Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, has been known to deliver therapeutic effects to people with depression due to its ability to revive emotional responsiveness in the brain. Recent research has shed light on its potential therapeutic uses in the treatment of anxiety. The main psychedelic component of magic mushrooms is psilocybin, which shows promise as a treatment for depression and other mental disorders.
Psilocybin works by activating serotonin receptors, most often in the prefrontal cortex, which desynchronizes the brain network responsible for a person’s sense of self. It can reshape cells in the brain and increasingly shows potential for treating addiction or depression. The psychedelic drugs LSD and psilocybin activate serotonin receptors on brain cells in a way that reduces the energy needed for the brain to switch between states.
Psilocybin is a serotonergic and dopaminergic psychedelic that has gained recognition in the potential to mitigate symptoms of major mental disorders. Researchers are using psilocybin mushrooms to help people with mental health issues. The present data suggest that psilocin increases both extracellular dopamine and 5-HT concentrations in the mesoaccumbens and/or mesocortical pathway.
In addition to underlying the hallucinogenic effects of these compounds, serotonin receptor activation also has important effects on decision-making. Recently, psilocybin, a psychedelic compound derived from “magic mushrooms” with high affinity to the 5-HTA receptor, may help treat various psychiatric conditions.
📹 What Is Psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms) & What Are Its Effects? | Dr. Andrew Huberman
Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses the chemical and structural similarities between psilocybin and serotonin, their effects on the …
📹 Your Brain on Psilocybin
Humans have been taking psilocybin-containing mushrooms for centuries, but there has been recent research into the therapeutic …
i have taken this all the way, 10+ grams in a sensory deprivation room multiple times over the course of a year. i can say for absolute fact that the connections and creation of is just scratching the surface, think for a second that this literally is affecting the way your brain perceives time. making connections that have a temporal effect multiple times has led to some even more interesting connections outside of the physical, this is path of the future, ive seen it.
Wait a minute! If psilocybin increases the strength of the connections in your brain that help you make sense of the world? Than that means you are naturally disabled from understanding your world fully and that also means psilocybin unlocks previously unknown aspects of the universe perceived by the human brain. Ok that’s it, I’m gonna go on a trip now and find out what else I can see… you know… for science! 🤪
Well I’m a big proponent of psychedelic therapy legalization, all information I’m seeing these days about this subject discuss the benefits of psilocybin therapy, but for anybody who has ever used psychedelics knows that bad trips can and do happen. It would be good to see more articles about what causes them and how to cope with it during and after. Because some people can develop PTSD as a result of a single bad experience.
In the Netherlands it is expected that within 5-7 years treatment for depression with psilocybin is covered by the medical assurance, that means for everyone. You already can get treatment with psilocybin at three universities in the country. The paddo’s as we call them became illegal in 2008. But as usual things are complicated. . You are not arrested when you have them. It’s also legal to buy and sell sets to grow them yourself. Fresh magic truffles are still legal, dried are not.
The trip is the point. I would be dead without psychedelics. Mushrooms, ayahuasca (and analogs) and ketamine have been the only drugs that have worked. I’ve had addiction issues, intractable depression and anxiety. All of which were increased and intensified by a TBI… which was getting better until COVID brought back the symptoms and amplified them. I know which medicine works, I just need an infrastructure. I can keep a doctors appointment, but keeping an appointment with myself, to take a large dose of psychedelics is extremely difficult, especially through the murk and dread of deep depression. Thanks for the article. It’s nice to see honest reporting on the subject.
Yes, when adults take them, psychedelics can extremely helpful for mental health disorders. I’m suffering with narcissist personality disorder myself, right on the edge of treatability, with or without drugs. My 2 cents after 7 years of treatment and lots of books: Psychosis, borderline and narcissism will remain very hard to treat, psychedelic assisted talk-therapy should speed up treatment of these conditions by 30-70% imho. But be very careful & start very low when using psychedelics with a history of psychosis or manic depression. With lesser disorders, say average neurosis upwards, you see these immediate anti-depressant and anti-addiction properties that are creating so much buzz right now. For the least sick/neurotic/traumatized of us, the solutions of their troubles are only a few new steps of thought away – and psychedelics might be all the therapy they need.
