In our third episode, we talk with Aaron Orsini, co-founder of the Autistic Psychedelic Community, collaborator with neuroscientists, and author of the book Autism on Acid, about how LSD helped him understand, navigate, alter, and appreciate his autistic perceptions.

• Websites: AutisticPsychedelic.com & AutismOnAcid.com
• Twitter: @AutisticPsyched & @AutismOnAcid
• Aaron’s book: Autism on Acid

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• MAPS website: MAPS.org
• Heffter website: Heffter.org

01:16 Aaron’s diagnosis 04:20 Aaron coming out as autistic 05:15 Wrestling with the pood, the bad, and the ugly of autism 06:35 The stages of grief and autism diagnosis 09:20 Dealing with depression and other blocks in personal development 10:36 Neurological contact lens 15:00 Autism, psychedelics, and neural rewiring 17:50 Alexithymia and autism 21:00 Autistic Roomba 23:25 Martin’s tree experience 26:26 Hypersensitivity and trauma 31:35 Synesthesia 33:40 Psychedelics aiding a person with overwhelming synesthesia 35:00 Comparing and contrasting conscious experiences in NTs and autistics 36:47 Serotonin is (seemingly) ubiquitous: the model neurotransmitter 39:10 Parallels between infant brains and adult brains on psychedelics 40:10 Aaron’s role as a bridge between autism and psychedelic neuroscience 42:40 Other autistics’ positive experiences with psychedelics 43:44 Meditation and then mushrooms help Matt with his alexithymia 45:10 Martin embraces empathy on MDMA 45:40 Aaron’s first LSD trip 49:00 Dissolving the mask: LSD improves Aaron’s social intuition 50:55 Attempting to explain the ineffable, such as falling in love for the first time 52:48 Aaron takes control of his meta-programming 54:10 Aaron’s struggle to manifest his goals 55:55 PSA on doing and acquiring psychedelic substances 57:15 Collabs & more collabs: Aaron’s goals for autism and psychedelic research 59:45 Psychedelics’ medicinal uses 1:00:00 Lessons learned 1:04:00 LSD saves Aaron’s life 1:05:00 Taking interest in others 1:07:20 Research on psychedelics as disorder treatment 1:08:45 Psychedelics easing defense mechanisms and facilitating trauma resolution 1:09:56 Aaron embraces his autism post-LSD trip 1:11:30 Founding Embrace ASD 1:11:57 Love yourself 1:12:30 Knowing an experience vs. knowing about an experience 1:13:32 Insights don’t come for free 1:16:00 Aaron makes binaural beats 1:16:30 Set and setting 1:17:55 Alicia Danforth’s study on MDMA to alleviate social anxiety in autistic subjects((Reduction in social anxiety after MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with autistic adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study (Danforth et al., 2018))) 1:18:55 Aaron’s vision for psychedelic-assisted therapy for autistic people 1:21:10 Aaron finds his calling in life 1:22:40 Weekly autistic meetup group 1:23:00 Tempering expectations 1:23:30 Growing support and Aaron’s identity as a community-grower 1:24:18 Aaron’s social media/wrapping up