How To Change Your Mind

How To Change Your Mind reveals new evidence on psychedelics, confirming their power to cure mental illness, ease depression and addiction, and help people die more peacefully.

When we think about the term psychedelic drugs, often what comes to mind is illegal substances, synthesized in some remote lab. We might also think of shady deals conducted in some dark alleyway by street thugs in hoodies. It’s easy to forget that the true origins of these drugs is in nature and that they are organic.

It was during the 1950s in southern Mexico when western travelers first saw mushrooms containing psilocybin. The Mazatec Indians have been using the mushrooms for centuries as part of their spiritual rituals and also as an agent for healing.

It wasn’t until later that decade when chemists began to artificially synthesize psilocybin in laboratories. And it was nearly 10 years later when people began to view these substances as a danger to society. This was the beginning of the war on drugs.

Few people saw that humans consumed this natural drug to provide a mystical, spiritual experience. Though it takes expertise to identify a true mushroom form a deadly kind. It’s not recommended to forage for these mushrooms on our own.

Have you ever heard somebody describe their hallucinatory, psychedelic trip experience? You might hear them talk about seeing changing colors, melting objects and otherworldly lights. Does this mean we can see things that we normally can’t, or are we just hallucinating?

In 2014 there was a study on psychedelic drugs conducted at the Imperial College in London. Neuroscientist Robin Carhart-Harris and his colleagues used brain imaging technology to gather more details on how psilocybin affects brain activity. They could show a side-by-side comparison of how different areas of the brain interact normally and while under the influence of psychedelics.

The test showed that under psilocybin the brain gets rewired dramatically. Areas that normally function independently from one another begin to communicate. Each specialized section becomes less contained and the brain becomes more integrated as a unit. Many neuroscientists believe this interconnectedness produces a profound and visual drug trip experience that can be magical and mind-blowing.

So if you can imagine areas of the brain that are normally dedicated to emotion, visual and memory all suddenly interacting together, this is what prompts a whole new way of seeing things in a vivid way. When the event is positive it can lead to new insights, ideas and can be transformative.

Psychedelics are becoming increasingly more acceptable and mainstream. As recent as 2017 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called for a study that would demonstrate the effectiveness that psychedelics have on treating those with depression. In…