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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: 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.