Benefits of Magic Mushrooms: How Psilocybin Improves Your Mind
Did you know that up to 51 million people in the United States live with some type of mental illness? Mental health is becoming a focal point in medical fields, as more people than ever are experiencing trauma and depression.
Finding a natural way to help those with trauma and mental illness is the key to allowing those people to live a higher quality of life. But what about mushrooms?
When most people think about psilocybin mushrooms, they think about psychedelics. The mental health benefits of magic mushrooms are tangible for helping you to overcome trauma and mental illness.
Continue reading to learn more about the benefits of psilocybin and how it can help your mind heal from trauma, illness, and more.
What Is Psilocybin?
Psilocybin is a chemical that is found in magic mushrooms. This chemical causes a sensory overload of colors and patterns and creates a feeling of overall happiness and wellbeing.
Psilocybin allows your brain to reach a hyperconnected state. This disrupts the typical neuro passages. It also connects parts of your brain that do not communicate with each other.
The chemical binds receptors in your brain in a similar way to how serotonin does. This can create an altered state of happiness. But interestingly, studies have shown that that happiness can last up to a year after taking the dose.
These long-term personality changes result in the user having much higher levels of happiness. Researchers also discovered an increased interest in creativity and the arts.
When digging deeper, scientists discovered that psilocybin reorganizes neural connections. It also builds ties to parts of the brain that hadn't been connected before.
How Does Psilocybin Work?
During a typical day, your brain is firing neurons that send neurotransmitters down well-developed paths in your brain. When you consume psilocybin, it gives these neurotransmitters free rein to take new paths.
In order for psilocybin to work, it requires the release of neurotransmitters at the same time as the firing of neurons in your brain. Without both of these happening simultaneously, psilocybin will not work as expected.
Doctors have altered the experiments to see what would happen if those two processes did not happen simultaneously. They discovered that both must happen for the brain to be destabilized and allow new connections.
The new connections of neurotransmitters allow your brain to let go of old routines or behaviors. This opens the door for you to learn newer, healthier behaviors.
You can compare your brain to a snow globe. Psilocybin is like taking a snow globe and shaking it up. It stirs your brain up and then lets it settle in a new way.
This approach can help you to gain new outlooks on life while also allowing you to heal from past trauma or even addiction and depression.
The Benefits of Magic Mushrooms
Researchers around the globe have done studies to look into the benefits of psilocybin when it comes to mental health.
To this point, researchers have found that it can help with relieving depression, healing physical and mental trauma, and putting a stop to drug and alcohol addiction. Here is a dive into each of those benefits.
Relieving Depression
One of the most highly researched medical conditions for psilocybin therapy is depression. Studies done with micro-dosing psilocybin have shown that it can be sustainable and immediate in the treatment of depression.
Psilocybin therapy is especially effective at helping with treatment-resistant depression. This is due to psilocybin “resetting” the brain and allowing for enhanced connectivity.
It provides lasting results. Patients have seen relief from their depression for up to 5 weeks after a dose was administered. Magic mushrooms provide an alternative to taking antidepressant medicine and attending therapy sessions.
Psilocybin works more effectively than those methods. It takes less time to affect your depression and lasts much longer. Scientists have seen psilocybin take as little as one week to have positive effects on patients.
Another benefit of magic mushrooms for those who suffer from depression is that it allows you to reconnect with your emotions.
They provide a great alternative to antidepressant medication. Antidepressant medication can leave you feeling flat. It gets rid of the negative emotions or feelings but at the expense of the positive emotions.
One of the benefits of psilocybin is that it helps with depression by increasing your ability to process emotions. Processing emotions, both good and bad, can speed the healing process. This is also how psilocybin helps with healing from trauma.
Stopping Smoking and Addiction
Another benefit of magic mushrooms is their ability to help you deal with addiction. Studies have shown that psilocybin therapy helps smokers quit smoking significantly more than other methods.
Studies also showed similar results for patients that dealt with addiction to alcohol. After psilocybin therapy, patients saw that the amount of drinking severely decrease.
Magic mushrooms are so effective for stopping addiction because they give you a new outlook on life, with an ability to see the bigger picture. They also break you out of your routine.
Significant improvements have been seen in patients that are battling addiction. With only one week of micro-dosing psilocybin, their addiction wanes.
Psilocybin and Mental Health
Studies have also shown that psilocybin can help heal past mental and physical trauma. Scientists have found that increased neuro connectivity may be the key to healing that trauma.
In fact, many US soldiers turned to psilocybin as a remedy for their PTSD upon returning home from their deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to undergo a “trip” in order to see the benefits of psilocybin. Microdosing psilocybin allows you to have the health benefits without taking a psychedelic trip.
Start Helping Your Mental Health
The benefits of magic mushrooms extend to patients suffering from different ailments. These range from mental health issues and depression to addiction and trauma.
It is a great alternative to antidepressants and other methods of therapy. It allows you to gain a new outlook with minimal therapy. The results can last up to 12 months, helping you to form better, healthier habits and live a better life.
Mental health is crucial to your overall wellbeing. If you're feeling depressed or working through trauma, there are treatment solutions for you. Find out more by reading more of our blogs.
