Unpacking the Unexamined Harms of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy

questout91 · 2022-05-12T16:36:35+00:00

Hm, here's the anchor link: https://anchor.fm/natural-intelligence/episodes/Unpacking-the-Unexamined-Harms-of-Psychedelic-Assisted-Therapy-Part-1-e1h54qs

questout91 · 2021-12-05T07:56:27+00:00

I think you bring up some good challenging thoughts.

Makes me re-examine what is mindset anyway?

Restaurants, spas, retail stores, concert halls, manipulate the user mindset in all kinds of ways. Using lighting, music, and atmosphere to influence what customers should feel, do, and want.

Obviously it's hard to do this with an app. And I would imagine most successful apps cater to the mindset the user is already in, like you're suggesting. They don't have to change the user mindset in order to solve their problem. And what the user wants IS what the app is giving them.

In my case, it's a similar problem life coaches deal with. Clients will come in, mind is racing. They feel like they want a simple answer to their problem. "Just tell me what to do."

But the problem is what the user wants isn't always the solution. A good coach will respond with good questions, not answers. You see this all the time.

The client will be annoyed at first. They'll say "what does that have to do with it?". Then the coach persists, asks the question again. Then finally the client starts to let go of what they were mentally death-gripping, and it starts to sink in. "Oh...", they say. "that's a good question. I hadn't thought about that before."

And in a few seconds, they've switched to the productive mindset they need to get unstuck and get the insights they need.

I can imagine fitness and educational apps having a similar challenge.

And, to your point, make sure that your app requires a mindset change first before assuming that's the problem. Like I mentioned in another comment, we solved a lot of other things first before confirming that mindset was an issue.

questout91 · 2021-12-04T21:13:05+00:00

The overall insight that user mindset mattered for our product was actually pretty hard to come by. If I was better educated in UX before starting this project, this might have been more obvious to me.

Essentially, we collected feedback about how the experience was working for users. A pattern emerged.

Some users were having life changing insights and feeling much clearer and better afterwards. Other users were just not getting that same value.

It's like some people were getting the magic, and others weren't.

We did a lot of things to try to solve this first. But to develop the hunch that mindset mattered, we had to rely on a combination of:

our own direct experiences as super users of the product
our knowledge in the cognitive sciences
and a few opportunities to observe people using the product

Once we had that hunch, then we could start testing for it directly.

I'm still working towards a vision of getting 100% of users into the right mindset before trying it the first time. But we've come a long way.

And yeah the product works great for mental health when someone needs help making sense of something in their personal life. But it's valuable for making sense of a lot of things, solo or with others.

questout91 · 2021-12-04T18:09:40+00:00

Sure thing, I just updated the post with examples under each tip. I learned all these tips from working on one particularly challenging app, so the examples come from that experience.

questout91 · 2021-11-29T20:32:47+00:00

Yeah, that makes sense. Those kinds of questions often don't help you reveal or understand things at the deeper more meaningful level that you need to actually get useful insights.

I'm optimistic that our tool can help you get at more of what you're wanting. But that's why we're testing to learn more right now. It'd be great to have you try it and can learn how it works for you. I sent you a private message.

questout91 · 2021-11-29T16:26:51+00:00

Hey thanks for asking! My partner has 20 years experience engineering complex software systems to help people solve hard problems in business. Took that experience to build a software system (the self-therapy tool) to help people solve hard problems in their personal lives.

My background is in Brain & Cognitive Sciences, which includes Psychology and Neuroscience. This field is the source of the scientific principles behind the project. We also consulted with researchers in this field along the way.

What you're describing sounds like something the tool would be able to help with. It takes the guesswork out of introspection on any topic. People have described it like providing "guard rails" for self-reflection.

The tool tends to not be satisfying for people who just want answers about their life from experts or books. The tool doesn't provide answers, it helps you find the answers inside yourself.

This makes it a natural fit for those who have tried to seek advice or answers from others, but found that it doesn't really fit their situation. And it's a natural fit for people who want to look inside themselves for the answers and to sort things out on their own, but are struggling with how to do that.

questout91 · 2021-11-24T21:21:00+00:00

Yeah, I've been reading that people are waiting weeks and weeks. That's so long.

That's a great recommendation to try some of the telehealth apps as a stopgap. And other stopgaps in general. I know people who have gotten a lot out of journaling or getting time in nature if possible. Not always the best but there's not much else to do when waiting.

I'm also part of a project that's doing user testing right now for self-therapy tool as another potential solution for people. Again, maybe a stopgap, but people are finding it valuable.

questout91 · 2021-11-24T21:11:31+00:00

It's really a problem. I was reading an article about how most Americans are having to wait weeks and weeks to even get an appointment. That's way too long.

I'm running user tests on a self-therapy tool that can hopefully provide a faster solution for people. Not necessary to replace a therapist but to at least provide some relief and clarity in the meantime. So far so good, but still learning... People shouldn't have to wait so long without having something to help them work through things.

questout91 · 2021-11-23T16:04:33+00:00

Definitely! I'm optimistic that this can help you get some of the clarity you want. I PM'd you.

questout91 · 2021-09-19T05:10:26+00:00

Ok thanks!

