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I may start growing 'shrooms in my dark and dank pantry and get off Celexa after reading this New York Times article about what may be the medicinal qualities of magic mushrooms:
A study published last month in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface compared M.R.I.s of the brains of subjects injected with psilocybin [the psychoactive agent in magic mushrooms] with scans of their normal brain activity. The brains on psilocybin showed radically different connectivity patterns between cortical regions (the parts thought to play an important role in consciousness). The researchers mapped out these connections, revealing the activity of new neural networks between otherwise disconnected brain regions.
The researchers suspect that these unusual connections may be responsible for the synaesthetic experience trippers describe, of hearing colors, for example, and seeing sounds. The part of the brain that processes sound may be connecting to the part of the brain that processes sight. The study’s leader [said that] his team doubted that this psilocybin-induced connectivity lasted. They think they are seeing a temporary modification of the subject’s brain function.
The fact that under the influence of psilocybin the brain temporarily behaves in a new way may be medically significant in treating psychological disorders like depression. “When suffering depression, people get stuck in a spiral of negative thoughts and cannot get out of it,” [the study's leader] said. “One can imagine that breaking any pattern that prevents a ‘proper’ functioning of the brain can be helpful.” Think of it as tripping a breaker or rebooting your computer.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 01 2014, @12:24AM
Making your brain operate in a way that does not normally occur in healthy people hardly seems like rebooting your computer.
In fact it seems more like electroshock therapy with chemicals.
is team doubted that this psilocybin-induced connectivity lasted.
I'm guessing this is a good thing. I've read you are pretty much useless on Peyote, and psilocybin seems sort of similar, and has been used for for OCD, Cancer, and anxiety [wikipedia.org], with no ill effects. but rather vague benefit.
Maybe benefits might accrue because your brain is so busy trying to figure out what happened it doesn't have time for depression?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by timbim on Monday December 01 2014, @12:42AM
Maybe you should try it before you make some half-assed, narrow minded assumptions.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 01 2014, @01:07AM
Stop being a fucking retard, Timmy.
(Score: 1) by dlb on Monday December 01 2014, @01:59AM
So where do the researcher's get this conclusion?
The brains on psilocybin showed radically different connectivity patterns between cortical regions
I thought connectivity between neurons could only be shown postmortem.
The mind-altering drugs used for anxiety and depression (effexor, paxil, wellbutrin, etc.) have side-effects that are wide spread and drastic. It's truly a shotgun approach where treating one area of the brain with an apparent increase of a neurotransmitter treats the whole brain with that apparent increase. Sometimes a patient's condition is severe enough that an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication is the lesser of two evils. And when it's not, prescribing them is just profit for the drug maker.
These researchers see an fMRI change with psilocybin, openly admit they've no idea what it means, but then conclude that whatever it is, it might be good for someone with depression simply because of a behavior change, and mention nothing about long-term effects. I find this scary. Once a brain's been damaged, drug-induced or otherwise, it's no small feat to put the pieces back together again.
(Score: 1) by nishi.b on Monday December 01 2014, @09:03AM
I thought connectivity between neurons could only be shown postmortem.
True, but you can estimate the functional connectivity between regions as the temporal correlation between regions. Of course you have to accept that fMRI blood-based imaging really reveals functional changes (if you put a drug that increases blood flow, you will see activations against a control all over the place even if that doesn't mean anything).
For example, if you show an image to a subject, the primary visual cortex lights up and then the regions associated to object identification light up 80ms later at every trial, you can compute the likelihood these regions are linked. In the case of this article, it is most likely that the connections do already exist in the brain in the anatomical sense (the neurons are connected) but these connections are usually inhibited by other processes. In that case, they are not "functionally linked" according to fMRI measurement. If the inhibition is lowered (for example because you disrupt the GABA receptors who inhibit neuron responses), you might see new functional connections between areas that will disappear as soon as the drug wears out.
I am also surprised about long-term effects. If the subject uses his/her new functional connections, they are usually reinforced (long-term potentiation for example), even when the drug wears out. So not as harmless as implied by the summary...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Monday December 01 2014, @04:41PM
Except it really seems to be that harmless. A great many people have used and abused mushrooms over the decades and there is little in the way of evidence of a long term problem. Your contrary conclusion requires two assumptions not in evidence. First that the patient ever does continue using and reinforcing those connections and second, that it is harmful if they do.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tynin on Monday December 01 2014, @03:18AM
What is so wrong with taking something that makes it so your brain doesn't have time for the depression that is crushing you? Seems only a shade different than finding comfort in watching a movie or even reading a book. A disconnected entertainment that allows you to step out of it all. It gives you a view... that existence is something bigger, something smaller, something else. Is euphoria only for the rich and fuck those trying to scrape by moment to moment? Depression is a hydra and you are under attack from so many angles. Hopefully can face life full on and live it to its fullest, but for some they are beset by a shadow of morose that they cannot shake. Those suffering from it, if they so chose should be allowed to try to better their existence so long as they aren't a harm to others. Climb down from your soapbox and open your eyes. Many are in pain and you seem to only care for what is deemed proper for the day and of that caste.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dry on Monday December 01 2014, @06:59AM
The trick is to make sure the surroundings are mellow and that there is a guide present who can guide the user in a beneficial direction, ideally the guide should be experienced in taking the hallucinogenics . Randomly taking hallucinogenics can be positive or negative depending on surroundings and state of mind.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Monday December 01 2014, @06:24AM
"Making your brain operate in a way that does not normally occur in healthy people hardly seems like rebooting your computer.
In fact it seems more like electroshock therapy with chemicals."
Wow! So that's how drinking a gin and tonic to unwind works?
And here I thought I was just getting drunk...
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 01 2014, @07:05AM
When I drink, I don't hear colors.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 01 2014, @07:57AM
Your not drinking the right stuff.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday December 01 2014, @10:03AM
Maybe it's like booting into a linux live CD! For some, it's wonderful, for some, it's horrific.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday December 02 2014, @04:49PM
That actually may be the best analogy I've ever heard...
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Monday December 01 2014, @04:30PM
It's also notable that mushrooms have been used with great success on migraine and cluster headaches. In those cases, a single dose has provides 6 months to a year of relief. Given the level of suffering for patients in that condition, there is little excuse not to re-classify them as a prescription drug immediately.
That step would also greatly improve the chances of getting better studies done.