All About Those Magic Mushrooms
Introduction
I get a lot of questions about the safety and utility of magic mushrooms. There are rumors of positive effects but fears of danger. In short, psilocybe mushrooms and their active chemical compound, psilocybin, are safe for consumption (in safe environments), non-addictive, and have a variety of benefits, including improving socialization and seeming to help heal several psychological disorders. This article reviews recent research on the nature, benefits, and history of psilocybe mushrooms, psilocybin, and psilocin processes. I will also look at research that can help individuals “predict” their trip and explain the decriminalization rationale. We’ll end with recommendations for advocacy, education, and respect for the law. (I’ll also cite everything for further research and legal reasons.)
What is Psilocybin?
Psilocybin is an alkaloid found in many species of mushrooms but concentrated in Psilocybe, a global genus of mycelium. It is psychoactive, with hallucinogenic properties, often compared to LSD, DMT, and mescaline. Many psilocybe variants are potent enough to cause psychoactive effects without chemical refinement, so they have a long history of use for everything from spiritual practices to chemical warfare and physical enhancement.
Magic mushrooms were popularized in the United States when Gordon Wasson, a banker and ethnobotanist, participated in a native ceremony and wrote about his experiences for Life magazine in 1957 (Hart & Ksir, 2018). The alkaloid was isolated in 1959 by Albert Hofmann of LSD fame and became common in research on mental disorders and psychotherapy before reaching the mainstream recreational market as “magic mushrooms.” The federal government classified them as a Schedule I drug in 1970 (Tylš et al., 2014). Human studies gradually decreased until a resurgence of meticulous research began in the late 1990s, led by respected institutions such as the John Hopkins University School of Medicine (Hart & Ksir, 2018). These studies demystified the neurocognitive effects and provided new information on safety, risks, and therapeutic utility.
“California is expected to decriminalize soon, with legislation in review for 2023.”
The new research has led to the inclusion of mushrooms in historical narratives, mushroom-facilitated spiritual practices, and successful decriminalization efforts in several states. California is expected to decriminalize soon, with legislation in review for 2023. Psilocybin mushrooms are decriminalized or enjoy unenforced illegality in roughly one-third of global countries, with significant decriminalization in Europe, the South Pacific, and India. Several island nations, Austria, and Brazil have legalized use, while Nepal and Netherlands have legalized both use and sale.
Neurocognitive Function
(Tylš et al., 2014)
Dosage
Tylš et al. (2014) note, “…psilocybin is 45 times less potent than LSD and 66 times more potent than mescaline” (p.346). Sensation changes can occur with as little as .5 mg. Hallucinogenic effects occur in adults at doses above 15 mg, with 25 mg considered a very high dose. Tylš notes that “Very low doses cause drowsiness and emphasize the pre-existing mood. Medium doses induce a well controllable altered state of consciousness and higher doses evoke a strong psychedelic experience” (p.348). Pop culture describes these dosages as stimulating microdoses, altered consciousness, psychedelic trips, and “ego death” macrodoses sometimes called the “hero’s dose.”
Risk Assessment
Eating one’s body weight in mushrooms or ~19 grams (1000 doses) of purified psilocybin is the estimated lethal dosage (Tylš et al., 2014). In contrast, eating ~3% of one’s body weight in sugar, 4-5 pounds, is lethal. So unless you’re eating medical-grade psilocybin with a spoon, it isn’t toxic. The drug is also non-addictive. Isolated deaths have occurred from falling, eating incorrectly identified mushrooms, and rare suicides.
Physical Experience
Once ingested, psilocybin is converted into psilocin, absorbed into the bloodstream, and fully distributed throughout the body (Tylš et al., 2014). Hallucinations start in 20 to 40 minutes, peak at 90 minutes, and reach half-life (half the chemical removed) in 2.5 hours. Approximately ~80% will be removed from the body in 6-8 hours along with the primary effects and completely eliminated within 24 hours, with no changes to perception or cognition remaining after one week. Ingestion will slightly increase heart rate and blood pressure, possibly producing dizziness, weakness, tremor, and nausea. Vomiting may occur in some people, as well as drowsiness, tingling, [and] blurred vision” (Tylš et al., 2014. p.347).