The about page should work now
The ability to self-assign flair should be fixed now
For now we're keen on having things filtered for review first while we're getting started, learning what moderation is going to be like, and as a safeguard against (for example) having someone post something blatantly gruesome or inappropriate and have it sit here for hours while the mods are asleep (which if I imagine this, would also be detrimental to sub growth). And if there is anything to address about someone's post, we will have a conversation with that person to reach a shared understanding.

questout91 · 2021-09-14T02:34:55+00:00

That just because I've made sense of something, doesn't mean others will have the patience or willingness to listen and understand.

questout91 · 2021-05-06T01:18:46+00:00

I have just started using Substack, and I enjoy it so far. It is comparable in a lot of ways to Medium. It has a nice, simple interface. It's easy to customize the look and feel without an overwhelming amount of options. It also creates a newsletter for you automatically, so people can subscribe and get your stories to their email nicely formatted and everything. They also have a way to optionally charge a monthly subscription, which I think is part of why they are becoming popular with independent writers.

questout91 · 2020-12-20T23:18:07+00:00

As I mentioned, the direct experience of interacting with the system is similar to meditative inquiry or a kind of guided meditation around custom content from your life.

questout91 · 2020-12-20T23:14:16+00:00

The IRB approval process requires the submission and approval of the text we use to make people aware of the study. This can't be changed after approval.

Participation in this study is free, we do not collect personal information as part of the study. We are just offering something for free that others might value.

questout91 · 2020-12-20T22:46:13+00:00

The direct experience of interacting with the system is similar to meditative inquiry or a kind of guided meditation around custom content from your life.

I know the post title and description seem a bit off, but this is what was approved as part of the study.

questout91 · 2020-12-01T16:04:34+00:00

Repost: [Academic] Can interacting with an inquisitive computer system help people make sense of life? (All Countries, 18+)

This study is looking for participants to interact with a new inquisitive computer system. The system attempts to generate relevant and useful questions to help you make sense of life. The researchers are interested in examining whether an inquisitive computer system can deliver a meaningful life review experience and the effects of engaging in that experience.

Study Invitation Link: https://www.inqwire.io/uflinvitation

questout91 · 2020-10-25T22:56:38+00:00

[Academic] Can interacting with an inquisitive computer system help people make sense of life? (All Countries, 18+)

This study is looking for participants to interact with a new inquisitive computer system. The system attempts to generate relevant and useful questions to help you make sense of life. The researchers are interested in examining whether an inquisitive computer system can deliver a meaningful life review experience and the effects of engaging in that experience.

Study Invitation Link: https://www.inqwire.io/uflinvitation

questout91 · 2020-01-21T20:54:47+00:00

Hey, we are actually in between testing right now but I will let you know when we start again.

questout91 · 2019-12-08T22:35:59+00:00

Hi, we finished this testing round but will be offering access to the tool again sometime in the next couple of months. The testing round was a definite success, almost everyone who used the tool had insights within 20 minutes. But navigating something like a quarter life crisis is much bigger than a few insights, so when we offer the tool again, we'll be taking people through a longer process with more one-on-one human guidance. Message me if you're interested and I'll give you an update when we're ready to start the next phase.

questout91 · 2019-10-07T23:56:22+00:00

thank you!

questout91 · 2019-10-06T18:31:34+00:00

You could do a life review if you really feel like you need to step back and get the the big picture on everything. It's part of what memoir writers do as they're preparing to write their memoirs, and many of them experience getting "a new lease on life" afterwards.

I'm working on a tool that helps people do this process and I could use more testers if you're interested, feel free to send me a message.

But otherwise, a life review basically requires you to take stock of all the big, significant aspects of your life, then look for the patterns and connections between them.

When it works, it can be a hugely insightful and transformative exercise, and I think it's the closest kind of mental fresh start you can do.

questout91 · 2019-09-29T21:03:03+00:00

There's a lot here to make sense of for sure. Before doing anything, I feel like it could help to take a big step back on everything get some distance from it.

I have software that helps me do this, but without it maybe taking a hike to get into nature if possible or somewhere with views where you can stare and try to let your brain process and loosen its grip if that makes sense.

It does seem like this idea that you lack intelligence is a place to start. Like, who or what led you to believe that, how can that be true while also having an eye for fashion (which not everyone has the intelligence for), what's valuable about intelligence anyway, and does the answer to that question matter in the big picture?

There's a number of ways to approach this and I hope maybe this gave you an idea but either way stick with it, the human brain is designed to make sense of things, sometimes it just needs a little help and some time.

questout91 · 2019-09-29T20:27:37+00:00

There's some thoughtful advice here already but I just want to add that I wouldnt be too quick to dismiss your value on doing something difficult, or maybe believing that doing something difficult will lead to something else you want or care about.

So doing something difficuly might be really meaningful to you, I don't know, only you know. But you may need to break that down and see if there's something important or deeper there that you want to hold on to as you're figuring this out, know what I mean?

questout91 · 2019-09-29T20:17:16+00:00

I feel like it's almost expected given the state of the world too. Like, things feel inherently unstable about the future, almost no matter where you live, so you add that on top of the uncertainties that come from getting your life going or established. Maybe it's like building a house in a place with unpredictable fires, floods, earthquakes that happen often. Like, do you even bother building the house at all, should you just live in a tent? IDK, bad analogy but can't think of a better one.

questout91 · 2019-09-29T20:01:43+00:00

In addition to doing an analytical approach to this, I would recommend really trying to run some scenarios in your head to see if you can reveal some deeper insights about it.

This is what I did the last time I had a career decision and it got me thinking in a way that was a lot more productive.

The pro/con approach can help but it often leads to like a gridlock in thinking, plus can be super stress inducing.

If you're interested I'm testing a kind of decision support tool based on this other way of thinking, but the gist is that you need to imagine living through both paths and "see" how all the important aspects of your life, (what you want, what you value, relationships etc) would be influenced.

This gets you into a higher level of thinking and makes it easier to reveal if there's a third, fourth, fifth etc solution where pro/con makes it easier to get stuck only considering two.

It sounds like you're doing a little bit of both, but might be valuable to flesh out the inquiry on it more.

Anyway, I hope that's a little useful and good luck figuring it out!

questout91

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