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Hello everyone! I am a Ukrainian from Europe, a psychiatrist, an addictologist, and a writer

mindheal

mindheal

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Joined
Feb 2, 2023
Messages
7
My name is Alex. I am from Ukraine and have been living in Europe for the last few years. I am a psychiatrist, an addictologist and have my own sad history with opioids, which has affected my family.

Recently I realized that I was moving towards a dead end, I can already see it. I need to go beyond my offline practice, so I started a simple blog where I write about substances, harm reduction, pharmacology, and my attitude to issues such as legalization, the war on drugs, etc. I don't know what the rules are regarding links, so I won't click trouble. If you become interested, go to mindheal(dot)com. Now there are not very many interesting articles and they are more aimed at promotion (CEO topics or something like that). But some materials may be interesting, I hope, to the most experienced users. For example articles about legalization, the basis of drug withdrawal, or our reward system.

I just recently came across this forum and am amazed by the abundance and structuring of information. One of the clients told me about the BL. It's great that there is such a place on the web and it's a pity that not everyone knows about it, including doctors.

And I also want to ask you for advice - what topics you can't find on the web, what information is missing for those who use substances, but at the same time are interested in health or just well-being, stabilization of the condition, and path without a wall in end? I will be grateful for your ideas and opinions.

For now, I'm just looking around and will occasionally come here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I will try to answer them.
And in general, I am always open to dialogue or discussion. The only limiter for me is time. As always, there is not enough of it for everything.
 
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Welcome aboard the Bluelight train.

Thanks for not posting links as we kind of frown on that here. But making this great post gives users the option to check out your website without really advertising it. And we can always use more professionals around here. Most members try their best to help people from their own experiences but few really have the tools to really understand the underlying issues and how to overcome them.

Glad to have you.
 
mindheal said:
And I also want to ask you for advice - what topics you can't find on the web, what information is missing for those who use substances, but at the same time are interested in health or just well-being, stabilization of the condition, and path without a wall in end? I will be grateful for your ideas and opinions.
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I am a bit confused as to the "advice" that is sought. My bad for being so dense but read it several times and came up confused anyway.
Welcome to BL. Also looking forward to some of your perspectives and ideas.
Best wishes.
Peace
 
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We are quite the experience !

Many welcomes !!
 
I sincerely thank you all for the kind greetings :)


Lil'LinaptkSix said:
I am a bit confused as to the "advice" that is sought. My bad for being so dense but read it several times and came up confused anyway.
Welcome to BL. Also looking forward to some of your perspectives and ideas.
Best wishes.
Peace
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I formulated my thought too confusedly. I apologize.
I asked about topics that may be of interest to users and that have not been covered too often here and on other thematic forums and sites.

It would be really a pleasure for me to use my knowledge and skills to talk about what is interesting to other people, and not to search engines. Although I understand that it is difficult to do without the latter in this ocean of information.
 
mindheal said:
I sincerely thank you all for the kind greetings :)



I formulated my thought too confusedly. I apologize.
I asked about topics that may be of interest to users and that have not been covered too often here and on other thematic forums and sites.

It would be really a pleasure for me to use my knowledge and skills to talk about what is interesting to other people, and not to search engines. Although I understand that it is difficult to do without the latter in this ocean of information.
Click to expand...
Welcome to Bluelight!

If you are a psychiatrist, I encourage you to check out the Invega Recovery threads in The Dark Side subforum. I would advise to you read as much as you possibly can *before* or even *without* commenting as a mental health practitioner. The reason is that pretty much all of the members who post in those threads have had horrible experiences with Invega Sustenna/Paliperidone/Xeplion and most do not trust doctors, mental hospitals, or pretty much anyone who has anything to do with prescribing Invega or any other anti-psychotic. I warn you, if you post there prematurely or try to throw your weight around, you *will* be met with scorn, so best to lurk for now.