The effects of psilocin are most prominent in the brain, where it bonds to serotonin receptors (Tylš et al., 2014). This causes visual hallucinogenic effects and other psychedelic effects, like euphoria and depersonalization – yet it does far more. It reduces delta and theta brainwave activity (dreaming and meditation) while increasing all other wave-states. It also increases neurological activity across hemispheres and between the brain and body. Widespread connection to many different neurological receptors throughout the body (total count yet unknown) reduces cognitive control (activity in the default mode network) and opens neurological signals across typically inhibited informational and sensory pathways. This modulates self-regulation, behavior control, bodily connection, and memory, indicating psychological healing by altering the perception of experiences.
Tylš et al. (2014) state that muscle reaction times and synaptic responsiveness increase at lower levels. At higher levels, it slows cognitive reaction and startle response times, causing increased sensory input, muscle twitches, loss of muscle control, behavioral modification, and creativity, as well as dominance inhibition (closely tied to ego death) which increases prosocial behavior. These effects or “trip” vary but commonly include increased excitability, sensory experience, visual acuity, dreaminess, and introversion.
Emotional Impact
“Positive changes in life attitudes were reported 25 years later.”
Tylš et al. (2014) point out that the whole of these experiences is often interpreted as an altered spiritual state and has long-term positive effects. Tylš notes, “Positive long-term changes in life attitudes of participants were reported 25 years later…confirmed by double-blind placebo and active comparator-controlled studies” (p.349). Participants ranked the experience as one of the most significant of their whole life. Positive changes in behavior and emotions equal the depth of the hallucination. The positive changes include increases in self-awareness, awareness of relationships, positive outlook, appreciation of nature, and aesthetic awareness. Compare this to alcohol, which reduces inhibition but increases aggression. Psilocybin actually produces permanent modifications to the personality trait of openness, a trait critical to growth and success. The effects combat depression and anxiety, with a positive impact on OCD, alcoholism, subjective pain, quality of life, and subjective well-being (Tylš et al., 2014)
Historical Impact
(Rodríguez Arce & Winkelman, 2021)
This new understanding of psilocybin has changed the way historians view our past. Rodríguez Arce and Winkelman (2021) hypothesize that psilocybe offered many benefits to early hunter-gatherer tribes and profoundly impacted the development of human civilization as we know it. These benefits include enhanced sensory responsiveness in hunting, social connectivity, spiritual experience, the formation of early religious activity, and group stability through ego death. They summarize as follows:
The integration of psilocybin into the ancient diet, communal practice, and proto-religious activity may have enhanced hominin response to the socio-cognitive niche while also aiding in its creation. In particular, the interpersonal and prosocial effects of psilocybin may have mediated the expansion of social bonding mechanisms such as laughter, music, storytelling, and religion, imposing a systematic bias on the selective environment that favored selection for prosociality in our lineage (para. 1).
Several theoretical pathways support this theory. Psilocybe is global and grows on dung, making it readily available to hunter-gatherers; it reduces the function of the brain’s default mode network while increasing neuroplasticity; and it catalyzes communities with collaborative building using shared goals and intentions, which rely on innovation and the transmission of knowledge. Psilocybe may have even fostered the linguistic development necessary for modern life. Communication about spiritual experiences requires “rhythmic, hermeneutical, and rhetorical” language or “niche cultural construction” unnecessary for most other tribal activities (Rodríguez Arce & Winkelman, 2021, para. 9). (Some historians even believe mushroom use was a key player in rituals performed in ancient Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu rites.) A neuroplastic catalyst with ego-reducing qualities that heightens creativity, reduces stress, and increases prosocial connectivity is more than a boon – it is an evolutionary accelerant to the development of socio-cultural intelligence.
