Psilocybin brings about a sense of oceanic boundlessness

Alright, kid, let’s cut through the clinical crap and get down to it. This ain’t your grandma’s bedtime story; this is a goddamn journey into the twisted labyrinth of the mind, all courtesy of a little magic dust called psilocybin.

They didn’t just stop at looking at brain scans, no sir. They wanted to know what was going on in those altered minds, so they slapped a 5-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale on them a few hours post-trip. Turns out, the brains on psilocybin lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree, showing widespread functional connectivity. 

Picture this: your brain firing on all cylinders, the BOLD signals—those are the blood oxygen level–dependent signals—showing a hyperconnected state. And what did that feel like for our trippers? They described a world of oceanic boundlessness, visions restructured, like their minds were breaking out of prison, exploring new, uncharted territories. Yeah, they were tripping balls. Now, all you psychedelic virgins, wash those negative connotations about that phrase out of your mouths! That phrase has aided in the misconception of these powerful substances for years, painting them as dangerous or reckless rather than as tools for profound mental and spiritual exploration. It’s time to look beyond the stigma and recognize the true potential of psychedelics.

This study, it says, peeks into the very essence of the psychedelic experience—how your brain dances to a different tune under the influence of psilocybin. It’s not just about seeing pretty colors or feeling high; it’s about the brain reconfiguring itself, opening doors to new realms of thought and feeling. The heightened cortical arousal, the interconnected neural dance, it all leads to a potential for novel  associations.

Bottom line, psilocybin takes your brain and your mind on a roller coaster ride, making them work in ways they usually don’t. The researchers reckon this hyperconnected state might just be the ticket to understanding the intricate relationship between what our brains do and what we feel and perceive when we’re under the spell of this potent substance.

So there you have it,  a tale of science and the mind, of altered states and brainwaves, laid bare in all its messy, beautiful complexity.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S245190222400