Jump to content
The Corroboree
Sign in to follow this  
Auxin

Psychedelic drug use associated with reduced partner violence in men

Recommended Posts

Quote

In a new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, researchers from UBC's Okanagan campus have discovered that men who have used psychedelic drugs in the past have a lower likelihood of engaging in violence against their intimate partners.

 

"Although use of certain drugs like alcohol, methamphetamine or cocaine is associated with increased aggression and partner violence, use of psychedelics appears to have the opposite effect," says clinical psychology graduate student and study lead author Michelle Thiessen. "We found that among men who have used psychedelics one or more times, the odds of engaging in partner violence was reduced by roughly half. That's significant."

Psychedelic drugs act on serotonin receptors in the brain. Classic psychedelics include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin (magic mushrooms), mescaline, and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The effects vary but can produce mystical experiences and changes in perception, emotion, cognition and the sense of self. Classic psychedelics are not considered to be addictive.

"Previous research from our lab that looked at men in the criminal justice system found that hallucinogen users were substantially less likely to perpetrate violence against their intimate partners," notes UBC professor and supervising author Zach Walsh. "Our new study is important because it suggests that these effects might also apply to the general population"

Thiessen, Walsh and colleagues Adele LaFrance and Brian Bird from Laurentian University based their results on an anonymous online survey of 1,266 people recruited from universities and through social media. Respondents were asked to disclose their lifetime use of LSD and psilocybin mushrooms and then complete a questionnaire that assessed multiple aspects of their emotion regulation.

"Past research found a clear association between psychedelic drug use and reduced partner violence, but the reasons for this effect remained unclear," says Thiessen. "We found that better ability to manage negative emotions may help explain why the hallucinogen users were less violent."

Thiessen says that her results could one day lead to novel treatments to reduce violence.

"These findings add to the literature on the positive use of psychedelics and suggest that future research should explore the potential for psychedelic therapies to help address the international public health priority of reducing domestic violence."

[Link]

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Love it!

 

Feeding violent criminals psychedelics could be part of a court order in the new Utopia.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

^ I'm not really sure it works this way and wonder if it's just skewed statistics. ie. less-violent, respectful people naturally gravitate towards psychedelics.  It's just that I've known fuckwits that are equally as bad, if not worse, with a belly-full of psychedelics (and, admittedly, probably alcohol).

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, SayN said:

^ I'm not really sure it works this way and wonder if it's just skewed statistics. ie. less-violent, respectful people naturally gravitate towards psychedelics.  It's just that I've known fuckwits that are equally as bad, if not worse, with a belly-full of psychedelics (and, admittedly, probably alcohol).

The only other option would be to give someone psychedelics who doesn't want to take them. And thats a recipe for disaster and a lawsuit . 

I've heard dumbass people describe their trips and god knows what they're taking. It seems to all come down to interpretation.

I feel like the statistics would show people who take psyches with a basic understanding of whats right and wrong to come out of these trips with a better understanding.I feel like i'm an alright person so I can't speak for the others. So what i'm trying to get to is as long as the majority of people are "decent" people then the people taking psyches in this study must be higher. "Encouraging" this behaviour if you like.

It would be interesting to compare the results between meth and alcohol users and sober people. And sober people against psychedelic users.

 

Though as psychedelics bring a sense of oneness with others to the user it would have to be hard to ignore this while beating your partner.

 

EDIT: Then again, look at the statistics on LSD takers, majority educated, young males. Meth not so much. 

 

Edited by TheMooseZeus

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The statistics might be skewed a bit but from what I've seen and experienced I'll bet theres a true effect in there as well.

 

Anyone else remember israeli research using psychedelics to get soldiers over PTSD, but then they couldnt get the cured soldiers to kill muslims any more because they suddenly respected life? lol

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×