Therapeutic Utility
(Johnson & Griffiths, 2017)
There is significant evidence for psilocybin as an effective treatment for individuals with end-of-life emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and addiction. Studies show no adverse effects from taking the drug, making these interventions low-risk. Psilocybin even has benefits at lower doses. Two studies on individuals self-medicating cluster headaches with psilocybin found non-mystical dosages were sufficient to reduce pain symptoms – with success rates better than the current medical interventions (Johnson & Griffiths, 2017).
Healing Anxiety & Depression
In research on individuals struggling with emotional distress related to end-of-life thoughts and feelings, psilocybin significantly reduced anxiety and depression, with long-lasting effects. In one study, 80% of participants continued to show decreased symptoms and 60% had returned to normal emotional states six months after dosage. Participants reported “a sense of unity, a noetic quality, sacredness, positive mood, transcendence of time and space, and ineffability.” A different team even replicated the study with the same results. The impact on treatment-resistant major depression symptoms is also promising, with research showing sustained remission in approximately 5 of 12 participants three months after receiving two doses of 10 mg and 25 mg just one week apart (Johnson & Griffiths, 2017). Compare this to the ongoing, unending use of pharmaceuticals for depression which is not only costly but comes with negative side effects.
Healing Addictions
In the LSD experiments of the 1950s, researchers thought LSD delirium would cause patients addicted to alcohol to hate being drunk. However, it was their positive psychedelic experiences that caused behavioral change (Johnson & Griffiths, 2017). Psilocybin research shows similar results. In one study of ten alcohol-dependent individuals, two psilocybin treatments and talk therapy caused a 50% reduction in alcohol use at the three-month follow-up. In a study on individuals addicted to nicotine, three doses of psilocybin and talk therapy treatment produced biologically-verified smoking cessation rates of 80% six months after psilocybin treatment, falling to 67% twelve months later but rising back to 75% two-and-a-half years following the study. Johnson and Griffiths (2017) point out that the quality of the mystical experience determines behavioral modification. A large study of 358 individuals reported modification of smoking habits if the depth of the mystical experience was significant.
Predicting Individual Responses
(Studerus et al., 2012)
Studerus et al. (2012) investigated the factors affecting individual psilocybin response. The research pools data from 23 different studies performed at a single research facility in Zurich. They considered prior drug use, adjectives use, two personality questionnaires, absorption scale, passive-spontaneous imagination, symptom checklists, and even a scale for altered states of consciousness. Their outcomes are pictured below, and we’ll talk through them.
Unsurprisingly, the dosage and absorption mattered, but the environment also mattered to the experiential quality, as subjects in the positron emission tomography machines (which partially covers the participant) scaled high on dread of ego dissolution and anxiety. Complex imagery and audiovisual sensations were closely tied to alcohol consumption markers. “Emotional excitability” and “activity” emotions before taking the drug provided the strongest responsive results, with significant activation across both experiential and visual states. Only the “emotional excitability” trait was strongly tied to dread – “activity” was not. General inactivation and hallucinogen-naïve qualities provided minor ties to increased experience. Several factors indicated blissful experiences, including marijuana use, the “activity” trait, and individual well-being, which appeared to guard against anxious experiences. The global severity measure, years in education, and introversion indicated resistance to the experience.
“Psilocybin…opens access into subconscious driving forces and repressions.”
In essence, active, positive people tend to have good trips, while intellectual, introverted people struggling with their mental health are likely to have bad trips or resist their trips, BUT the intensity of that trip will determine how important the experience is to the person, not how positive or negative it is. Participants win, even when they “lose.” Both expectations and the setting make a difference. Another way to think about it is that psilocybin doesn’t so much change a person as it opens access to subconscious driving forces and repressions. Strong wills continue to resist and control; damaged souls confront their terror; joyful people bask in the radiance of their God or fantasy; all seem to find something they’ve lost or forgotten.
