Psilocybin seems to briefly reorganize the brain.
A model of the psilocybin molecule, which is made by nearly 200 species of fungi. (Illustration: Wikimedia Commons)
Psilocybin binds to a receptor in the brain for serotonin, and that's thought to cause many of its sensory distortions. Yet along with hallucinations and mood changes, people who take psilocybin often describe an abstract, dreamlike sense of "expanded consciousness." And in recent years, technology like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has shed light on what this looks like inside the brain.
In a 2014 study, for example, researchers scanned the brains of 15 volunteers after giving them psilocybin. Activity spiked in the brain network linked to emotional thinking, with simultaneous activity in different areas like the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex. (This pattern resembles fMRI scans of people who are dreaming, the researchers noted.) At the same time, activity became less organized in the brain network linked with high-level thinking and the sense of self.
Another fMRI study found a "dramatic change" in brain organization, linking psilocybin with a temporary flurry of neural connections that don't normally exist. "We find that the psychedelic state is associated with a less constrained and more intercommunicative mode of brain function," the authors wrote, "which is consistent with descriptions of the nature of consciousness in the psychedelic state."
Psilocybin may cause lasting personality change.
Openness is a personality trait that has been linked to creativity and divergent thinking. (Photo: Andy Arthur/Flickr)
While brain activity generally returns to normal after psilocybin wears off, the chemical has been shown to have longer-term effects, too. In a 2011 study, researchers measured its effect on five domains of personality — neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness — and found "significant increases in Openness following a high-dose psilocybin session."
Openness is a psychological term for someone's attitude toward new experiences, and is associated with traits like imagination, creativity and aesthetic appreciation. Not only did openness generally rise during a psilocybin session, but in nearly 60 percent of study participants, it "remained significantly higher than baseline more than 1 year after the session," the researchers wrote.
That was surprising, they added, since personality doesn't usually change much after the age of 30, especially not like this. "Normally, if anything, openness tends to decrease as people get older," the lead author of the study said in a statement.
The volunteers were all deemed psychologically healthy before the experiments began, the researchers pointed out, and their psilocybin sessions were closely monitored. Some of the participants did report strong fear or anxiety during the sessions, and while that reaction was temporary, Griffiths said it demonstrates the potential risks of trying hallucinogens without expert supervision.
Psilocybin can temporarily 'dissolve' your ego.
Psychedelics like psilocybin can spur a temporary loss of subjective self-identity. (Photo: Christian Reimer/Flickr)
Some people report losing their sense of self while on magic mushrooms. This "dissolving" of the ego is typically short-lived, but may be related to some longer-lasting effects of psychedelics, like the openness mentioned above. And according to a 2017 study, temporary ego loss could be beneficial in the right context.
"This 'ego dissolution' results in a moment of expanded awareness, a feeling in which the mind is put more directly and intensely in touch with the world," says co-author Philip Gerrans, a philosophy professor at the University of Adelaide, in a statement. "Through this experience it may be possible to re-engineer the mechanisms of self, which in turn could change people's outlook or worldview. The profound sense of connection produced by this experience has the potential to be beneficial for people suffering from anxiety, depression and some forms of addiction."
As co-author Chris Letheby adds, psychedelics offer a wide perspective that can endure even after the drugs wear off. "People who go through psychedelic experiences no longer take it for granted that the way they've been viewing things is the only way," he explains. "Psychedelics can assist in enlightening people about the processes behind their subjectivity. Ego dissolution offers vivid experiential proof not only that can things be different, but that there is an opportunity to seek change."
Magic mushrooms can improve mental health.
A psilocybin therapy session at Johns Hopkins University. (Photo: Psychoactive Substances Research Collection/YouTube)
Although magic mushrooms are widely outlawed as dangerous drugs with no medical value, a growing body of research casts them in a much less nefarious light. Psychedelics have "negligible habit-forming potential," as neuroscientist Nick Jikomes wrote for a Harvard science blog in 2015, and they've even been shown to help treat addiction to habit-forming drugs like cocaine and nicotine.
Magic mushrooms are also increasingly seen as a potential psychiatric wonder drug. Research has shown promising effects on depression, for example, such as a 2017 study that found psilocybin "may effectively reset the activity of key brain circuits known to play a role in depression." The compound seems to boost emotional responsiveness in the brain, another recent study found, suggesting it could relieve depression without the "emotional blunting" often associated with traditional antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Psilocybin has brought transformative relief from anxiety, too, including in people diagnosed with life-threatening cancer. In one 2016 study, researchers found that moderate doses of psilocybin — combined with psychotherapy — helped cancer patients overcome anxiety and depression related to their diagnosis, leading to a long-term rise in quality of life and optimism. Six months after a single dose (which only lasted four to six hours), about 80 percent of participants still showed significantly reduced anxiety and depression, and 83 percent still reported higher life satisfaction. Two-thirds even described their psilocybin session as one of the top five most meaningful experiences in their lives.
Psilocybe pelliculosa mushrooms grow in a Pacific Northwest forest. (Photo: JimmyTheWorm/Wikimedia Commons)
Results like these point to the need for more research on psilocybin, a field that has long been limited by legal restrictions. But it's also worth repeating a key caveat about psychedelic therapy: The participants in these studies are carefully dosed and monitored by experts, and their sessions are often complemented by counseling to help them process the experience. Psychedelics can be scary at times, especially if you aren't familiar with their effects, which can vary widely based on factors like mood, temperament, psychological condition and setting. Guidance could be even more important for people already struggling with a chronic mental health issue.
We still have a lot to learn about how magic mushrooms affect the human brain. But thanks to thousands of years of experience — and a surge of modern research — we've at least learned enough to know it's probably worth learning more.
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