Just One Trip On “Magic Mushrooms” Can Make You More Open

If open-mindedness came in a pill, you’d want to give it to everyone, wouldn’t you? But what if it came in a magic mushroom?

Yesterday, we discussed the cancer-curing potential in MDMA. Today, we turn our attention to another illicit, though less synthetic, drug–psilocybin, the drug found in psychedelic mushrooms and painted vans across the country. Which, for many who tried in in a recent study, Medical News Today reports,  resulted in lasting positive personality change, leaving participants with a more broad-minded thought process, meaning that yes, the hippies were on to something.

The study, which was conducted at Johns Hopkins, was basically a more well-supervised version of the drug tests conducted in the 1960s on hippies and unsuspecting squares. Using a series multiple consecutive of drug trials, researchers instructed participants laid on a couch with an eye mask on and headphones, listening to music and generally feeling groovy for 8 hours–which may be enough to make anyone feel at least a little better.

Patients were tested more than once, but only given the mushrooms one time, without being told which time they would receive the drug. Participants were then asked about the experience and how it had impacted them, first a few months later, then again over a year after the drug trials.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, with over 60% of participants relating a noticeable positive change in their “openness”, one of five broad personality traits that psychologists use to classify emotion, well over a year after the study. “Openness”, which seems to decrease with age, involves traits like imagination, creativity, and abstract thinking. Other personality markers, such as conscientiousness, neuroticism,  or extroversion, weren’t changed at all. Many reported a “mystical experience”, which changed their overall thinking for the better.

And while some reported some anxiety or fear during the actual experience, none reported that the anxiety lingered.

This is the second study to look more closely at the potential healing capabilities of illicit drugs  published in as many days–which may be a sign that doctors are re-examining the key ingredients, and re-evaluating their previous notions about them.

The researcher in this study noted that he was hoping to conduct further studies using psilocybin to help cancer patients overcome depression, as well as to assist smokers in the quitting process.

Of course, unsupervised use of the drug isn’t advised, and it’s unlikely that your doctor will be prescribing you medicinal mushrooms any time soon. Still, the study is being considered a “landmark” in the field of hallucinogen research. Which is, dare I say, pretty groovy.

Image: Yellowj / Shutterstock