28 January 2012

"Magic mushrooms" may help treat depression

USA Today, citing several studies published in peer-reviewed journals, describes beneficial effects of psilocybin:

One study included 30 healthy people who had psilocybin inserted into their blood while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners measured changes in their brain activity. The scans revealed that psilocybin caused decreased activity in what the researchers described as the brain's "hub" regions -- areas especially well-connected with other areas. That study was published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The second study included 10 healthy volunteers and found that psilocybin boosted their recall of personal memories and their emotional well-being for up to two weeks. The researchers said this suggests that psilocybin might prove useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy. That study will be published online Thursday in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

A study published last year found that people with anxiety who received a single psilocybin treatment had lower depression scores six months later.
In the 1970s,  Psilocybe cubensis mushroom were readily available in rural areas around Dallas-Fort Worth.  The best places to search for them were cattle pastures, because the 'shrooms had an affinity for growing in or near "cowpies."  When you broke the stem, a slight bluish "bruise" was helpful in confirming the identity.  It produced a pleasant psychedelic effect, lasting for a couple hours, but was a bit hard to titrate since the potency of the mushrooms wasn't always predictable.

Or so I've been told.

15 comments:

  1. Like other drugs, its effect on individuals is also unpredictable. A minority, I've been told, seem to experience an increase in anxiety after partaking.

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    1. Yeah, count me as one of that minority. Tried 'shrooms a few times back in my "partaking" days: the first couple of times they really didn't do much of anything for me, the next couple of times (different strain) made me so paranoid and anxious I swore off them for good!

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  2. It is wise to approach substances like this with profound respect. If one is willing to experience whatever comes, be it terror, or horror, or death, in the interest of accepting and submitting to truth, whatever it may be, the painful and frightening feelings pass through like storm clouds. They can have their own kind of fantastic beauty. It's the fear of the fear downward panic spiral and consequent mental dissociation that leaves one feeling like they're clinging to the side of the cliff by their bleeding fingernails...

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  3. Just what we need - an excuse for pharmaceutical corporations to snap 10% of America out of narcissistic melancholy and into full-on psychosis... (then again, perhaps those who survive their first monthly dose of Psiloxa would be better for it)

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    1. Clinical depression isn't "narcissistic melancholy," just so you know. It's the stigma of that kind of gross mischaracterization that keeps people afflicted with mental illness from seeking help.

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    2. @Pturkk - Indeed! They could learn a thing or two from that nasty Honey Badger.

      @Anon - Narcissism is also a mental illness, and the correlation between self-centered consumer culture and the rise of depression diagnoses seems more than coincidental.

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    3. OMG! Nasty Cobra eating Honey Badgering Badgers!!

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  4. I was intrigued by the research studies done with mushrooms given to people with terminal cancer. One was a researcher herself and I remember reading about how her outlook was positively changed and how good that felt, the effects lasting for months.

    In controlled settings, this is worthy of more study.

    Article on mushroom treatment in cancer patients
    http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6705906-relief-for-cancer-patients-in-magic-mushrooms

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  5. after a rain texan teenagers get grocery bags and walk around cow pastures hoping to get lucky.

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  6. You have to take enough to get that amazing psychotic reaction! I'm a grandpa now and would not want my chilluns to do it without being prepared. It is, however,fantastic.

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  7. Where was it I just saw a review of a study done on psilocybins -- they isolated parts of the brain where the activity was taking place and speculated that the drug inhibited the part of the brain responsible for ego, and also responsible for us not paying attention to lots of things we observe (since the flood of sensory data is too much to process, we have to have a way of filtering it out to get on with our lives).

    Having your eyes opened, literally your consciousness expanded, is an amazing experience for many people (and was a huge influence on people like Aldous Huxley, Steve Jobs, a great many of people who probably wouldn't admit it...) You can watch interesting videos on the subject by the Mushroom expert Paul Stamets on YouTube.

    Unfortunately, many depressed people are on SSRI's, and those block the function of Psilocybin.

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  8. Oh Duh, it was the study you mentioned, that must've been the one I read about! I just don't remember where I saw the summary. The decrease in the 'hub' regions may have been where the ego coalesces, as it were. But that's still speculation at this point.

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  9. I've tried DMT. It was one of the most profound experiences of my lifetime. It indeed changed me but only in what I describe as a spiritual growth kind of way (FYI, just for the irony, I have no god).
    I think most depression that I have witnessed and experienced stems from being part of this parisitic comsumerist society and I think much of the 'bad luggage' some unfortunates discover and open on their 'trips' is hidden within the pandora's box of perspective - you hold your existance in the palm of hand and realize how much ...cancer is attached to it. That shock causes many to jump out windows. Me? I gave up wearing a tie, changed carriers and am moving to a friendlier city this year.

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  10. I guess the effect will differ to certain people. As what I experience, talking is still the best and natural way in treating depression.

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