Would also like to point out that for any brain imaging studies and mushrooms is that the studies themselves are conducted in a sterile and still environment, controlling for all potentially confounding variables. This essentially reduces the generalisability of the results since our brains are influenced by the settings in which we are placed. This will be a fuzzy area of research for years to come.
ive recently stopped taking methadone because i used to be a heroin junkie and i decided to try psilocybin to help relieve the pain i feel everyday in my existence. im having mixed emotions whether or not its a good thing or a bad thing but my creativity level is going threw the roof! this world is only as real as our minds perceive it so in actuality the real world is in our minds not what our five senses tell us it is but what we conceive in deep within our soul.
we all did a dry 8th and walked to the beach at night. We laughed a lot. Patterns seemed to be everywhere but i never saw anything that wasnt actually there. On DMT.. i stared at a tree and it faded to blur as a cluster of circles revealed itself prefectly matching its silhouette. Im pretty sure thats always there too- we just arent usually wired to see things like that.
The increases in connectivity are very interesting to me. Have PTSD, chiari malformation and a rare autoimmune condition attacking part of my brain and possibly effecting my hippocampus and one of my most frustrating symptoms is not being able to recall information I know I have. It feels like my brains hiding it from me and I wonder if 🍄 would alleviate that to any degree.
I’ve been microdosing with psilocybin mushrooms for almost 2 years, and it definitely helps with depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, addiction, and alot of other things. I’ve used heavy doses alot in the past, and that was great, but for me a half gram a day is perfect. Puts me in a great positive aura and mood. There is alot to be learned, and studied about this. Not to mention the millions of people that can benefit from this amazing gift from God
For anyone else experimenting with microdosing for treatment-resistant depression and alcoholism, those first 3 months are great. I actually felt different. But after that, I don’t know. Anhedonia kicks in in a serious way. I tried microdosing again, but I got a different strain, some batch called “Penis Envy” that felt awful. Cultivating a consistent strain would be really helpful.
Never done drugs in my life, few buddies of mine got me to take about a palm full of mushrooms while we were out fishing and it was the best experience I’ve ever had. Three months or so on from that day, I was the happiest I’d ever been and I perceived and interpreted things in a new light. Legalize psilocybin🍄🤘
Fun fact I learned from reading Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake is that psilocybin is used by cordyceps type pathogenic fungi. In general it seems to have evolved convergently among fungi in competition with insects. A small subset of those fungi then have transitioned to pathogenic suggesting there is something important about psychoactive substances that makes in a prerequisite to highjack the body of an animal susceptible to them.
Shrooms didn’t do anything for me. It was like drinking a doubleshot espresso. Similarly, other hallucinogens don’t work on me. I have unremitting depression, and major anxiety issues. Regular antidepressants just made me dizzy and suicidal. Pot works for me, but I live in TN, where it’s still illegal.
I used to smoke many many years ago and after an lsd trip I quit smoking. I did start again but it was 2 yrs later. It was just like a switch and all the sudden I didn’t crave it want them at all. Of course I quit permanently about 15 yrs ago. But I know that psychedelics are quite amazing. I did a lot especially when I was younger but I can definitely attribute them to changing my life for the better. I can’t imagine where I’d be without those experiences. It’s too bad that they aren’t more widely used especially with therapy or even ceremonially.
Quit cigarettes cold turkey after an LSD trip I had where I was mid-peak and thought a cigarette would be nice. However when I took that first hit my body completely rejected it. I thought about how bad they were for you and how I wasn’t getting anything out of it, just spending $8-$12 (depending on the state) every other day. When I quit it wasn’t even that I quit, I consider it more that I “stopped” if that makes sense. Every once in a while I’ll have a cigarette when i’m out at a bar or friends house but haven’t bought myself a pack in over 4 years now.
