Psilocybin for depression
Shrooms and mental disorders
Participants in clinical studies often describe tremendous progress in taming the demons of post-traumatic stress disorder or finding unexpected calm and clarity as they face a terminal illness, thanks to psychedelic compounds like LSD, Ecstasy, and psilocybin mushrooms, which have shown significant promise in treating a variety of mental health disorders.
However, how psychedelics might rewire the mind therapeutically is still a mystery.
Advanced neuroimaging technology that probed deep into the brain, according to a group of neuroscientists in London, might provide some answers. In a study funded by Imperial College London, they gave 43 persons with severe depression either psilocybin, the active element in magic mushrooms, or a standard antidepressant; the participants were not told which one they would get. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging, which records metabolic function, to take two pictures of their brain activity: one the day before the first dose and another three weeks afterward.
Psilocybin for depression
According to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, what they discovered was both figuratively and literally illuminating. Participants who were administered the antidepressant escitalopram reported little improvement in their symptoms over the course of three weeks, and the scans remained to show the obstinate, telltale evidence of a mind hampered by major depressive disorder. Within particular areas of the brain, neural activity was restricted, reflecting the rigid thought patterns that can trap people with depression in a negative feedback cycle of pessimism and despair.
The people who received psilocybin therapy, on the other hand, experienced a quick and consistent relief in their depression, and scans revealed flashes of neuronal activity across vast swathes of the brain that lasted for three weeks. They said that the increased connectivity reflected the cognitive agility of a healthy brain, which can switch between a morning bout of melancholy, a difficult day at work, and an evening of uninhibited revelry with friends. Tap here to buy the best psychedelic mushrooms for depression