All that being said, I think that any medication prescribing doctor/nurse practitioner absolutely needs to be aware of the debilitating side effects of this medication. The reason most posters in those threads don't trust doctors is because when they report real effects of the drug, they are ignored or the effects are explained away or they are accused of falling back into psychosis. Many have been forcefully injected with this drug without ever experiencing psychosis in the first place. So I see it as the responsibility of you or any other prescribing individual to do their homework and make themselves aware of the tangible dangers of these medications. The next step would be advising and raising awareness to your peers in the field. Of course, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The first step is familiarizing yourself with these threads, there are currently six of them. I'm linking the 6th one below and the first post has links to the previous five threads:

Mental Health - Coming off Invega (Paliperidone, Xeplion) injections v 6.0

As is standard procedure, after ~250 pages the previous Invega thread has been closed and will be continued here. This thread is for anyone currently prescribed, coming off, recovering, or completely healed from taking Invega (Paliperidone, Xeplion) injections. The thread is for venting...
bluelight.org bluelight.org
 
Jerry Atrick said:
Welcome to Bluelight!

If you are a psychiatrist, I encourage you to check out the Invega Recovery threads in The Dark Side subforum. I would advise to you read as much as you possibly can *before* or even *without* commenting as a mental health practitioner. The reason is that pretty much all of the members who post in those threads have had horrible experiences with Invega Sustenna/Paliperidone/Xeplion and most do not trust doctors, mental hospitals, or pretty much anyone who has anything to do with prescribing Invega or any other anti-psychotic. I warn you, if you post there prematurely or try to throw your weight around, you *will* be met with scorn, so best to lurk for now.

All that being said, I think that any medication prescribing doctor/nurse practitioner absolutely needs to be aware of the debilitating side effects of this medication. The reason most posters in those threads don't trust doctors is because when they report real effects of the drug, they are ignored or the effects are explained away or they are accused of falling back into psychosis. Many have been forcefully injected with this drug without ever experiencing psychosis in the first place. So I see it as the responsibility of you or any other prescribing individual to do their homework and make themselves aware of the tangible dangers of these medications. The next step would be advising and raising awareness to your peers in the field. Of course, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The first step is familiarizing yourself with these threads, there are currently six of them. I'm linking the 6th one below and the first post has links to the previous five threads:

Mental Health - Coming off Invega (Paliperidone, Xeplion) injections v 6.0

As is standard procedure, after ~250 pages the previous Invega thread has been closed and will be continued here. This thread is for anyone currently prescribed, coming off, recovering, or completely healed from taking Invega (Paliperidone, Xeplion) injections. The thread is for venting...
bluelight.org bluelight.org
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Thank you for the tip and the warning. I understand that doctors and healthcare systems in many countries have done everything to make people distrust and despise them. Especially in the field of mental health. This is a big problem and I am very sad and anxious about it.
 
mindheal said:
Thank you for the tip and the warning. I understand that doctors and healthcare systems in many countries have done everything to make people distrust and despise them. Especially in the field of mental health. This is a big problem and I am very sad and anxious about it.
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I'm glad you are not oblivious to it all. I have been a patient in the mental health system for 20 years and many of the Bluelighters in The Dark Side (and other subforums here I'm sure) have been there too.

Like I said above, I think the best thing you can do is simply educate yourself on the matter. I would compare it to a business owner reading online reviews customers write about their experiences there. Some reviews will be positive and some will be negative. Positive reviews are great but the important thing is to take the negative ones to heart and use them as learning tools to get better and improve the business.

Hopefully learning more about the patient side of things can help alleviate some of your anxiety because it gives you a measuring stick on how your industry is faring on the front lines, so to speak. You can either be a part of the problem or a part of the solution. I can tell you are an empathetic person otherwise you would not be sad and anxious about it.

Good luck and I hope to see you around!
 
Good day to all!

I'm not sure who to write about it to, I'll just leave it here.

My friends helped me realize an idea. We took a hype chat-GPT3 language model and made a bot based on it, which can (with varying success) answer questions about substances, harm reduction, and addiction. Now we are testing different conditions so that the answers can bypass the restrictions, give clear answers, and at the same time could not harm.

I want to share a link to the bot with forum participants and ask them to participate in testing to assess how this concept works and can be useful.

