A scientist takes a high dose of psilocybin and climbs into an MRI machine to scan his own brain

Nico Dosenbach, an associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, was able to discover firsthand what happens to the brain when under the influence of psychedelic drugs. For science, of course.

His colleagues gave him a high dose of psilocybin (what else are friends for?), and when he started to experience a side effect, he locked himself in the claustrophobic space of an MRI machine. At first, Dosenbach didn’t know whether he had taken psilocybin or the stimulant Ritalin as a placebo, because his colleagues wouldn’t tell him which it was.

This was until he felt his brain turning into a computer.

“I was the computer tablet and my thoughts were like computer thoughts, which of course makes no sense,” Dosenbach said. CNN“I knew this wasn’t normal, but it wasn’t scary.”

This was done as part of a new study, published in the journal Nature and co-authored by Dosenbach, to unlock the psychedelic secrets behind the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. Scientists (and trip-goers) have long wondered: How is it possible that psilocybin and similar drugs, such as LSD, can distort our perception of space-time, induce ego death, and perhaps also be a promising therapeutic tool?

According to the researchers, the drug may be causing these hallucinogenic effects by disrupting a key network of areas in our brains, namely those involved in introspective thinking, such as daydreaming and remembering. As the title of the study says: “Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain.”

“The idea is to take this system that is fundamental to the brain’s ability to think about itself in relation to the world and temporarily desynchronize it completely,” said senior study author Joshu Siegel, an instructor in psychiatry at WUS, in a statement about the work.

And the long-lasting effects this has on our grey matter appear to be therapeutically positive, boosting what’s known as plasticity, or our brain’s ability to change and grow.

“In the short term, this creates a psychedelic experience,” Siegel added. “The long-term consequence is that it makes the brain more flexible and potentially more capable of reaching a healthier state.”

The study involved seven adult participants, including Dosenbach. They were given either a high dose of 25 milligrams of psilocybin or a dose of the mild stimulant Ritalin, and had their brains scanned in an MRI machine about 18 times before, during and three weeks after the trip. Some of them also took another dose of psilocybin six to 12 months later.

The scans showed that the biggest disruption was in the brain’s “default mode,” a network of regions responsible for our sense of self, space and time. This may be a good thing: it’s basically making the connectivity of our brain functions more flexible.

From a psychotherapist’s point of view, this could also help us break our brain’s bad habits, moving us away from our pessimistic thought patterns and onto greener pastures. A key point is that this is best done with a professional; self-medication is not recommended, the researchers said.

Better yet, brain scans showed that these benefits in brain connectivity persist subtly weeks after the psychedelic experience.

“At first, the effect is huge, and when it wears off, it’s a very punctual effect,” Dosenbach said in the statement. “That’s exactly what you want to see in a potential drug. You don’t want people’s brain networks to be destroyed for days, but you don’t want everything to go back to the way it was immediately. You want an effect that lasts long enough to make a difference.”

Taken together, the study has given us a hopeful glimpse into what lies behind the magic of magic mushrooms and exemplifies what the renewed interest in the field of psychedelic medicine can do.

More on psychedelics: Therapists warn that taking magic mushrooms as a treatment can lead to unwanted romantic feelings