It is NEVER a good idea to take a large dose of psilocybin when you are extremely depressed no matter what psychologist you’re with (that would actually almost definitely make it worse) is there something positive to be gained in treatment of depression with a really bad trip? Potentially yes it may make you confront thoughts you neglect or are in denial about but there’s no way to go into a mushroom trip in a miserable mood and have a “good trip” there’s probably more potential in micro dosing/infusion or non or less psychoactive altery like 5HT-2 although I’ve heard that’s pretty similar to SS/SNRIs or something even mdma
Dear @SciShowPsych publisher. Could you please do something about all the various spam messages in every recent comment’s reply? I report some myself, but I realise it’s your website and might be your responsibility. What the problem is with the unfaithful advertising? Now the comments revolve commercially around money, money-making, instead of the actual message and meaning. Behind your own article. This ruins the experience, the shared platform for conversation is now used neither to comment on the article nor experience, but instead: greediness and economic profit.
I’m on shrooms as I type this. I NEVER tripped at all. I instead experienced ENLIGHTENMENT, AWAKENING, I have NEVER experienced before. I felt like I grew 10 feet tall. The house became smaller. I feel like I can do ANYTHING if I put my mind to it. Not egotistical or delusional but very confident with no cockiness or “I’m the shitness.” Just an even balance of confidence and lack of fear. Connecting with the spirit of the world and seeing beauty in everything. Once again I did not trip AT ALL. For example, I smoked a loose tobacco cigarette and began wondering why. It did NOTHING for me. I felt like smoking is beneath me, not in an arrogant way but in a way that I don’t need it. The smoke looked cool, I’ll admit but it did really nothing for me. So confident that it didn’t affect me. I felt so good that the smoke actually bounced OFF of me ON THE INSIDE and really couldn’t touch me, not affecting me at all. Great experience, as I am a person who has battled depression for over 20 years now. All of that time with depression was erased in my mind after the first hour and whatever affects the depression had on me left me, completely. It’s more like I needed confidence and self assurance and since I didn’t have it, depression consumed me. However, on shrooms, the depression and its effects, evaporated almost like I never had it. Amazing, it’s like my true essence and spirit grew and destroyed any negativity, without it being negative itself. I can’t stop smiling, not just on my face but on the inside.
When it reaches your bloodstream, mostly through your liver, the compound psilocybin is metabolized into psilocin,norpsilocin, and possibly one or two other psychoactive compounds. Psilocybin never makes it to the brain. Very best wishes to all you shroomers out there…may you all live a happy and magical life 🍄
I had a magic mushroom trip the other day for the first time. I held some mushrooms in my hand they hadn’t been put in the dehydrator yet and I could feel that they were alive. I rubbed them and talked to them for a few minutes before telling them that they wouldn’t go to waste and then I put them in the dehydrator lmao…fun time
I once had a depressive phase in my life. I didn’t know what exactly was wrong but I felt somehow everything is wrong. It went up to the point where I didn’t even care if I’m still alive. Not that I had any plans to actively kill myself but I wouldn’t have cared either. And then I started to play around with drugs, as what did I have to lose? My life? Well, I didn’t care. So one night, home alone, I took mushrooms, and that changed everything! When I woke up the next day, I didn’t feel depressed at all and not just that, it was like all the time I was blindfolded and all of a sudden I could see again. Suddenly I knew everything that went wrong in my life and I was convinced, if I change all of that, life will be great again. Within the next few months I did just that and what shall I say, I’ve never been depressed ever since. I didn’t need therapy or any specialized drugs or any help from outside, I just needed one eye opening psilocybin experience and was able to fix my life all by myself.
