressive state where all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,7],"tags":[32,39,41,107],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-the-old-hippie","category-drugs","category-health","tag-cannabis","tag-depression","tag-drugs","tag-psychedelics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}