Hallucinogenic Mushrooms: These Are Their Effects On Our Mind
If it’s natural it can’t be bad, right? Guided by this fallacious reasoning, there are many young people, and not so young, who firmly believe that the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms will do them more good than harm.
Nothing could be further from the truth, since these mushrooms, which contain psilocybin in uncontrolled doses, are quite dangerous. A bad trip in a brain predisposed to disorders can have dramatic consequences.
It is true that Ancient cultures used hallucinogenic mushrooms for all kinds of purposes, especially of a spiritual and religious type. There are numerous rituals in Central America where hallucinogens are used to reach altered states of consciousness as a means to achieve certain spiritual goals.
Through knowledge of these practices we have received part of what we know about hallucinogenic mushrooms as well as mythology and their aura of mysticism. The truth is that if we ignore all the magical paraphernalia for a moment, what we are left with are mushrooms with estimated amounts of psychedelic substances
The secret ingredient that makes us hallucinate when eating hallucinogenic mushrooms is psilocybin. It does not exist in a single species of mushroom, but rather it is a family of more than 200 different species of mushrooms. All of them produce this compound, so they are grouped under the same category of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
In addition to psilocybin, they contain psilocin and baeocystin which fulfill the same function, but to a lesser extent.
Psilocybin is a compound with psychoactive properties. It is a prodrug: a precursor that transforms into psilocin once ingested and metabolized. Once transformed, it acts on the brain in all its psychedelic splendor.
It acts as a functional serotonin agonist since it is similar to it in its structure. In this way, it binds to many of the serotonin receptors, activating the same pathways as this one. In addition, it indirectly influences the production of dopamine in the basal ganglia. The coupling in serotonin receptors and the production of dopamine together explain the hallucinogenic effects.
Metabolism and hallucinogenic mushrooms
Due to their pharmacokinetic properties, mushrooms take between 20 and 90 minutes to be digested, pass through the liver and reach the bloodstream. It is not until then that one notices its effects, which will last between 3 and 6 hours
It is estimated that the typical recreational dose ranges between 10 and 50 milligrams of psilocybin, and that each gram of fresh hallucinogenic mushrooms contains one milligram of this compound, while each gram of dried hallucinogenic mushrooms contains 10 milligrams of psilocybin.
However, everyone’s metabolism is different. Some people are more sensitive than others to this compound and with very low doses they can already have hallucinatory experiences. Because of this and because the amounts of the compound in hallucinogenic mushrooms are estimated, people often ingest more than they should and end up having a bad time.
Effects of hallucinogenic mushrooms
Although they receive this name because it is the star effect or the one really desired when consumed, There are many effects that occur at the same time
Let us remember that psilocybin is a non-selective agonist of certain serotonin receptors, so that it will be coupled indiscriminately in those places where its structure allows it, especially in the frontal cortex involved in thinking, the state of mood and perception.
1. Hallucinatory experiences and sensory alteration
Hallucinations include content of all kinds. These can be of any modality, visual, auditory, sensitive, gustatory or olfactory. Since, in addition to the presence of hallucinations, normal perception itself is sharpened and changed, both properties are mixed. It is possible to see common objects with colors that do not correspond or perceive them as distorted shapes, to appreciate with greater intensity sounds that in an unaltered state would not be the object of attention, etc.
Although Most hallucinatory experiences have a positive tone and they are experienced in a pleasant way, the mood itself and the state induced by the properties of the mushrooms can turn these experiences into a bad trip that will last a long time.
2. Well-being and openness experiences
Many people, similar to what they experienced with MDMA, become more open and creative. It is possible to feel a form of peace and being in tune with other people and objects accompanied by a need to open up and share this pleasant sensation with others.
3. Relaxation or anxiety
Although these well-being experiences occur in a state of deep relaxation, this is not always the case. Some people say experiencing abrupt periods of anxiety during the hallucinogenic mushroom trip These periods can range from a few minutes to occupying the entire psychedelic experience and can be extremely unpleasant, breaking the magic of hallucinations and turning them into a bad experience from which it is impossible to escape.
Physiological changes include sweating, tachycardia, nausea, rapid breathing and dilation of the pupils Fortunately, hallucinogenic mushrooms do not make very drastic changes in physiology and a high dose is not as dangerous in the physical sense as it is with other drugs.
5. Unpleasant effects
Along with hallucinations and alterations in perception and thinking, other types of unwanted effects may occur. One of the most common unpleasant effects is paranoia, that is, the conviction that one is persecuted or the object of some type of plot. It is a very aversive experience that borders on psychotic and can set in if it becomes severe enough.
In the long term, the effects of misuse of hallucinogenic mushrooms can include persistent psychotic symptoms with hallucinations, delusions and thought disturbances and persistent emotional disorders such as major depression or dysthymia.
Although not common, these dramatic consequences are unpredictable. Anyone with sensitivity to hallucinogenic mushrooms, who has not been well informed, who has taken too many doses, who has not been well accompanied or who has consumed them in an unwelcoming environment, can end up developing this type of symptoms that, in addition to being unpleasant, They tend to be completely reversible and leave consequences on the personality of those who suffer from it.
