The Fascinating Science Behind Psychedelic Mushrooms

Psychedelic or magic mushrooms have been ingested by humans for over 9,000 years. Even today, this naturally grown fungus is commonly used as a recreational drug, causing hallucinations. But how do shrooms work?

The main psychoactive ingredient in shrooms is called psilocybin. When ingested, the body breaks it down into the active drug psilocin, which makes its way to the brain and begins to prevent the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin, increasing its activity.

Psilocin actually has a similar chemical structure to serotonin, meaning it can also bind to and stimulate receptors in the brain. This amplified stimulation causes you to perceive and experience things without any real stimulus, also known as hallucination. These can be of a varying nature, from visual to auditory sensations or mystical and insightful feelings. And while the experience can be quite enjoyable, some users have reported very unpleasant episodes. These feelings generally last between 3-8 hours but could feel much longer as the drug alters your sense of time.

When looking at how shrooms work, science shows that the brain may temporarily rearrange itself by inhibiting normal brain activity and immediately creating new biologically stable brain connections. This ultimately makes it harder to determine reality from fantasy and amplifies your intensity of thought which makes planning ahead and self-conscious thinking almost impossible.

We also see activation in the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex which are associated with dreaming. Finally, specific emotional regions of the brain are chemically activated which can lead to a sense of expanding consciousness. And because the drug temporarily alters the paths in your brain, thinking outside the box becomes extremely natural.

In a famous US study, 36 college-educated participants were given psilocybin and observed in a laboratory.

• One-third of the participants reported the experience as the single most spiritually significant moment in their lives
• Two-thirds putting it in their top five.

Two months after taking the drug, 79% of the participants reported increased well-being and satisfaction. Friends and family were also interviewed and agreed with these claims.

But it’s not all so positive. 22% of the clinically tested individuals experienced fear and paranoia at certain points during their trip, and because of the state of their brains, these typically manifested as terrifying and uncontrollable hallucinations.

Though much is still unknown about shrooms, they’re not considered clinically addictive and cause little toxicity to other organ systems. In fact, a UK study found that they cause the least amount of damage, both to the individual and to others, when compared to other recreational drugs.

Ultimately, scientists believe that the laws need to change around clinical testing of the drug, so advanced research can be executed to fully understand both the positive and negative effects that this magic fungus has on our brain.