Magic mushrooms can 'reset' depressed brain.

[crackerjack101]

Now I know why I never get depressed .



By James GallagherHealth and science reporter, BBC News website

• 6 hours ago
• From the sectionHealth

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

A hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms can "reset" the brains of people with untreatable depression, raising hopes of a future treatment, scans suggest.
The small study gave 19 patients a single dose of the psychedelic ingredient psilocybin.
Half of patients ceased to be depressed and experienced changes in their brain activity that lasted about five weeks.
However, the team at Imperial College London says people should not self-medicate.
There has been a series of small studies suggesting psilocybin could have a role in depression by acting as a "lubricant for the mind" that allows people to escape a cycle of depressive symptoms.
But the precise impact it might be having on brain activity was not known.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

The team at Imperial performed fMRI brain scans before treatment with psilocybin and then the day after (when the patients were "sober" again).
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, showed psilocybin affected two key areas of the brain.

• The amygdala - which is heavily involved in how we process emotions such as fear and anxiety - became less active. The greater the reduction, the greater the improvement in reported symptoms.
• The default-mode network - a collaboration of different brain regions - became more stable after taking psilocybin.

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, head of psychedelic research at Imperial, said the depressed brain was being "clammed up" and the psychedelic experience "reset" it.
He told the BBC News website: "Patients were very ready to use this analogy. Without any priming they would say, 'I've been reset, reborn, rebooted', and one patient said his brain had been defragged and cleaned up."
However, this remains a small study and had no "control" group of healthy people with whom to compare the brain scans.
Further, larger studies are still needed before psilocybin could be accepted as a treatment for depression.
However, there is no doubt new approaches to treatment are desperately needed.

• Depression: A revolution in treatment?

Prof Mitul Mehta, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said: "What is impressive about these preliminary findings is that brain changes occurred in the networks we know are involved in depression, after just a single dose of psilocybin.
"This provides a clear rationale to now look at the longer-term mechanisms in controlled studies."



http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41608984

[Norton]

Now I know why I never get depressed .

You do. You just don't care.

[crackerjack101]

You do. You just don't care.

Fair point.

[Pragmatic]

Unfortunately, illegal in Thailand.

[Maanaam]

I recommend magic mushies in a small dose but with kava. Not psychadelic, but definitely a mildly halucinatory immediate effect, and long-lasting low level euphoria without being high.

[Klondyke]

I recommend magic mushies in a small dose but with kava.

Do you drink the kava with friends around?







And do you drink the kava from the correct bowl as I am making?

[misskit]

^ Those are beautiful bowls. The table is lovely also.

[Chittychangchang]

This thread reminds me, time to get a mushie brew on the go.
Got quite a crop growing in the back garden now.

[stroller]

The small study gave 19 patients a single dose of the psychedelic ingredient psilocybin.
Half of patients ceased to be depressed

How about the other 9 1/2 guys? Freaked out, suicidal, homicidal?

[Maanaam]

And do you drink the kava from the correct bowl as I am making?

Loaded question as those are not the correct bowls. Not quite.
Very very nice bowls indeed, but the proper tanoa has a rounded bottom so you can scoop the last dregs out with the coconut shell drinking bowl. It's rude to tip the tanoa to get the last drops out.

[Klondyke]

Very very nice bowls indeed, but the proper tanoa has a rounded bottom so you can scoop the last dregs out with the coconut shell drinking bowl.

Perhaps you do not see it properly. I know about this, the inner bottom shape allows to empty it entirely:

[Maanaam]

Ahhh, I see. The bowls are made from pieces and it's an optical illusion that the bottom is flat.
I like your bowls very much. Beautiful.
The traditional ones, as I'm sure you know, are made from one solid piece, legs, turtle head, and all.