Psilocybin for depression could help brain break out of a rut, scientists say

[Northerner]

The psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms helps to open up depressed people’s brains and make them less fixed in negative thinking patterns, research suggests.

According to the findings, psilocybin makes the brain more flexible, working differently to regular antidepressants, even weeks after use. Researchers say the findings indicate that psilocybin could be a viable alternative to depression treatments.

They say patterns of brain activity in depression can become rigid and restricted, and psilocybin could help the brain to break out of the rut in a way traditional therapies cannot.

Prof David Nutt, the head of the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research, said: “These findings are important because for the first time we find that psilocybin works differently from conventional antidepressants, making the brain more flexible and fluid, and less entrenched in the negative thinking patterns associated with depression.

Psilocybin for depression could help brain break out of a rut, scientists say

Research shows effects of compound found in magic mushrooms can be seen weeks after treatment

www.theguardian.com

 

[Schoolmom]

Hmm interestin. What about cannabinols?

 

[mikeyB]

This is actually an old story. The effects of psychedelic compounds in depression was reported by Aldous Huxley, and Timothy Leary, but it’s only now (n the last three years or so) that formal scientists have been really examining the effects. And I read a similar report in the New Scientist last year, which I thought might lead to a proper trial.

Cannabinoids don’t work because they don’t affect perception or reality. Psychedelics do both. I have used cannabis, but long in the past at Uni, because everyone did. It’s pleasant, but doesn’t disinhibit the social controls, unlike alcohol which does. That’s why you get fights in pubs and afterwards, and why cannabis smokers just sit around smiling. This, of course relates to ordinary cannabis.

LSD was around at Uni (and school). I’ve only used it once, and while it was interesting and weird, that was the last time. I don’t like being completely unattached from the real world. But it’s that effect that seems to help in treating depression.

To drift from the article it is evidence for the quantum explanation for how the world appears to all of us. It’s just our perception. Does the world you see exist only when you look at it?