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Nico Dozenbach, an associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, now has the opportunity to see firsthand what happens to the brain when people ingest hallucinogens. For science, of course.
He was given large doses of psilocybin by a colleague — that’s what friends are for — and then, as he began to trip, he was locked in the claustrophobic space of the MRI machine. At first, Dosenbach didn’t actually know whether he’d been given a placebo dose of psilocybin or the stimulant Ritalin, because his colleague didn’t tell him which one he’d be receiving.
That is, until I felt my brain turn into a computer.
“I was on a computer tablet and my thoughts were like the computer’s thoughts, which of course were gibberish,” Dorsenbach said. Said CNN“I knew this wasn’t normal, but I wasn’t scared.”
this is, New Researchpublished in the journal Nature The study, which Dosenbach co-authored, unlocks the secrets of the hallucinogenic effects behind the active compounds in magic mushrooms. Scientists and avid trippers have long wondered why psilocybin and similar drugs like LSD are able to distort our perception of time and space, induce ego death, and even possibly A promising therapeutic tool?
The researchers found that the drug may produce these mind-disrupting effects by disrupting a network of key regions in the brain, specifically those involved in introspective thinking, such as daydreaming and memory. As the study’s title states, “Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain.”
“The idea is that you temporarily and completely desynchronize this system that is fundamental to the brain’s ability to think about itself in relation to the world,” said Josh Siegel, lead author of the study and a lecturer in the department of psychiatry at West Virginia State University. Statement about the work.
And the lasting effect this has on grey matter mass appears to be positive from a treatment perspective, increasing plasticity – the brain’s ability to change and grow.
“In the short term, this creates a hallucinogenic experience,” Siegel added. “In the long term, it makes the brain more plastic and potentially healthier.”
The study involved seven adults, including Dosenbach. The subjects were given either a high dose of 25 milligrams of psilocybin or the mild stimulant Ritalin, and their brains were scanned in an MRI machine approximately 18 times before, during, and over a three-week period after the trip. Some of the subjects took psilocybin again six to 12 months later.
The scans revealed that the greatest disruptions occurred in “default mode,” a network of brain regions responsible for our sense of self, space, and time. This could be a good thing: it means the connectivity of our brain functions becomes more flexible in nature.
From a psychotherapist’s perspective, this could help the brain break bad habits and move away from negative thought patterns towards a better one. The key point, the researchers say, is that it’s best to work with a professional and that self-medication is not recommended.
Even more amazing, brain scans showed that these benefits in brain connectivity persisted subtly even weeks after the psychedelic experience.
“There’s a big initial effect, and then after that wears off, you’re left with a pinpoint effect,” Dosenbach said in a statement. “And that’s exactly what we want from future drugs. We don’t want people’s brain networks to be destroyed for days, but we don’t want everything to go back to normal right away either. We want the effect to last long enough to make a difference.”
Overall, this study gives us a hopeful glimpse into what’s behind the magic of magic mushrooms and illustrates what a resurgence of interest in the field of psychedelic medicine could mean.
More about psychedelics: Therapists warn that taking magic mushrooms for medical purposes could lead to unwanted romantic feelings
