Nico Dosenbach, an associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, got a firsthand look at what happens in the brain when it’s high on psychedelics. For science, of course.
He was given a high dose of psilocybin by his coworkers (what else are friends for?) and, as he began to trip, he locked himself in the claustrophobic confines of an MRI machine. At first, Dosenbach wasn’t sure whether he was taking psilocybin or the stimulant Ritalin as a placebo, because his coworkers didn’t tell him which.
That is, until he felt his brain turn into a computer.
“I was the computer tablet, and my thoughts were like computer thoughts, which of course makes no sense,” Dosenbach said. CNN“I was aware that it wasn’t normal, but it wasn’t scary.”
This was achieved in a new study, published in the journal Nature and co-authored by Dosenbach, to unlock the psychedelic secrets behind the active compound in magic mushrooms. Scientists—and avid trippers—have long wondered: How is it that psilocybin and similar drugs, such as LSD, can distort our perception of space-time, induce ego death, and perhaps also be a promising therapeutic tool?
According to the researchers’ findings, the drug may be responsible for these psychotropic effects by disrupting a key network of areas in our brains, namely those involved in introspective thinking, such as daydreaming and memory. As the title of the study says: “Psilocybin Desynchronizes the Human Brain.”
“The idea is that you take this system that is fundamental to the brain’s ability to think about itself in relation to the world, and you temporarily throw it completely out of sync,” the study’s lead author, Joshu Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at WUS, said in a statement about the work.
And the lasting effects it has on our bits of gray matter appear to be therapeutically positive, stimulating what’s called plasticity, or our brain’s ability to change and grow.
“In the short term, it creates a psychedelic experience,” Siegel added. “The long-term consequence is that it makes the brain more flexible and potentially more capable of reaching a healthier state.”
The study involved seven adult participants, including Dosenbach. They were given either a high dose of 25 milligrams of psilocybin or a dose of Ritalin, a mild stimulant, and their brains were scanned in an MRI machine about 18 times before, during and three weeks after their trip. Some of them also took another dose of psilocybin between six and 12 months later.
The scans showed that the biggest disruption was occurring in the brain’s “default mode,” a network of regions responsible for our sense of self, space, and time. That may be a good thing: It essentially makes the connectivity of our brain functions more flexible.
From a psychotherapist’s perspective, it could also help us break our brain’s bad habits, guiding us out of our pessimistic thought patterns and into greener pastures. One key point is that it’s best to do this with a professional – self-medication is not recommended, the researchers said.
Better yet, brain scans have shown that these brain connectivity benefits persist subtly for weeks after the psychedelic experience.
“The initial effect is massive, and when it wears off, it’s just a one-time effect,” Dosenbach said in the statement. “That’s exactly what you want to see in a potential drug. You don’t want people’s brain networks to be wiped out for days, but you also don’t want everything to go back to the way it was right away. You want an effect that lasts long enough to make a difference.”
Overall, the study gave us an encouraging glimpse into what’s behind the magic of magic mushrooms — and illustrates what renewed interest in the field of psychedelic medicine can do.
Learn more about psychedelics: Therapists warn that taking magic mushrooms for therapeutic purposes can lead to unwanted romantic feelings
