Far along the path of life, I fell into a rare dark nine-month depression.  I say “rare” because, blessed with good brain chemistry, I have been cheerful and optimistic most of my life.  Sure, I’ve had a few bouts of the blues, but this depression was different.

I could not sleep; and believe me, if there were an Olympic event for sleeping, I would win hands down!  I began to dread dusk, because it meant I would end up lying, eyes wide open, in bed at 3:00 am with obsessive thoughts howling through my head, over and over and over.  After finally falling asleep in the wee, wee hours, I would get up for a while and then crawl back into bed, curled up in a fetal position, not wanting to face the day. My normal ebullience was gone. I had become a zombie. Not the fleshing eating kind, but the morose kind. I lost 22 pounds, imagined I was getting cancer, ran to doctors for tests… and feared I was destroying myself. 

Why? Oh, this is the really bizarre part because my depression was triggered by a life-changing event that many people long for: retirement and moving out of the country.

To read entire article, which was published by the Chacruna Institute under Chronicles-Inegration, click here.

The article describes how a single ayahuasca session helped the author overcome a deep depression, after trying other remedies (medications, meditations and affirmations) without success.

Video: Psychedelics for Passion and Purpose

In this video, Jerry discusses three seminal psychedelic experiences: finding a passionate purpose (psilocybin), choosing love over fear (LSD), and overcoming a deep depression (ayahuasca). His description of this ayahuasca session begins at 2:12 in the video.

Note: In the video, we say the depression lasted six-months, but on reflection we realized that it lasted for nine months.