The “magic” in magic mushrooms is known for its mind-bending effects, but a new study offers an explanation for why the psychedelic could help treat mental illnesses.
Researchers at Washington University’s School of Medicine found that psilocybin, the naturally occurring drug in some mushrooms, temporarily disrupts brain networks responsible for reflective thoughts.
Their findings, published yesterday in the British journal Nature, map out what happens to the brain when someone is on a psychedelic-induced trip.
“What are the changes that go along with this transformational, mystical, mind-bending experience that people describe? We were able to actually track that in this study,” said Dr. Ginger Nicol, associate professor of psychiatry and co-author of the study.
The clinical trial involved administering doses of psilocybin to seven participants, all of whom were healthy adults with no mental health diagnoses. Researchers asked them about their feelings while on the drug and scanned their brain to see how it affects their neurobiological networks.
The brain images showed that when psilocybin took effect, it allowed the mind to wander and function in unusual ways – causing participants to lose their sense of self.
When the psilocybin wore off, a small effect remained for weeks.
“The parts that [the drug] desynchronizes – that it's most affecting – are the parts of the brain that are core to one's sense of self, one's sense of time [and] space,” said Dr. Joshua Siegel, an instructor in psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and co-author of the study.
Over the past five years, microdosing with magic mushrooms has become increasingly common in the United States, and investors have poured billions into the psychedelics medicine industry. This heightened interest makes understanding the full effects of magic mushrooms especially important, Siegel added.
This study also showed that a person’s psychedelic experience is heavily dependent on their mindset and the people and setting around them, Nicol said. This suggests the drug’s healing treatment potential may depend not just on brain chemistry but on careful and controlled administration.
With an average of 18 functional MRI brain scans per participant, the researchers have a large dataset that they plan to make available to the public. They hope this data can lay the groundwork for other scientists to study dose levels and ways to target specific parts of the brain connected to mental illnesses like depression and schizophrenia.
“We got a lot of really excellent data to try and understand this process … and [to] start to engineer new drugs, different treatments, combination therapies and personalize it to what your brain needs,” Nicol said.
For more on what Dr. Ginger Nicol and Dr. Joshua Siegel’s new research reveals about psychedelics, what their participants experience while on a trip and why this drug could potentially alleviate mental illnesses, listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
