It seems that magic mushrooms have been an extremely popular topic of conversation recently, but while this substance may seem like a modern fad, it is one of the oldest recorded medicines used by human beings and has a deeply significant history that must be understood in order to truly appreciate its application to mental health.
As you may already know I am a Traditional Greek Herbalist, so it should not be surprising that I am going to highlight the use of Psilocybe Cubensis in Ancient Greece.
An annual festival that worshipped the goddess Demeter called the Eleusinian Mysteries, drank a psychoactive concoction that contained a mix of psychedelic mushrooms. The ceremonies were so secret that if you revealed anything about them you could get the death penalty. Famous figures like Plato, Homer, and Aristotle attended them. Thousands of citizens of all ages would participate in the annual festival of mysteries, which was meant to transform you by revealing secrets of the universe, only accessible to the Gods.
Greeks in that period had lives primarily centered around belief in the Ancient Greek Gods. It was understood that psychoactive mushrooms were created by the Gods to allow human beings a window into the spiritual world that otherwise is not available to them until death. Some historians speculate that the wide use of psychoactive mushrooms was a factor that resulted in the creativity and ingenuity of Ancient Greece.
How do Magic Mushrooms Cure Depression?
One of the psychedelics being investigated as a potential treatment for psychiatric problems is psilocybin. A synthetic version of the medicine has been tested in several studies to treat individuals with depression and anxiety, and the findings are encouraging.
According to the latest findings, which were compiled from two separate trials, patients who responded to psilocybin-assisted therapy had greater brain connectivity not just during treatment but also for up to three weeks later. This "opening up" effect was linked to the participants' self-reported reductions in depression.
It appears the psychedelic treats depression differently than a traditional antidepressant called escitalopram since similar alterations in brain connections were not observed in people using that medication.
The team claims that the results, which were reproduced in two investigations and were published today in the journal Nature Medicine, represent a positive development for psilocybin therapy. They say that because depression can cause inflexible and constrained patterns of brain activity, psilocybin may be able to help the brain escape this impasse in a way that conventional treatments are unable to.
