Psychedelic mushrooms put your brain in a “waking dream,” study finds

[n2doc]

Psychedelic mushrooms can do more than make you see the world in kaleidoscope. Research suggests they may have permanent, positive effects on the human brain.

In fact, a mind-altering compound found in some 200 species of mushroom is already being explored as a potential treatment for depression and anxiety. People who consume these mushrooms, after “trips” that can be a bit scary and unpleasant, report feeling more optimistic, less self-centered, and even happier for months after the fact.

But why do these trips change the way people see the world? According to a study published today in Human Brain Mapping, the mushroom compounds could be unlocking brain states usually only experienced when we dream, changes in activity that could help unlock permanent shifts in perspective.

The study examined brain activity in those who’d received injections of psilocybin, which gives “shrooms” their psychedelic punch. Despite a long history of mushroom use in spiritual practice, scientists have only recently begun to examine the brain activity of those using the compound, and this is the first study to attempt to relate the behavioral effects to biological changes.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/07/03/psychedelic-drugs-put-your-brain-in-a-waking-dream-study-finds/?tid=sm_fb

[LiberalEsto]

1. Where can I sign up?

[Warpy]

2. Most psychedelics have a similar effect

I know I found the experience in the 60s to be transformative on a very basic level. I also found it quite a bit easier to achieve deeper meditation levels more quickly, something that has stayed with me. If they were legal tomorrow, would I do it again? Probably not. However, I am delighted to have done it in the 60s.

They did a long term study of old 60s acid/peyote/psilocybin users and found only one difference: the drug veterans tended to cluster in medicine at all levels, social work, teaching, and other professions that required person to person interaction. They tended to avoid the more business oriented professions.

Nothing in your article is a surprise, in other words.

[heaven05]

10. did my last psilocybin at 60

great to feel that peace again. Will do it again when able. Peyote is the same with me. They free. LSD I didn't like. I found the natural(s) are safe, the 'created' shit has human hands all over it, dangerous. Cocaine, heroin ect, dangerous to the human spirit and body as all hell.

[roguevalley]

13. you can learn to lucid dream without drugs

[pleinair]

18. Agree

You can meditate and lucid dream AND experience much more without drugs.

[roguevalley]

20. exactly

[delrem]

23. Have you ever eaten a magic mushroom?

I have, and there's no way I could "learn" how to have such an experience at will, without the mushroom.

I don't see how it would be possible.

[roguevalley]

25. of course you can. check it out on the web. I don't do drugs of any kind

It is a choice of mine based on the history of my family and a desire to be self aware on my own.

Lucid dreaming is comparable. It just takes practice. Check it out. You might like it.

[delrem]

26. Sorry, you're claiming to make a comparison that you said you cannot make. nt

[roguevalley]

29. i dont understand what you are saying. sorry.

[delrem]

30. You haven't the experience. You cannot claim an experiential judgement.

End of story.

[roguevalley]

31. BWAHAHAHAAHA! You have never lucid dreamed without drugs. "You cannot

claim an experiential judgement. End of story."

Nice one. It never ends my amazement how people can claim the final word when they have the same problem as the person they are putting down. Lucid dreaming is amazing. You can lucid dream without drugs. I never said the total experience was the same. You just shot your own argument in the face. Nice going. Keep requiring of other people that which you don't have yourself.

[delrem]

32. You lie!

I did not say "you have never lucid dreamed without drugs".

I'm sure you have, or think you have. Whatever that means.

But you have said that you've never ingested magic mushrooms, so you lack the experience to compare the experiences.

I hope you can come down from your laughter high long enough to actually think through what I'm saying.

Bye.

[hedgehog]

15. I'm wondering whether people who used these drugs in the 60's were already headed into

those professions, more a case of correlation than cause and effect.

[Warpy]

16. It was the only difference they found between drug explorers

and a sober test group. Otherwise, there is no difference in belief systems, marriage and divorce, incarceration rates, and so on and so forth.

The study was done in the 80s and I recall there was a very marked difference between the two groups in profession.

[pleinair]

17. Disagree

I personally have never done such drugs, however I am in the helping professions.

[Warpy]

19. It's not exclusionary.

Look at the words, again, like "tend" and "cluster"

Obviously you misunderstood the whole post.

[Skittles]

3. sounds good to me

yes INDEED

[littlemissmartypants]

4. I love science. nt

[NBachers]

5. Every day my life and outlook are changed because of my psychedelic experiences

I haven't tripped in a long time.

I haven't had my last trip, but I don't know when my next one will be.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

6. Can the "news" get any more weird?

I already feel like I'm living in an alternate universe from the one I grew up in.

[Fred Sanders]

7. The brain and outer space are the last frontiers of science, explore them with all tools available

[heaven05]

8. yeah they do

[rickyhall]

9. That's why such psychedelics are illegal, not the "danger".

One of the reasons pot's illegal. They cause us to see and think in other, unapproved ways. They make us realize life is for living not chasing the almighty dollar. IMHO.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

11. The picture in that article of "dried mushrooms" looks like morels to me...

https://www.google.com/search?q=morel+mushroom&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

They are not psyco-active, but are edible.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

12. I didn't put that smiley face in the link, and the bottom isn't blue and connected ???

[longship]

14. It's called hypnagogia.

Hypnagogia is a brain state where the brain is between the REM (dream) state and wakefulness. The part of the brain that paralyzes you while dreaming is still active; as are your dreams. But you have woken up so that you are conscious. You see things because you are dreaming, but cannot move for the same reason.

It is a common neurological state which happens to nearly everybody. They're called hypnagogic dreams and they can scare the shit out of you if you aren't aware of what's happening. The commonly happen in the morning and often when one is sleep deprived.

Interesting. Not surprised that mushrooms could do that, too.

[mzteris]

21. Does this mean

"Conversely, the subjects of the study had decreased activity in other parts of the brain—areas associated with high level cognition. “These are the most recent parts of our brain, in an evolutionary sense,” Carhart-Harris said. “And we see them getting quieter and less organized.”

what I think it means?

I - for one - wouldn't be emtirely averse to considering a treatment of this nature, but that statement bothers me. While being less anxious/depressed, etc., would be great, I think "high level cognition" a valuable trait one wouldn't want to lose.

Am I missing something in the article?

[Octafish]

22. Nixon Knew

Oh. Cactii aren't shrooms. Damn! Spiro! Spiro!

[nikto]

24. The Cure for Conservatism...

2 grams of shrooms.

[Enthusiast]

27. This one time

I was in Woolworths. They had a cactus selection. Lo and behold they had six large fat specimens of San Pedro cacti. I bought 'em up. That was many years ago and my most recent experience with Psychedelics. I found the experience to be quite extraordinary even though I puked.

[lapfog_1]

28. yup... santa knew

http://www.livescience.com/42077-8-ways-mushrooms-explain-santa.html