Can LSD help color blindness?

There have been a few academic papers published recently on the relationship between color blindness (or color vision in general) and psychedelics like LSD, mescaline and magic mushrooms. I hate them all. In this video, I look at the actual effects hallucinogens can have on your color vision.
FOOTNOTES - these didn't fit in the description, so I've put them in a pinned comment (or on the website).
Transcript, Footnotes & References:
chromaphobe.com/can-lsd-help-...
Glossary, including all of the technical terms in this video:
chromaphobe.com/words/

[@Chromaphobe]

FOOTNOTE 5: On the really bad colorblind exam from [Abraham 1982]: “Each subject was placed 500 centimetres from the test object [(a color lithograph)] and asked to describe with a single word the colour of the “sun, and not the glow around it”. If the subject reported any colour other than white, he was asked to take a step closer and try again. The distance from the picture to the corneas was measured in centimetres when the subject first made the correct response.” There are several terrible flaws in this method: - This is a denotative task, which means there is an influence of language. - The question can be answered connotatively, i.e. people know what color the sun is likely to be (e.g. not green). - Prompting ‘not the glow around it’ infers that the correct color (white) is different from the glow around the sun. - All colors that appear white to a color normal will also appear white to a color blind subject. A subject reporting the white sun as colorful does not indicate a typical color vision deficiency. If anything, it indicates a problem with color constancy or other factors, but this has nothing to do with typical color blindness. - Ending the test once the subject answers correctly is very susceptible to noise from guessing colors, which is important when the test is only given once.. - This test can only be administered to a specific subject one time before they have likely “figured it out”. All in all, it would be difficult to design a worse test for color vision, so I can’t consider the conclusions of this paper.

[@Chromaphobe]

This is my first video since getting monetized. So naturally, I've picked the topic that immediately got demonetized!

[@hidebehind3565]

I even got a warning for this video haha

[@sunscream4525]

Well you've got it out the way now. Cash going forward. Congratulations :)

[@kiwipomegranate]

@@hidebehind3565 weird, I got an ad at the beginning and end and no warning

[@Chromaphobe]

2 days after I first recorded this video back in May, there was a new paper published looking at the effects of psilocybin on a color blind subject. I spent 2 months thinking about how I was going to shoehorn this new paper into the video, but ultimately realized that if I didn't just published this video without it, I probably never would, but I still want to address it. Anyway, here is the new paper: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20503245231172536 "Case report: Prolonged amelioration of mild red-green color vision deficiency following psilocybin mushroom use" In this study, a deuteranomalous man dosed on magic mushrooms, and measured his color vision using the Ishihara test directly before, directly after, and at several intervals up to more than a year later. The results show slight increases to his ishihara scores, which never clearly identified him as actually being deuteranomalous. Through misspelling deuteranomaly (deuteranomalia, archaic) and misunderstanding the mechanisms behind deuteranomaly (claiming damaged cones instead of shifted spectral sensitivity), it is likely that the authors' backgrounds are not in color vision. Otherwise, they would probably be familiar with the faults of the Ishihara and why it is a poor test for quantifying color vision, in part because it is trainable, i.e. scores are expected to increase the first few times you take the test as you understand certain minutia and tricks of the test, plus you start to memorize the answers. Even if you don't have the answer key, changes in lighting or color adaptation from test to test (indicative of a subject selftesting), will favour some plates some days and some plates other days. So even if you can't really see plate C on thursday, the fact that you saw it on Monday and got it right, may be enough to help you 'guess' it on Thursday. The author's are good to point out many of the other faults of the methodology, but these faults are fatal in my eyes. Controlled testing would really be necessary to draw ANY conclusions here. The author's don't exactly give much discussion on possible mechanisms. They mostly defer to the Anthony et al. [2020] paper discussed in the video, but also hold reservations about their neuroplasticity explanations. I wont fault the 2023 authors as much as the 2020 authors, but I don't believe their results are any more compelling.

[@brandonDuh47]

Psychedelics 🍄 killed my drug and alcohol dependencies - one trip two years ago to purge my depression and chronic anxiety from my system was the best decision I ever made. I've done psilocybin mushrooms a few times since, but after my last high dose trip I realized that the medicine has taught me enough for now. I might return to psychedelics later in my life if I ever find a source.

[@katlinkate]

I've listened to many trip reports, books, talks on psychedelics before taking a proper dose myself. It's impossible to understand their effects on you unless you experience it directly. It does something physical to the brain, no amount of consuming information about them can even come close to trying them yourself.

