Magic mushrooms may have been stigmatized in recent decades, but there’s much more to this ancient plant ally than meets the eye.
Science is beginning to show that the medical use of psilocybin can truly transform the mental health of those afflicted by many of the all too common modern conditions. Here’s what you need to know about the benefits of one of nature’s miracles.
Ancient Wisdom From The Ground
Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi, one of the oldest lifeforms on earth. Over their one billion years of evolutionary history, they’ve evolved some of the most remarkable abilities.
Beneath the ground, fungi cast out a complex maze of interconnected mycelia to produce a network that transports information and enzymes among fungi and plant life. Above the ground, fungi produce mushrooms to help spread their spores to create new fungi.
There are over 50,000 species of mushroom in the world, and of increasing interest from a scientific standpoint in more recent times is the variety that contains a compound known as psilocybin.
Psilocybin is the active compound in magic mushrooms and is responsible for the psychedelic effects when consumed in high enough doses. Here are some examples of what the latest scientific research is uncovering.
Rewiring Old Patterns: Psilocybin Increases Openness
Human beings are born with several primal needs. These include needs for connection, community, love, and nurturing, among others. Given the nature of our modern culture, many of us fail to have these needs met, as they ideally might be early in life.
Between busy parents trying to hold down a job while also raising a family, and an education system that favours conformity over individuality, many children subconsciously shut down a part of who they truly are in order to “fit in.”
Such tactics often serve as a protective mechanism in the moment, but later in life they often come back to haunt us. Recent scientific evidence shows that psilocybin can help in such instances.
One study published at Johns Hopkins University showed that psilocybin can enable significant increases in openness following a high-dose session. Openness refers to someone’s attitude toward new experiences and is closely associated with traits including imagination and creativity. In the above study, researchers found that psilocybin resulted in an increase in openness—and that for 60 percent of the subjects, it remained significantly higher than their previous baselines for more than a year following the session.
Magic Mushrooms Can Help with Smoking Cessation and Other Addictions
Tobacco addiction has long been an issue in society. Given that it’s one of the toughest addictions to break, a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University undertook a study to investigate how psilocybin might be beneficial in helping people quit smoking.
The 15 participants in the study were administered two or three high doses of psilocybin in addition to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation.
The main challenge with any attempts aimed at helping subjects with smoking cessation has always been long-term abstinence. But upon following up 12 months later with the patients, researchers found that 10 participants (67 percent) had still refrained from smoking. This finding far exceeds the results of any other available treatments for smoking cessation.
Further studies are planned to help determine the effectiveness of psilocybin as a therapy for other addictions, including alcoholism.
Using Magic Mushrooms to Treat Depression and Anxiety
Depression and anxiety are two increasingly common conditions in modern society. Due to the legalities surrounding magic mushrooms in many jurisdictions, little research on their efficacy as a treatment has taken place.
In more recent times, as the cultural stigma continues to wane and science advances, more and more studies have shown how beneficial psilocybin can be in the treatment of anxiety and depression.
A study carried out at Johns Hopkins University in 2016 examined whether psilocybin can decrease depression and anxiety levels in terminal cancer patients. Eighty terminal volunteers took part in the study and confronted their mortality. For most patients, the mystical experience that ensued left many of them feeling much more connected to a wider reality after having a reassuring glimpse of the afterlife.
Upon completion, researchers found that 80 percent of the study volunteers experienced a notable decrease in depression symptoms and end-of-life anxiety. Across all patients, the benefits endured for at least six months after the study.
Microdosing for Improved Mood and Creativity
While large doses of magic mushrooms can well and truly open the doors of perception, smaller doses, more commonly known as microdoses, can elicit much more subtle effects that are still beneficial.
Microdoses are generally in the range of one-tenth the size of a regular dose, at around 0.1–0.25 grams. When done correctly, microdosing shouldn’t produce any psychedelic effects. Rather, it results in a subtle boost in things like mood, empathy, and creativity.
More recently, scientists have begun to quantify the effects of microdosing. In one study, researchers analyzing the effects of microdosing found that subjects reported a general increase in “psychological functioning across all measures on dosing days.” However, limited evidence existed for residual effects on subsequent days.
In regards to the benefits to mental health, further analyses, both pre- and post-study, showed the subjects experienced reductions in reported levels of depression and stress and lower levels of distractibility.
Embracing the Medical Use of Psilocybin
Science is beginning to demonstrate that the medical use of psilocybin shows remarkable promise in helping us heal. As science progresses and as the decades of stigma slowly wane, more and more people are coming around to the profound benefits associated with the medical use of psilocybin.
In addition to helping with mental health, magic mushrooms can also help align us with new ways of walking the earth. They allow us to see, to heal, and to feel more deeply once again. The deeper connection that magic mushrooms often bring about seems to suggest that some transcendent state underlies the human experience, and in these modern turbulent times, there is perhaps no more important message. Despite the years of stigma, magic mushrooms have been medicine ever since we’ve walked the earth, and we’re finally beginning to realize this once again!