Psilocybin
What is Psilocybin?
Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic substancefound in numerous mushrooms of the species "Psilocybe," those mushrooms ar mostly known as ''Magic Mushrooms''.
The psychoactive substance psilocybin is converted into psilocin in the body upon ingestion. Psilocin enters the central nervous system (CNS) trough the bloodstream, where it binds to serotonin receptors triggering an activation of serotonin.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the nervous system, commonly referred to as the "feel-good hormone" among many other processes. A healthy serotonin balance promotes well-being, relaxation, and balance. The chemical components of psilocin are psychoactive, meaning they alter the consumer's thinking, consciousness, and mood in addition to inducing hallucinogenic perceptual distortions.
Sources: Nr. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
The effects of psilocybin are being increasingly studied in various researches and therapeutic settings.
The data supporting its efficacy in treating depression is the most sturdy, but there are also studies indicating promising effects for anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In some countries, such as Australia, psilocybin has been approved for psychotherapeutic treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, in most countries, the use of psilocybin is only approved for research purposes.
Sources: Nr. 16, 17
How can Psilocybin help?
In a two-phased study that tested psilocybin on depressed patients ''Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression'', professionals observed one of the most important effects of psilocybin for use in psychotherapy.
Through MRI scans, they found that psilocybin triggers changes in brain activity, leading to a decrease of modularity and an increase of functional connectivity in the brain.
It was found that individuals suffering from depression, have an increased modularity that correlates with the severity of depressive symptoms.
Modularity is responsible for individual, independent neural networkings that go off automatically in a specific pattern and cannot be influenced by higher-level instances. These may manifest as repetitive, negative thinking patterns.
Therefore, the decrease in modularity triggered by psilocybin represents a significant advancement in the treatment of depression and presumably other mental health issues associated with increased modularity.
Further research indicates that the functional connectivity (the collaboration and information processing among different areas of the brain) in depressed patients is atypically restricted. This leads to an inward-focused, contemplative mood and perception.
Psilocybin can act to alter this state positively by increasing functional connectivity through connecting new brain regions.
Sources: Nr. 10, 11, 12, 13 19, 20, 21, 22
Patients struggling with addiction can also benefit from the effects of psilocybin on the brain.
In individuals with addiction, it has been found that certain (dopamine-releasing) receptors (mGluR2 and mGluR3), which play a significant role in craving for rewards, have impaired function due to excessive drug consumption.
This results in heightened drug cravings as these receptors struggle to release the desired neurotransmitter, dopamine, from other stimuli.
Treatment with psilocybin can upregulate these receptors, leading to improved or normalized receptor function, which can be highly beneficial in treating addiction behaviors.
Sources: Nr. 23, 24
Results
The effects of psilocybin could open new doors for many mentally ill individuals, as they could help dissolve long-standing negative behavioral or thought patterns, such as the decrease in avoidance of one's own emotions observed in one of the studies (Nr. 11) mentioned before.
The effects also seem to persist for longer periods in most cases (partly for months or years), which is achieved by only a few medications.
Even extreme fears, such as the fear of death in cancer patients, can be alleviated by the effects of psilocybin. Particularly for patients with treatment-resistant or severe mental illnesses, psilocybin could mean a new hope.
Sources: Nr. 11, 25