Legal Status
(Johnson et al., 2018)
The United States ranks controlled substances across eight categories as follows per The Controlled Substances Act (DEA, n.d.):
Its actual or relative potential for abuse.
Scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known.
The state of current scientific knowledge regarding the drug or other substance.
Its history and current pattern of abuse.
The scope, duration, and significance of abuse.
What, if any, risk there is to the public health.
Its psychic or physiological dependence liability.
Whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled under this subchapter.
Johnson et al. (2018) dismantle each criterion at length, claiming that giving psilocybin a Schedule I status was due to a lack of research and overestimated danger. They note millennia of use, coevolution, spiritual practices, and medical utility. They point out that past assertions of abuse were based on other hallucinogens and falsely assumed to also apply to psilocybin when abuse has not been demonstrated or is statistically insignificant. They assert a low abuse rate due to the lack of physiological dependence pathways and no withdrawal symptoms. They note a long history of recorded information cautioning against addiction to alcohol, cocaine, opioids, and tobacco but not psilocybin, which was incorporated into spiritual or hunting practices. Psilocybin does not have a significant vector of harm or pressure on treatment resources. Psilocybin instead appears to have potential medical and psychotherapeutic benefits. It has a larger body of research than most Schedule III drugs (steroids, ketamine) and less danger or negative societal impact than most Schedule IV drugs (Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, etc.), suggesting a reduction to Schedule IV and decriminalization while further data is gathered.
Addiction & Abuse Summary
As Johnson et al. (2018) demonstrate, psilocybin is not addictive and poses no harm to others or the public. Psilocybin does not activate the neurophysical pathways of addiction and is self-reported to be used infrequently by those addicted to other substances. This is a sharp contrast from alcohol, a significant component of assault-based crimes, or addictive substances like meth or cocaine, which increase crime due to powerful addiction. Psilocybin’s self-harm potential is 12 times less than alcohol, nine times less than heroin, nine times less than crack cocaine, four times less than cocaine, four times less than tobacco, three times less than cannabis, and even two times less than ketamine (Johnson et al., 2018). Concerns over toxicity in medically refined forms are not yet relevant but could be easily mitigated by restrictions on sale quantities.
Psilocybin’s lack of addiction characteristics has likely contributed to its lack of illegal distribution and subsequent lack of research while listed as a Schedule I substance. The question is not whether psilocybin is harmful but how it benefits individuals who abuse other substances. It is plausible that buyers were either unaffected by psilocybin, afraid of it, or were so affected that they changed their behavior and ceased addictions. Whatever the case, individuals attempting to distribute the fungi appear to be those who assert its spiritual value rather than addictive hedonic or dopaminergic benefit.
Research Summary
The research shows psilocybin to be surprisingly safe and play a pivotal, positive role in the development of our society. It can create long-lasting, motivating changes to social behavior through spiritual experience, and contributes to stress reduction, creativity, linguistic development, and prosocial personality change. It seems useful where habits or closed-mindedness cause maladaptive behaviors, belief patterns, or bodily harm. It appears to offer the potential for a long-lasting, positive impact on individuals with depression, anxiety, addiction, or other psychiatric diagnoses. It may even catalyze individuals resistant to psychotherapeutic healing. A Schedule IV drug assignment appears reasonable for psilocybin. Most of its risks occur from individuals not knowing what they’re getting into, but the mycelium is not harmful or toxic. While bizarre behavior can occur, these result from poor education or misuse. Even bad trips are typically matched in spiritual significance, too, so even that is not a deterrent. Legalization of the plant is warranted.
