Magic mushrooms may 'reset' the brains of depressed patients

Magic mushrooms may 'reset' the brains of depressed patients(medicalxpress.com)

24 points by slamdance 8 years ago | 7 comments

sbinthree 8 years ago |

The disturbing aspect of depression treatments that "reset" things is the meaning of reset at a nervous system level. In a lot of cases, that basically means "memory smoothing" or "neuron unlearning". Imagine how great it would be if all your traumatic memories felt mild or you forgot them entirely? Consider the downside of that with respect to positive memories. Especially those nice feelings you get when you conquer something was previously impossible or very hard for you. SSRIs do this even more aggressively. Most of the time negative memories are easier to recall than positive ones. Unlearning negative memories can have really weird and bad consequences though in the context of learning. Presumably at least a percentage of negative learning is useful. That goes away when you "reset" your neurons in this manner.

serf 8 years ago | |

from the article:

"In a paper, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe patient-reported benefits lasting up to five weeks after treatment, and believe the psychedelic compound may effectively reset the activity of key brain circuits known to play a role in depression."

"Functional MRI imaging revealed reduced blood flow in areas of the brain, including the amygdala, a small, almond-shaped region of the brain known to be involved in processing emotional responses, stress and fear. They also found increased stability in another brain network, previously linked to psilocybin's immediate effects as well as to depression itself."

The phrase 'reset' is being bandied around a lot, but it sounds like the scope of the therapy is much smaller than the concept of 'resetting your brain'. Not to say that there isn't a negative impact like you say, but I think the compartmentalization of the brain is more complicated than "good memory/bad memory".

Imagine a drug that just reduced the impact of memories with (for lack of a better wording) 'chemical metadata' categorized as being a negative experience or negative feedback. That seems to be the goal with these types of research into the chemical intervention of PTSD and depression.

> Presumably at least a percentage of negative learning is useful. That goes away when you "reset" your neurons in this manner.

Well, maybe not. The learning that was the result of using the negative feedback is already in-place. It may be more difficult in the future to recall the negative feedback that lead to the learning taking place, but I have a hard time thinking that all the learning that is a result of that negative feedback will be nullified post-facto, since it was already positively reinforced.

I guess we'll see!

shallot_router 8 years ago |

The key point from the paper [1]:

>Decreased depressive symptoms were observed in all 19 patients at 1-week post-treatment and 47% met criteria for response at 5 weeks.

Small sample size, but definitely an interesting result. I was hoping they'd test again after a few months have passed, though.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13282-7

trapperkeeper74 8 years ago |

Fuck, I’d try this right now. Just stopped mirtazepene because it was less and less effective. Now I’m back to the black dog. I know of a university in the US that has someone with the even more magical DEA exclusion certificate, wouldn’t trust informal economy’s supply-chain.

aaroninsf 8 years ago | |

Fwiw, at least in the places I've lived in the US,

The informal supply chain for such things is usually well established, and easy to find (and triangulate) quality within.

These mushrooms grow readily and in many places naturally in abundance (though as with all mushrooms of course you wouldn't want to pick them without being certain of your own abilities).

Erowid.org is a great resource for self-education btw.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8 years ago | |

Magic mushrooms are perhaps the most trustworthy black-market good you can acquire. Unlike generic white powders or pills, mushrooms are difficult to counterfeit/substitute/adulterate, and cultivation is extremely easy. The enterprising individual can acquire some spores and grow their own.

mojomark 8 years ago | |

You may want to research ayahuasca as a depression treatment.