New study discovers biological basis for magic mushroom 'mind expansion'
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Psychedelic mushrooms put your brain in a “waking dream,” study finds
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...m-study-finds/
Psychedelic mushrooms can do more than make you see the world in kaleidoscope. Research suggests they may have permanent, positive effects on the human brain.In fact, a mind-altering compound found in some 200 species of mushroom is already being explored as a potential treatment for depression and anxiety. People who consume these mushrooms, after “trips” that can be a bit scary and unpleasant, report feeling more optimistic, less self-centered, and even happier for months after the fact.
But why do these trips change the way people see the world? According to a study published today in Human Brain Mapping, the mushroom compounds could be unlocking brain states usually only experienced when we dream, changes in activity that could help unlock permanent shifts in perspective.
The study examined brain activity in those who’d received injections ofpsilocybin, which gives “shrooms” their psychedelic punch. Despite a long history of mushroom use in spiritual practice, scientists have only recently begun to examine the brain activity of those using the compound, and this is the first study to attempt to relate the behavioral effects to biological changes.
After injections, the 15 participants were found to have increased brain function in areas associated with emotion and memory. The effect was strikingly similar to a brain in dream sleep, according to Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, a post-doctoral researcher in neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and co-author of the study.
“You’re seeing these areas getting louder, and more active,” he said. “It’s like someone’s turned up the volume there, in these regions that are considered part of an emotional system in the brain. When you look at a brain during dream sleep, you see the same hyperactive emotion centers.”
In fact, administration of the drug just before or during sleep seemed to promote higher activity levels during Rapid Eye Movement sleep, when dreams occur. An intriguing finding, Carhart-Harris says, given that people tend to describe their experience on psychedelic drugs as being like “a waking dream.” It seems that the brain may literally be slipping into unconscious patterns while the user is awake.
Conversely, the subjects of the study had decreased activity in other parts of the brain—areas associated with high level cognition. “These are the most recent parts of our brain, in an evolutionary sense,” Carhart-Harris said. “And we see them getting quieter and less organized.”
This dampening of one area and amplification of another could explain the “mind-broadening” sensation of psychedelic drugs, he said. Unlike most recreational drugs, psychotropic mushrooms and LSD don’t provide a pleasant, hedonistic reward when they’re consumed. Instead, users take them very occasionally, chasing the strange neurological effects instead of any sort of high.
“Except for some naďve users who go looking for a good time…which, by the way, is not how it plays out,” Carhart-Harris said, “you see people taking them to experience some kind of mental exploration, and to try to understand themselves.”
Our firm sense of self—the habits and experiences that we find integral to our personality—is quieted by these trips. Carhart-Harris believes that the drugs may unlock emotion while “basically killing the ego,” allowing users to be less narrow-minded and let go of negative outlooks.
It’s still not clear why such effects can have more profound long-term effects on the brain than our nightly dreams. But Carhart-Harris hopes to see more of these compounds in modern medicine. “The way we treat psychological illnesses now is to dampen things,” he said. “We dampen anxiety, dampen ones emotional range in the hope of curing depression, taking the sting out of what one feels.”
But some patients seem to benefit from having their emotions “unlocked” instead. “It would really suit the style of psychotherapy where we engage in a patient’s history and hang-ups,” Carhart-Harris said. “Instead of putting a bandage over the exposed wound, we’d be essentially loosening their minds—promoting a permanent change in outlook.”
Re: New study discovers biological basis for magic mushroom 'mind expansion'
Thank you Barry, nice article.
I have taken psilocybe Cubensis commercial shrooms, picked wild psilocybe Montana shrooms in Hawaii and tried some synthetic psilocybin tablets that were going around back in the 60's.
I found that the synthesized psilocybin was less of a body high due to the lack of all the other alcaloids, and a very enjoyable trip.
When I took the psilocybin tablet, it was at a concert at the old Fillmore in 1969. It was The Jefferson Airplane, the Ace of Cups (an all woman band) and light show by the North American Ibis Alchemical Co. It was a fantastic concert and I had a great time and felt divine to be there. I read in the Herb Cain column that particular Airplane concert was the best concert that they ever did, and even though I didn't know it at the time, I had the feeling that it was. It turned out that was the best concert that I have ever attended in my life, what a blast.
I remember that after hitchhiking back to Stinson at 3:00 am after the concert, I noticed the feeling that I was in a dream, and anything that I imagined that I wanted to see, I would see it and felt energized. I called it a do it yourself trip, and psilocybin produces some very colorful and complex patterns, very similar to pharmaceutical LSD, but not as powerful.
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Re: New study discovers biological basis for magic mushroom 'mind expansion'
The mushrooms pictured below are the "psychedelic" Psilocybe cubensis, the bluish stain at the base of the stipe is considered an indicator. The ones in the post were dried morels.
The "findings" of the study are hardly new. In the early 1960s Drs.Timothy Leary & Richard Alpert while at Harvard conducted a series of experiments including "The Harvard Psilocybin Project". They became more known for their experiments with LSD and were having good success treating alcoholics and various waccos(sic) until shut down by the "authorities".
Most who have personally experimented with these substances would agree with the findings. It would not surprise me if some of the substances found in marijuana don't induce similar results.
Fifteen patients seem to be a small number, but enough to generate a sensationalist headline about psychedelic drugs.
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