Have we been thinking about pain all wrong?
And can we use psychedelics to alleviate extreme suffering?
This is why Andrés Gómez Emilsson of QRI thinks we should think of logarithmic – not linear – scales when thinking about pain – and pleasure.
Thinking about pain
Think about your happiest moment, that 10 out of 10. Was it just a bit better than a 9?
No, it was probably a few orders of magnitude better (Andres estimates 4.5x)
The same goes for pain. Being stung by a bullet ant is orders of magnitude more painful than a small bee
Instead of thinking of pain & pleasure on a linear scale from -10 to +10, think of each number higher/lower being 4.5x more intense
A cluster headache, rated at -10, is thus 2000x more painful than chronic back pain, rated at -5
What can psychedelics do?
Andres argues that psychedelics can do two things.
- Elicit intensely pleasurable experiences (MDMA, LSD, 5-MeO-DMT)
- Prevent extreme painful experiences (cluster headaches)
The research is in its infancy, but if true it could reduce suffering on an enormous scale.
Just like there is a log scale in pleasure & pain, a small number of those experiencing cluster headaches experience the most.
What if the application of DMT – at a dose below hallucinogenic effects – could help stop a cluster headache?
The early research
A survey of members of online cluster headache forums revealed that 68% of respondents who used tryptamines had a 4 or 5 out of 5 relief. 5 indicates “completely eliminated the cluster headaches”. “
“If I’m starting to experience a [cluster headache] and I vaporise as little as 3mgs [of DMT, sub psychoactive], I feel the pain subside almost completely within 3 to 5 seconds, and it doesn’t come back for a few days.”
At the moment, most people with cluster headaches don’t have access to psychedelics – and are unaware that it might help alleviate their extreme suffering (Andres estimates it will work for >70%)
Both QRI and Cluster Buster are working on changing that.
TL;DR: Pain – and pleasure – are not linear but fall on a logarithmic scale.
Psychedelics can relieve extreme suffering from cluster headaches.
Advocacy & research could be an immensely effective opportunity to do good.