I have a good friend that has been depressed for the last 24 years of his 27 years, constantly suicidal and even attempted to kill himself 3 times. About 6 months ago he grew and took mushrooms and after 2-4 trips his depression is almost completely gone. To put it into perspective I would worry about him hurting himself everyday I lost sleep over it. But now I feel I don’t have to always be prepared to hear about him doing something stupid. It sounds weird but I owe a lot to these mushrooms and I haven’t even taken them myself although I probably will in the future. So ya a word of advice if you or anyone you know is depressed tell them about this I truly believe this saved my friends life
You can not get addicted to Psilocybin and even if you do trip just relax and enjoy what you experience and know reality is not very far away. A key thing is to be in a setting that is calm and beautiful in your normal senses and it will get amplified during your experience and it is good if someone you are a friend with is with you at the time. The thing is not to fear what you don’t know but rather go with the flow, flux and flow with it!!!!
Intriguing! Just theorizing in the dark, here, but it seems that the benefits would be too closely connected to the risks to eliminate the risks chemically. That is, heightening the senses while reducing processing them would undermine old assumptions, which would be great if your assumptions are destroying you, not so great if they are sound. Questioning previously functional assumptions could capsize you into making new, destructive ones. So therapy or other context-setting factors (like the rituals and cultural context that tribes from Siberia to Brazil have evolved over thousands of years, for safety’s sake) would be indispensible. It’s not enough to knock somebody off a bad road–you have to have a good road ready to take them instead; otherwise they might just crash.
a tad of paranoia and some anxiety is typical for most pot smokers; I suppose if someone who has lived in isolation many year used psilocybin, such reactions could lead to issues that require guidance, but these sorts would be the exception. And no, I have not tried psilocybin; I only attempt to use common sense. Good article, subscribed.
Can anyone tell me how to get Psilocybin legally without having to travel out of state? Is there an easier way if you have a mental condition, like a regular Doctor or Licensed Psychologist? These articles, articles and responses from members who got it are making me want to pull my hair, because they don’t tell you how or where? It sounds so simple as people tell of their use and cures, but they leave out the most important part in not sharing where and how.
I have taken acid twice and done magic mushrooms three times. I have absolutely no response. They were all potent versions of their particular drug as everyone else who did them had full “trips” I have bi polar 1 and I’ve long thought this might be the reason I get nothing out of it. How far off am I in thinking this???
I just thought when you have surgery I’m not gonna lie Anastasia makes you see some weird stuff in some weird dreams sometimes. Trust me I’ve had Over 30 surgeries. I’m just curious if somebody took a mushroom. Then have anesthesia went to sleep for like 5 hours what kind of dreams would he have then
yea just like with anything the research at this point for the wild claims about healing is anecdotal. For instance, I used mushrooms many times earlier in my life and never noticed any effect on the depression i had at that time. I healed naturally. But recently tried mushrooms for the first time again after 20 years and in fact my drinking of wine went up immediately by almost double.
Please do use this “medicine ” in moderation. Have family that have gotten in the habit of doing it a couple times a week and she’s so far gone. She has become even more aggressive and entitled because she sees everything she does as just and she’s enlightened so she knows best. It’s strange seeing people talk so much about being connected with nature and enlightenment just to turn around and get violent and abusive over small things.
I have tried LSD, Ketamine, Psilocybin LSD by far made me feel free of constant worry and through its duration I was present in the moment without judgement and it was just beautiful to experience life without the bias we see in ourselves and the world. Ketamine really showed me that there is no need to fear death. Every single trip was different but the most impactful was the one where I met god, showed me how my life was written in a way to where it led me to where I am. A profound experience and one that I am extremely grateful for. Psilocybin is very interesting as microdosing it is very hard to explain the effects… It is like tripping yet being sober at the same time for me. Lower inhibitions, able to express myself without holding things inside which is an issue I have due to anxiety / depression. Less angry, more responsible for my actions, and able to express myself to how I feel my values are, and not what society expects of me or concern of others opinions of me. It is all perception and the mind constantly lies to you because that is how it was trained to communicate. I have huge respect for the mind and know that I no longer blindly follow what it tells me but rather question it and go based off my feelings as well. These substances should always be respected and it will liberate you from the constant garbage spewed out from society. Tripping to have a fun time is OK but the real journey begins when you learn from it and yourself. It is very rewarding for yourself and to make this world just a little bit better.