What Happens in the Brain When “Psychedelic Virgins” Trip for the First Time
There has been a surge of interest in psychedelics lately. The FDA recently announced that it is accelerating research into psilocybin, the compound that gives magic mushrooms their magic, as a treatment for depression. Now, new research published in Natural communications shows how powerful a single dose of this psychedelic compound can be.
Neuropsychopharmacologists at the University of California, San Francisco recruited 28 physically and mentally healthy people who had never taken psychedelics before and gave them their first magic mushroom trip. But first, they administered a single 1-milligram placebo dose of the magic mushroom compound. Most subjects reported that the experience was “no more unusual than an everyday state of consciousness”, which was confirmed by EEG readings.
After the preview, it’s time for the main event. The research team fitted participants with EEG electrodes and administered a dose of 25 milligrams of psilocybin. An hour into their journey, the EEGs showed a surge in entropy (or diverse neuronal activity), indicating that they were processing more complex information.
Read more: “What Does Your Brain Do With Psychedelics?” »
The next day, all subjects (except one) rated this experience as “the most unusual state of consciousness” they had experienced in their lives (the lone holdout ranked it among the top five). Over the following weeks, new psychonauts reported feeling more insight as well as an increased sense of well-being. A full month after their first trip, they performed better on assessments of their cognitive flexibility.
“Psilocybin appears to relax stereotypical patterns of brain activity and give people the ability to revise entrenched thought patterns,” study author Taylor Lyons said in a statement. “The fact that these changes are accompanied by insight and improved well-being is particularly exciting. »
But it wasn’t just good vibes, there were also physical changes in their brains. Imaging revealed that certain bundles of neurons connecting the prefrontal cortex to other parts of the brain became denser after a month, the opposite of what happens with age. Although the researchers said this could be evidence of increased neuroplasticity, they cautioned that more in-depth studies were needed before drawing any concrete conclusions.
The main takeaway, researchers say, is that the psychedelic trip itself was key to the positive results these 28 people experienced up to a month later. “Our data show that such experiences of psychological insight are linked to an entropic quality of brain activity and how both are involved in subsequent improvement in mental health,” explained lead author Robin Carhart-Harris. “This suggests that travel – and its correlates in the brain – is a key part of how psychedelic therapy works.”
In other words, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.
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Main image: Marina Zlochin / Adobe Stock
