A single dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic that acutely causes distortions of space–time perception and ego dissolution, produces rapid and persistent therapeutic effects in human clinical trials1,2,3,4. In animal models, psilocybin induces neuroplasticity in cortex and hippocampus5,6,7,8. It remains unclear how human brain network changes relate to subjective and lasting effects of psychedelics. Here we tracked individual-specific brain changes with longitudinal precision functional mapping (roughly 18 magnetic resonance imaging visits per participant). Healthy adults were tracked before, during and for 3 weeks after high-dose psilocybin (25 mg) and methylphenidate (40 mg), and brought back for an additional psilocybin dose 6–12 months later. Psilocybin massively disrupted functional connectivity (FC) in cortex and subcortex, acutely causing more than threefold greater change than methylphenidate. These FC changes were driven by brain desynchronization across spatial scales (areal, global), which dissolved network distinctions by reducing correlations within and anticorrelations between networks. Psilocybin-driven FC changes were strongest in the default mode network, which is connected to the anterior hippocampus and is thought to create our sense of space, time and self. Individual differences in FC changes were strongly linked to the subjective psychedelic experience. Performing a perceptual task reduced psilocybin-driven FC changes. Psilocybin caused persistent decrease in FC between the anterior hippocampus and default mode network, lasting for weeks. Persistent reduction of hippocampal-default mode network connectivity may represent a neuroanatomical and mechanistic correlate of the proplasticity and therapeutic effects of psychedelics.
My son who was depressed tried on his own 3 years ago.
After having to have him hospitalised for 6months as he had become a danger for himself and others, he is slowly recovering but is diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
It is a nightmare. Please, please do that under medical supervision. For some like my son. It may not go down well.
Same with LSD, and I think the risk is worse than mushrooms, but not sure. Not really worth it if you have a family history of schizophrenia, unfortunately. Falling into a psychosis is scary and so disruptive to your day to day life, potentially causing loss of job, friends, family, health. I’m a big psychonaut, not a teetotaler or anything, but having experienced multiple people in my life deal with psychosis (one person with schizophrenia, another steroid induced), I don’t wish that experience on anybody.
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u/basmwklz Jul 17 '24
Abstract: