Study on Ecstasy

[Varzar]

Distinct brain pathway underlies ecstasy's social effects

Just curious what people think.. I've read some posts on here from people who consider autism to be "ruining their life", and definitely consider it a deficit and want a "cure".
I know a lot of people are more in the camp that, "it's part of who we are".
I tend to be the latter.

This article makes me wonder though. If there was a drug that could make you more social, or more like an NT... Let's assume they removed the part that makes you high and it had no addictive qualities.. Would you try it? Even if just to see what it was like to see the world like an NT? Would you use it occasionally to get through social events? Would you use it regularly if it did make you more NT? Or would you prefer to stay as you are?
I'm not sure I know the answer for myself...

 

[Bolletje]

I’ve used recreational drugs a lot to help me socialize. Ecstasy worked quite well, cocaine did too, but in a different way. I don’t use drugs anymore because I’m comfortable enough to socialize without drugs these days, but it sure helped me overcome shyness.

 

[Varzar]

I’ve used recreational drugs a lot to help me socialize. Ecstasy worked quite well, cocaine did too, but in a different way. I don’t use drugs anymore because I’m comfortable enough to socialize without drugs these days, but it sure helped me overcome shyness.

That's interesting. Do you feel like the use of recreational drugs facilitated you developing the comfort level you have now such that you don't need the drugs? Or in essence, do you think the use of the drugs changed you?

 

[Bolletje]

That's interesting. Do you feel like the use of recreational drugs facilitated you developing the comfort level you have now such that you don't need the drugs? Or in essence, do you think the use of the drugs changed you?

I don’t think the drugs changed me, but they allowed me to shed my inhibitions temporarily, so I could be more openly me than I usually was in public. Learning that people responded well to me in those situations made me more comfortable in dropping my mask without substance use as well.

 

[tducey]

I just drink. Still if taking drugs helps you relax and you don't hurt anyone then more power to you.

 

[Varzar]

I just drink. Still if taking drugs helps you relax and you don't hurt anyone then more power to you.

lol, me too.
But I meant this post to be more along the lines of: If there was something to make you think/feel like an NT with no negative side effects, would you actually want to take it?

 

[Kalinychta]

lol, me too.
But I meant this post to be more along the lines of: If there was something to make you think/feel like an NT with no negative side effects, would you actually want to take it?

This is like the autism version of The Matrix. Take the red pill and stay in autism wonderland, or take the blue pill and become an NT.

 

[Varzar]

This is like the autism version of The Matrix. Take the red pill and stay in autism wonderland, or take the blue pill and become an NT.

Kinda, yeah. There's also kind of the idea that it would in fact change you permanently..
I know @Bolletje suggested use of drugs didn't change her, but in a way they did, because this:

Learning that people responded well to me in those situations made me more comfortable in dropping my mask without substance use as well.

As soon as you take any drug that alters you mind, and have experiences different to what you would normally experience, your mind will start to change, even if you stop the drug afterwards..

For example, imagine a blind person, blind from birth. You give him sight with a drug, and he sees all kinds of colors.. He could never even imagine what "blue" or "red" might look like before, but now he knows.. Even if he stops taking the drugs, and returns to being blind, he can't not imagine colors now. He will always remember those colors he saw.

 

[Aspychata]

Varzar

So you are saying we changed the chemical formula or balance in our brain with recreational drug use? Then what about alcohol use?

I don't want to leave my tribe. I find them interesting, l want to collect all the aspie people (like Pokemons) and put them in a curio cabinet and create stories around them. It would be so neat to create little autistic characters so you could explain them to NT's and parents. Like this is Aspie Lizzy, she hates lights, contact, weird vegetables, and likes to rock back and forth and can recite the elements table backwards and forwards. I think it's Shark Tank in my brain this week.

 

[Varzar]

So you are saying we changed the chemical formula or balance in our brain with recreational drug use? Then what about alcohol use?

I'm not sure if drugs (including alcohol) change the chemical balance of the brain (probably some do, especially with overuse/addiction).
But I'm more meaning that they alter our perceptions, which alters our experiences, and then our memories. Since we are a collection of our experiences and memories, that ultimate changes us.

 

[Aspychata]

That makes sense because we are 90% water and you have proved that water has memories with that post. Lol

 

[Kalinychta]

I would be strongly tempted of the Evil One to take the blue pill. But I don’t think I’d do it, in the end. I have no idea who I would be without my autism. So much of who I am is the result of it e.g. hyper-compassion, strong imagination, love of books, appreciation for solitude, etc. I would be an unrecognizable, doppelganger-like creature without those things.

 

[Bolletje]

I have to say I’m just as much of an Aspie as I used to be, I’m just more comfortable dropping my mask these days.

 

[Varzar]

I have to say I’m just as much of an Aspie as I used to be, I’m just more comfortable dropping my mask these days.

Which is definitely good to know! If these drugs just give an additional sense of comfort to be yourself, without taking away what makes you who you are, that's definitely promising and gives me more pause for consideration.. I wouldn't want to lose the parts of me that are Aspie.

I gather a lot of Aspies are more introverted.. And I guess I am too, according to Meyers-Briggs... But I am borderline extroverted.. I enjoy socializing with people, even though for most of my life I've sucked at it, and have had more negative than positive experiences. And I usually need a day to recover after an evening of socializing...
I always wonder how many Aspies are more introverted because of all the early negative experiences, and they just give up trying to deal with NTs..

 

[Trophonius]

This is like the autism version of The Matrix. Take the red pill and stay in autism wonderland, or take the blue pill and become an NT.

I wish it were anything like a wonderland.
Or maybe it's just my ASD that turns safe places into Silent Hill.

 

[Bolletje]

I am borderline extroverted.. I enjoy socializing with people, even though for most of my life I've sucked at it, and have had more negative than positive experiences.

Same here. I’ve learned to socialize mostly by going out to bars by myself and just striking up conversations with strangers. If I fail it’s no loss because I don’t know them, and if I succeed I have a fun conversation and possibly a new friend.

As for drugs changing your personality, I know that prolonged and repetitive cocaine use causes brain changes that make you more impulsive, so drugs can change your brain. And then I’m not even mentioning the brain changes that happen after a drug-induced psychosis. But that’s not the point here.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I have taken ecstasy with friends which helped me massively with opening up and trusting them, which has in turn made me more social in general. All the research which is happening at the moment on the use of ecstasy and psychedelics in therapy is fascinating.

As for the hypothetical drug, I would take it if the effects were temporary. Sounds like it would be very useful in many situations, particularly work events such as conferences which I find incredibly difficult but are obviously not appropriate occasions to get high.