[@cannydave]

[adamsflakesx] Ships psychedelics

[@brandonDuh47]

​@@cannydavehow can I reach out? Is it Instagram?

[@nickclowes]

Wanna try, but keep being told I can't do it alone for the first time but I'd literally be so much more comfortable alone

[@cannydave]

​@@brandonDuh47yes

[@owlredshift]

AWESOME video, AWESOME science, and AWESOME host! You have a winning formula, I'll be spreading the word about your channel. Looking forward to more!

[@Chromaphobe]

High praise! Thanks a lot!

[@Casey-qn1vi]

As a person with protanopia who has done LSD and mushrooms both a handful of a times each, my color vision was not restored. Things just got colorful but red was still being perceived by me as my usual red. But! Wearing enchroma glasses is very fun while tripping, even if they also don't actually "correct" my colorblindness. Taking them on and off after spending a minute or two getting use to them is a wild transition while tripping!

[@Chromaphobe]

Ooh, I've gotta add that idea to the list!

[@brendan714]

A very fascinating summary of the literature, well explained so it definitely seems true and believeable. And I've gotta say, those first 2-3 min are hilarious, had me laughing out loud!

[@ez5993]

love your channel man i appreciate the science

[@Chromaphobe]

I appreciate that! I'm nothing without the science.

[@willguggn2]

I just realized you passed 1K subs. Grats! :)

[@scrapbandicoot]

I just thought of this, I feel the door would open, a threshold would be passed.

[@klikkolee]

I'm a little confused by the blue-purple example since to me, under the colorblind simulation, the two ends of the gradient still look like different hues -- blue and purple. The purple is more blue and less red compared to the top one, but it's still a major difference that isn't brightness or saturation. Makes me wonder about the quality of colorblind simulations in general, and wonder how the validity of a simulation can be tested.

[@Chromaphobe]

Hmm, my wife said it was sufficiently close, or at least much closer than the original. The simulation is use here isn't great, but it's the one that I have in the format needed for my video editor and I haven't been able to figure out the format to reprogram a "state of the art" sim into my videos.

[@petralichka6745]

@@Chromaphobe As a tritan, they are close enough for sure. The purple part is a bit lighter. From my experience dark blue/purple in general creates the illusion of a different hue with different levels of saturation and brightness. The closer the color is to white, the more purple it appears as opposed to darker shades appearing more blue. I find this phenomenon similar to darker shades of yellow being perceived as green. I noticed this when I tried to explain that see very few shades of yellow as an actual saturated color, alongside with blue and several of those people said that the colors i am referring to are green and blue until proven wrong with actual hex values. This might be similar to the individual names for red and pink making us distinguish those as different hues, but hues around red blend for me a bit much. Thought u might find this interesting.

[@VariantAEC]

​@@Chromaphobe Your wife might also be colorblind.

[@Chromaphobe]

This we know is definitely not the case. She has taken many a CVD test with me. She is a carrier though, which may have a subtle effect on her color discrimination (see schmidt's sign).

[@VariantAEC]

@@Chromaphobe Color discrimination is skewed significantly so that she might not discern the difference between blue and purple... but not color blind. I mean, that could be indicative of anomalous trichromacy at the very least, right?

[@ooqui]

If my comment from yesterday got removed by you I'm a bit shocked and would like to know why. And if it got auto-removed by KZbin itself I'm wondering even more. What I learned from your video: Don't take in any bad substances because they can make your color vision weird at best and worse at worst. Also, color is qualia and a very personal experience.

[@Chromaphobe]

Wasn't me. Ive never removed a comment. However, I've had loads of people complain that their comment got removed. Dont know what youtube is doing there...

[@fenryl736]

One last thing, you stated LSD induces neuroplasticity, which is great but what if a patient takes LSD all the time, trains his vision with help from friends to define which colour is really what it is in the real world, then you will always interpret those signals as that coliur. I think instead of dismissing by giving patients psychedelicd, we should also like PYSIOTHERAPY, continue to work on the the brains senses that are impaired, or damaged, and using psychedelics, train enough to bring about sustained prolonged changes. Like going to the gym once or even for two weeks, is not enough for you to become strong, you need to strain the muscles, so the same I argue needs to be tested in patients over a longer period with longer and hifher dosage exposure times. Give a chance for a revolution, do not shut it down too fast. Cheers.

[@tonyhakston536]

9:42 i mean, i saw a whole bunch of green and magenta when i was put on ketamine for my broken leg. Maybe i saw Hypergreen... and, i guess, Anti-Green?

