What Psychedelics Really Do to Your Brain

Inside how ayahuasca, MDMA, DMT and psilocybin mushrooms affect the body – and how
researchers are using them to help people with mental illness.

From mushrooms to MDMA, psychedelics are making a comeback in the therapeutic world.

Hallucinations. Vivid images. Intense sounds. Greater self-awareness.

Those are the hallmark effects associated with the world's four most popular psychedelic drugs.
Ayahuasca, DMT, MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms can all take users through a wild mind-
bending ride that can open up your senses and deepen your connection to the spirit world. Not all
trips are created equal, though – if you're sipping ayahuasca, your high could last a couple of hours.
But if you're consuming DMT, that buzz will last under than 20 minutes.

Still, no matter the length of the high, classic psychedelics are powerful. Brain imaging studies have
shown that all four drugs have profound effects on neural activity. Brain function is less constrained
while under the influence, which means you're better able to emotion. And the networks in your
brain are far more connected, which allows for a higher state of consciousness and introspection.

These psychological benefits have led researchers to suggest that psychedelics could be effective
therapeutic treatments. In fact, many studies have discovered that all four drugs, in one way or
another, have the potential to treat depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and
other mental health conditions. By opening up the mind, the theory goes, people under the influence
of psychedelics can confront their painful pasts or self-destructive behavior without shame or fear.
They're not emotionally numb; rather, they're far more objective.

Of course, these substances are not without their side effects. But current research at least suggests
that ayahuasca, DMT, MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms have the potential to change the way
doctors can treat mental illness – particularly for those who are treatment-resistant. More in-depth
studies are needed to understand their exact effects on the human brain, but what we know now is at
least promising. Here, a look at how each drug affects your brain – and how that's being used to our
advantage.

Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is an ancient plant-based tea derived from a combination of the vine Banisteriopsis
caapi and the leaves of the plant psychotria viridis. Shamans in the Amazon have long used
ayahuasca to cure illness and tap into the spiritual world. Some religious groups in Brazil consume
the hallucinogenic brew as religious sacrament. In recent years, regular folk have started to use
ayahuasca for greater self-awareness.

That's because brain scans have shown that ayahuasca increases the neural activity in the brain's
visual cortex, as well as its limbic system – the region deep inside the medial temporal lobe that's
responsible for processing memories and emotion. Ayahuasca can also quiet the brain's default
mode network, which, when overactive, causes depression, anxiety and social phobia,

according to

a video released last year by YouTube channel AsapSCIENCE

. Those who consume it end up in a

meditative state.

"Ayahuasca induces an introspective state of awareness during which people have very personally
meaningful experiences," says Dr. Jordi Riba, a leading ayahuasca researcher. "It's common to have
emotionally-laden, autobiographic memories coming to the mind's eye in the form of visions, not
unlike those we experience during sleep."

According to Riba, people who use ayahuasca experience a trip that can be "quite intense"
depending on the dose consumed. The psychological effects come on after about 45 minutes and hit
their peak within an hour or two; physically, the worst a person will feel is nausea and vomiting,
Riba says. Unlike with LSD or psilocybin mushrooms, people high on ayahuasca are fully aware
that they're hallucinating. It's this self-conscious tripping that has led people to use ayahuasca as a
means to overcome addiction and face traumatic issues. Riba and his research group at Hospital do
Sant Pau in Barcelona, Spain, have also begun "rigorous clinical trials" using ayahuasca for treating
depression; so far, the plant-based drug has shown to reduce depressive symptoms in treatment-
resistant patients, as well as produce "a very antidepressant effect that is maintained for weeks,"
says Riba, who has studied the drug with support from the Beckley Foundation, a U.K.-based think
tank.

His team is currently studying the post-acute stage of ayahuasca effects – what they've dubbed the
"after-glow." So far, they've found that, during this "after-glow" period, the regions of the brain
associated with sense-of-self have a stronger connection to other areas that control autobiographic
memories and emotion. According to Riba, it's during this time that the mind is more open to
psychotherapeutic intervention, so the research team is working to incorporate a small number of
ayahuasca sessions into mindfulness psychotherapy.

"These functional changes correlate with increased 'mindfulness' capacities," Riba says. "We
believe that the synergy between the ayahuasca experience and the mindfulness training will boost
the success rate of the psychotherapeutic intervention."

DMT is crystalized so that it can be smoked.

DMT
Ayahuasca and the compound N,N-Dimethyltryptamine – or DMT – are closely linked. DMT is
present in the leaves of the plant psychotria viridis and is responsible for the hallucinations
ayahuasca users experience. DMT is close in structure to melatonin and serotonin and has
properties similar to the psychedelic compounds found in magic mushrooms and LSD.

If taken orally, DMT has no real effects on the body because stomach enzymes break down the
compound immediately. But the Banisteriopsis caapi vines used in ayahuasca block those enzymes,
causing DMT to enter your bloodstream and travel to your brain. DMT, like other classic
psychedelic drugs, affect the brain's serotonin receptors, which research shows

alters emotion,

vision, and sense of bodily integrity

. In other words: you're on one hell of a trip.

Much of what is known about DMT is thanks to Dr. Rick Strassman, who first published
groundbreaking research on the psychedelic drug

two decades ago

. According to Strassman, DMT

is one of the only compounds that can cross the blood-brain barrier – the membrane wall separating
circulating blood from the brain extracellular fluid in the central nervous system. DMT's ability to
cross this divides means the compound "appears to be a necessary component of normal brain
physiology," says Strassman, the author of two quintessential books on the psychedelic, DMT: The
Spirit Molecule and DMT and the Soul of Prophecy.

