Chaos reigns across the country. Supermarkets are being emptied by hoarders, businesses are on the brink of collapse, and even buying your favorite green herb seems to have become nearly impossible. So it’s no wonder that many Dutch people are feeling a bit lost right now. Yet, according to many, it’s still possible to keep a clear head during these trying times. Their solution? Mindfulness: the art of being consciously present in the moment and observing everything that’s happening without judgment.
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Mindful without training
Essentially, mindfulness is training your attention. You learn to connect with the here and now and observe your own thought processes and feelings without obstruction. The idea behind this is that you become less swept away by all the thoughts you have throughout the day, or more specifically: that you prevent those hundreds of Facebook posts full of the most bizarre news from throwing you off balance. The result is greater inner peace, which not only makes you feel better but also makes you more aware of everything going on inside you and around you.
But how do you become “mindful”? Well, there are various ways to do so. The (online) libraries are now full of books and guides on the subject, and most yoga schools also offer so-called mindfulness training. But now it turns out that it’s possible to become mindful even without training and without manuals. How? You’ve almost guessed it… the answer is psilocybin. That’s right, according to new research, a single dose of the active ingredient in magic mushrooms and magic truffles can lead to a long-lasting increase in mindfulness.
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Psychedelic medicine
The study, published in European Neuropsychopharmacology, suggests that these changes in mindfulness are linked to changes in the serotonin 2A receptor, one of the 14 serotonin receptors in the brain. “Psilocybin is being intensively studied by both the pharmaceutical industry and academic institutions, and most published studies suggest that psilocybin therapy can be very useful for a number of psychiatric disorders,” says Martin Korsbak Madsen, the study’s author and a PhD candidate at the University of Copenhagen.
“Our Neurobiology Research Unit has been at the forefront for years in mapping the brain’s serotonin system using positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging. Psilocybin works by stimulating the brain’s serotonin 2A receptors, and since we have developed a highly effective serotonin 2A PET imaging radiotracer in our laboratory, the need to understand whether psilocybin affects the serotonin 2Areceptors in the brain aligned well with our expertise in PET imaging,” says the researcher.
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Mystical experiences
And so it came to pass. Ten healthy volunteers with no prior experience with psychedelic drugs completed assessments of mindfulness, personality, and other factors for the study before undergoing a neuroimaging session. On another day, the volunteers received a dose of psilocybin and then listened to a standardized music playlist. Eight of the ten volunteers had a “full-blown mystical experience” based on the Altered States of Consciousness questionnaire.
A week later, the volunteers underwent neuroimaging again, and three months later, they completed assessments of mindfulness, personality, and other long-term effects.
The researchers found that the volunteers’ levels of mindfulness and openness had increased significantly compared to baseline. Specifically, participants were less likely to agree with statements such as “I find it difficult to stay focused on what is happening in the present” and “I perform tasks or activities automatically, without being aware of what I am doing.”
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Greater awareness
“Psilocybin appears to enhance long-term awareness in people who have never tried a psychedelic drug. Our results also show that subtle changes in serotonin 2A receptor levels in the brain and/or serotonin levels likely contribute to these changes,” Madsen told PsyPost, an American media outlet focused on psychology.
The volunteers also reported that the psilocybin session had led to long-lasting improvements in mood, spirituality, and outlook on life. “It is striking that we found a significant increase in long-term mindfulness without any mindfulness training in healthy individuals, and it is likely that this effect—the increase in mindfulness—also occurs in patients and is important for clinical response.”