[@Chromaphobe]

I had ketamine for my appendectomy earlier this year and I didn't see any new colors (dichromats like me don't have any possible "hyper" colors in our gamut), but I did have what felt like hyperphantasia for a few days, it was awesome. I was very sad to see that go.

[@tonyhakston536]

@@Chromaphobe dang, days? I only had anything unusual for while I was “under”. Term being used loosely since… I was technically conscious. Not that the technicality matters, as all my drugged up mind could comprehend at the time was “I’m in Ketamine World” and the vague notion that my leg was in great pain. It was fun, though. I sorta expected disassociation to be more existentially terrifying.

[@MrMacBig273]

Colorblind applying to be a airplane pilote : "I know I'm colorblind, but don't worry, I take mushroom, let me fly"

[@harthvader084]

Whats the difference between deuteranomalous vs deuteranomaly

[@Chromaphobe]

-y is the noun, -ous is the adjective. Deuteranomal = Deuteranomalous person = Person with Deuteranomaly.

[@manish4402]

Sir my mom and dad have no colour blindness but i am colour blind How it is possible But i am using blue ray glass while using laptop and mobile when i am studying So this can be reason of my colour blindness

[@Chromaphobe]

If you've got color filters over your eyes, they can make you perform worse on color vision tests. If you are colorblind though, then it is inherited from your mother, but 90% of the time, the mother is just a carrier, so she won't also be colorblind. Its 50% probable your maternal grandfather is also colorblind though. Most colorblind men have both parents with normal color vision, this is normal. I have another video about the genetics of color blindness that explains why.

[@Mboy556]

​@@Chromaphobewhatabout there tint glass that prevents "dangerous blue monitor light" or whatever.... can they effects negative to the test? But I had done with & without em, still failing the test.

[@fenryl736]

Listen, with synesthesia, sounds from ear, turn into electronic signal. Instead of 1 mode you get lets say 2 with LSD: Yu hear sounds & see colours according to the sound itself. Meaning, the brain interprets, the sound, eqch one, corresponds, via its electric signaling, to a certain colour. Yhat's just how the neurons, react, each sounds, or colour, or smell, or touch, all senses, electric signals, and via entheogens, you get to experience a certain colour, even if you do not have the correct opsin for it lets say. 3 Massive factors for me suggest entheogens are the future Neurogenesis Neuronal plasticity Synesthesia Y'all see 10 years from bow, if the world dodnt WW3 itself to hell, entheogens will advance humanity to peak performance. Have a Bsc in marine sciences, biotech major, and done psilocybin, changa, salvia, LSD, and definitely the colours melt from my vision and I get grey tones instead, or hightened ones, even basic white outlines in a pitch black room, when I tap and scrape the bathroom counter, like a bat sonar vision. I am excited for having spoken to many dr. Phds. In the field, working to bring a better tomorrow, treating PTSD with ibogaine, mushrooms, and optemotrists working on tech to cure blindness. Cheers all, peace be upon you.

[@AllYourMemeAreBelongToUs]

11:29 "Two colors that distinct to a color normal observer can look metameric or identical to a colorblind person" Does this mean you no longer stand by the statement you made in your video _The Cones + Types of Colorblindness_ @ 13:09 "I see red, I see green, and I can even tell them apart most of the time." Because that statement is wrong. Or at least, it depends on what you mean by "see red", if by "see red" you mean sense light with a wavelength between 670-700 nm then yes, but if you mean experience the qualia associated with high relative activation of the L cones and low relative activation of the M and S cones, then no. You can see the wavelengths that color normals associate with the colors red and green, but to you they appear to be different luminances of the same chromaticity. As someone with protanopia you cannot experience the distinct chromaticities color normals call red and green.

[@Chromaphobe]

Wow, I appreciate the deep cut! Listening to that video again, damn the audio was bad. The purpose of that statement in the old video is to say that "red-green color blind" is misleading in terms of which colors of confusion are the most annoying. Red and green, while indeed appearing as the same chromaticity to protanopes, are often portrayed in very different luminances that is a strong clue for differentiating them (red is most often the much darker one). That's why so many protans think they can still see red. In contrast, blue-purple is a much more annoying confusion pair for us to deal with as that cultural differentiation by luminance is missing. Otherwise you are 100% right and that statement was probably sloppily phrased.

[@somnvm37]

I know meth can help colourblindness, by that I mean that consuming it can cause tritanopia