Thoughts for Therapists
The implications for clinical practice are broad. Preliminary research shows support for use in depression, anxiety, and addiction treatment, with possible benefits for OCD. Brain research indicates potential benefits for panic, trauma, or difficult-to-treat, ego-related personality disorders. Socio-cultural benefits show strong support for group, family, or couples therapy. Spiritual impacts could improve existential psychotherapeutic interventions and expand the use of the substance (if only slightly) to many other therapeutic challenges.
While the therapeutic utility is still experimental, it is also non-threatening. Experimentation will be permissible once the substance is legalized, provided that it is done in a safe, controlled environment, with a mature understanding of the psychological experience and physiological effects, given the possibility of an accident. Misinformation about psilocybin is widespread, making access to correct information difficult for clients interested in or actively using the substance despite its legal status. This misinformation is partly the government's fault, which does nothing to correct false narratives and actively promotes incorrect information, including classification as an addictive substance and claiming that eating psilocybe may result in overdose death (Drug fact sheet: Psilocybin, 2020), which is not physically possible.
Therapists discussing the substance should emphasize it is still a Schedule 1 listed drug, illegal for use outside of a government-sanctioned laboratory. Social constructivist perspectives indicate that therapists have a responsibility to advocate for the legalization of mycelium based on religious freedom and cultural rights. Therefore, therapists should also help to educate interested individuals regarding the legal status, risks, and potential benefits of psilocybin, while supporting decriminalization and rescheduling of the substance to a more appropriate classification.
Notes on the Research
The rigor of the research, its presentation, and reliable replication is surprisingly good. There is a significant vested interest in understanding the substance and leveraging it back into common use because of its pro-social benefit and not despite it. The study sizes were small and localized. Johnson et al. (2018) were funded by a nonprofit working to legalize a psilocybin-based drug (in phase 3 clinical trials) but were transparent about funding and analyzed its bias appropriately. Some changes in the body of knowledge about psilocybin may already be present, but these appear to be positive, such as examining psilocybin’s neurological anti-inflammatory properties and possible use for neurodegenerative disorders. Their research was also funded partly by a nonprofit, indicating ongoing advancement.
The literature cited appropriately extended and diversified evolutionary and cultural psychology theories to a global perspective, yet a lot of research focused exclusively on the use of psilocybe in Native American rituals. Some even accuse the current dominant culture of sociocultural and spiritual abuse by stealing a sacred tradition (Lutkajtis, 2020). These papers ignore the historical records of mushroom use across global tribal societies and the evidence of their contribution to the rituals that produced today's modern global religions. Ironically – or hypocritically – such authors overlook the globally-inclusive spirit of such humanistic, spiritual traditions, which do not seek attribution status but promote inclusion.
References
Drug fact sheet: Psilocybin. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement. (2020, April). Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://admin.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/Psilocybin-2020_0.pdf.
Hart, C., & Ksir, C. (2018). Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior (17th Edition), McGraw-Hill; ISBN: 978-1259913860.
Johnson, M.W. & Griffiths, R.R. (2017). Potential Therapeutic Effects of Psilocybin. Neurotherapeutics 14, 734–740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-017-0542-y.
Johnson, M. W., Griffiths, R. R., Hendricks, P. S., & Henningfield, J. E. (2018). The abuse potential of medical psilocybin according to the 8 factors of the Controlled Substances Act. Neuropharmacology, 142, 143–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.05.012.
Lutkajtis, A. (2020). Lost saints: Desacralization, spiritual abuse and magic mushrooms. Fieldwork in Religion, 14(2), 118-139.
Rodríguez Arce, J. M., & Winkelman, M. J. (2021). Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 729425. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.729425.
Studerus, E., Gamma, A., Kometer, M., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2012). Prediction of Psilocybin Response in Healthy Volunteers. PLOS ONE, 7(2), e30800. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030800.
DEA. (n.d.). The controlled substances act. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/csa.
Tylš, F., Páleníček, T., & Horáček, J. (2014). Psilocybin--summary of knowledge and new perspectives. European Neuropsychopharmacology: The Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 24(3), 342–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.12.006.
