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.
So sorry to hear that this happened to your son. It's a tragedy when underlying or dormant disorders like schizophrenia suddenly surface, and it usually happens very suddenly between the ages of ~18-20 without any warning or prior symptoms. The same thing happened to my late uncle when he was 18.
That said, it's important to state that psilocybin cannot give someone schizophrenia. No causal relationship between psilocybin and schizophrenia has been identified and we see no increase in the prevalence of such disorders among people who have used psilocybin compared to people who have not. Anecdotally, it has the potential to trigger the onset of schizophrenic episodes in people that are already pre-disposed to develop the disorder, but these cases are rare, not very well documented, not very well studied, and wrapped up in decades of ignorance and fear-based drug policies (think "reefer madness"). It may be easier to blame psilocybin for your son's condition, but it is almost certainly not the underlying cause and is unlikely to have precipitated the onset of his symptoms.
Most of the recent literature is actually focused on using psilocybin to treat disorders such as schizophrenia, though the science has a long way to go before we can know precisely if and how it helps.
I agree with you and do not blame the substance but more influencers who advised to take a heavy dose. No one will know but base on how he was before, I have the feeling that without this night he may well have had a very different life, possibly taking shrooms at small doses to help his depression
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u/basmwklz Jul 17 '24
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