So far, the bot only works in the Telegram messenger. It can be found there under the name mindhealbot

I have a small budget for promotion, who can I contact on this issue? I understand that nothing happens for free and I want to support the work of the BL. I tried to write to the administration, but I didn't get an answer.
 
@Tronica You should get in touch with tronica to see if this is something BL would be into.

mindheal said:
Good day to all!

I'm not sure who to write about it to, I'll just leave it here.

My friends helped me realize an idea. We took a hype chat-GPT3 language model and made a bot based on it, which can (with varying success) answer questions about substances, harm reduction, and addiction. Now we are testing different conditions so that the answers can bypass the restrictions, give clear answers, and at the same time could not harm.

I want to share a link to the bot with forum participants and ask them to participate in testing to assess how this concept works and can be useful.

So far, the bot only works in the Telegram messenger. It can be found there under the name mindhealbot

I have a small budget for promotion, who can I contact on this issue? I understand that nothing happens for free and I want to support the work of the BL. I tried to write to the administration, but I didn't get an answer.
Click to expand...

Having worked here in harm reduction for quite awhile I have reservations that a bot can interact at the personal level necessary to communicate with people on subjects that often deal with complex human experiences, intertwined real life situations and strong emotions. A bot may really struggle with this. On top of that the bot would have to be based off a strong foundation that is true.
 
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neversickanymore said:
@Tronica You should get in touch with tronica to see if this is something BL would be into.



Having worked here in harm reduction for quite awhile I have reservations that a bot can interact at the personal level necessary to communicate with people on subjects that often deal with complex human experiences, intertwined real life situations and strong emotions. A bot may really struggle with this. On top of that the bot would have to be based off a strong foundation that is true.
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Thank you for your reply and contact! I fully agree that bots will not replace human communication and will not soon be able to use their numerous data to help a specific person with their specific problem. I consider my project as the first step on the way to getting help. Still, many people are scared and uncomfortable sharing their experiences and worries with others. Even today and even in the chat format. And a bot can become such a neutral and impartial gatekeeper who will give basic information and in the future will direct it to a specific specialist, to a specific forum or website. Its function should not be more than a convenient and specialized search engine in your pocket without unnecessary advertising, paid sites, and other tinsel.
 
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Hi. Sorry it took me this long to come to your thread. It sounds like a very interesting project indeed. I agree with your take on bots - they have a place, and if they can help people - especially where people are unable to access in-person or human support - or as a gateway to that support - then this is a positive step.

Excuse my ignorance- what materials did you / do you train the bot with to create it?

It strikes me that on the Bluelight Discord we already have some bots operating - I believe @AJAr has/had a project called Blot (bluelight bot) - i wonder if there is some cross over here with these projects but they may be quite different, maybe ajar can chime in.

As for your query in PM, I'll get to that too, but in the meantime, big welcome - glad you found BL :)
 
Tronica said:
Hi. Sorry it took me this long to come to your thread. It sounds like a very interesting project indeed. I agree with your take on bots - they have a place, and if they can help people - especially where people are unable to access in-person or human support - or as a gateway to that support - then this is a positive step.

Excuse my ignorance- what materials did you / do you train the bot with to create it?

It strikes me that on the Bluelight Discord we already have some bots operating - I believe @AJAr has/had a project called Blot (bluelight bot) - i wonder if there is some cross over here with these projects but they may be quite different, maybe ajar can chime in.

As for your query in PM, I'll get to that too, but in the meantime, big welcome - glad you found BL :)
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Hello and thank you Tronica for answering. Our bot is based on the hype chatGPT3 model, which was trained on the data accessible as of September 2021. Although it is expected to undergo updates, it shall necessitate both time and dedication from the developers.

I definitely need to create a Discord account and explore BL bot!

Once again, I appreciate the warm welcome. It means a lot to me.
 
Hi everyone! Some good and maybe intersting news. Our Harm Reduction chatbot has an update. Now there is a database of dosages and lists of useful links. I wrote the details in a post on my blog. As always, I will be glad to receive feedback, suggestions, and opinions :)
 
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