"The brain only brings things into its confines using energy to get things across the blood-brain
barrier for nutrients, which it can't make on its own — things like blood sugar or glucose," he
continued. "DMT is unique in that way, in that the brain expends energy to get it into its confines."

DMT actually naturally occurs in the human body, and is particularly present in the lungs.
Strassman says it may also be found in the pineal gland – the small part of the brain associated with
the mind's "third eye." The effects of overly active DMT when ingested via ayahuasca can last for
hours. But taken on its own – that is, smoked or injected – and your high lasts only a few minutes,
according to Strassman.

Although short, the trip from DMT can be intense, more so than other psychedelics, Strassman says.
Users on DMT have reported similar experiences to that of ayahuasca: A greater sense of self, vivid
images and sounds and deeper introspection. In the past, Strassman has suggested DMT to be used
as a therapy tool to treat depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions, as well as aid with
self-improvement and discovery. But studies of DMT are actually scarce, so it's hard to know the
full extent of its therapeutic benefits.

"There isn't much research with DMT and it ought to be studied more," Strassman says.

MDMA
Unlike DMT, MDMA is not a naturally occurring psychedelic. The drug – otherwise called molly or
ecstasy – is a synthetic concoction popular among ravers and club kids. People can pop MDMA as a
capsule, tablet or pill. The drug (sometimes called ecstasy or molly) triggers the release of three key
neurotransmitters: serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. The synthetic drug also increases levels
of the hormones oxytocin and prolactin, resulting in a feeling of euphoria and being uninhibited.
The most significant effect of MDMA is the release of serotonin in large quantities, which drains
the brain's supply – which can mean days of depression after its use.

Brain imaging has also shown that MDMA causes a decrease in activity in the amygdala – the
brain's almond-shaped region that perceives threats and fear – as well as an increase in the
prefrontal cortex, which is considered the brain's higher processing center. Ongoing research on
psychedelic drugs and the effects on various neural networks has also found that MDMA allows for
more flexibility in brain function, which means people tripping on the drug can filter emotions and
reactions without being "stuck in old ways of processing," according to Dr. Michael Mithoefer, who
has studied MDMA extensively.

"People are less likely to be overwhelmed by anxiety and better able to process experience …
without being numb to emotion," he says.

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted researchers permission to move ahead
with plans for a large-scale clinical trial to examine the effects of using MDMA as treatment for
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Mithoefer oversaw the phase-two trials – backed by the
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), an American nonprofit founded in
the mid-1980s – that informed the FDA's decision. During the study, people living with PTSD were
able to address their trauma without withdrawing from their emotions while under the influence of
MDMA because of the complex interaction between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Since
the phase two trials had strong results,

Mithoefer told

Rolling Stone

in December

that he expects the

FDA to approve the phase three trial plans sometime early this year.

While research into MDMA's use for PTSD treatment is promising, Mithoefer cautions that the
drug not be used outside of a therapeutic setting, as it raises blood pressure, body temperature and
pulse, and causes nausea, muscle tension, increased appetite, sweating, chills and blurred vision.
MDMA could also lead to dehydration, heart failure, kidney failure and an irregular heartbeat. If
someone on MDMA doesn't drink enough water or has an underlying health condition, the side
effects can be life threatening.

Psilocybin Mushrooms

Mushrooms are another psychedelic with a long history of use in health and healing ceremonies,
particularly in the Eastern world. People tripping on 'shrooms will experience vivid hallucinations
within an hour of ingestion, thanks to the body's breakdown psilocybin, the naturally-occurring
psychedelic ingredient found in more than 200 species of mushrooms.

Research out of the Imperial College London

, published in 2014, found that psilocybin, a serotonin

receptor, causes a stronger communication between the parts of the brain that are normally
disconnected from each other. Scientists reviewing fMRI brain scans of people who've ingested
psilocybin and people who've taken a placebo discovered that magic mushrooms trigger a different
connectivity pattern in the brain that's only present in a hallucinogenic state. In this condition, the
brain's functioning with less constraint and more intercommunication; according to researchers
from Imperial College London,

this type of psilocybin-induced brain activity

is similar to what's

seen with dreaming and enhanced emotional being.

"These stronger connections are responsible for creating a different state of consciousness," says Dr.
Paul Expert, a methodologist and physicist who worked on the Imperial College London study.
"Psychedelic drugs are a potentially very powerful way of understanding normal brain function."

Emerging research may prove magic mushrooms effective at treating depression and other mental
health conditions. Much like ayahuasca,

brain scans have shown

that psilocybin can suppress

activity in the brain's default mode network, and people tripping on 'shrooms have reported
experiencing "a higher level of happiness and belonging to the world," according to Expert. To that
end, a

study published last year in the U.K. medical journal

The Lancet

discovered that a high dose

of mushrooms reduced depressive symptoms in treatment-resistant patients.

That same study noted that psilocybin could potentially treat anxiety, addiction and obsessive-
compulsive disorder because of its mood-elevating properties. And other research has found that

psilocybin can reduce the fear response in mice

, signaling the drug's potential as a treatment for

PTSD.

Despite these positive findings, research on psychedelics is limited, and consuming magic
mushrooms

does comes with some risk

. People tripping on psilocybin can experience paranoia or a

complete loss of subjective self-identity, known as ego dissolution, according to Expert. Their
response to the hallucinogenic drug will also depend on their physical and psychological
environment. Magic mushrooms should be consumed with caution because the positive or negative
effect on the user can be "profound (and uncontrolled) and long lasting," Expert says. "We don't
really understand the mechanism behind the cognitive effect of psychedelics, and thus cannot 100
percent control the psychedelic experience."

*Correction: This article has been updated to clarify that Dr. Jordi Riba's work is supported by the
Beckley Foundation, not MAPS.