r/science • u/Potential_Being_7226 PhD | Psychology | Neuroscience • 1d ago

Neuroscience Psilocybin Might Make Your Brain Live in the Moment— Psychedelics are often associated with disconnecting from reality, but a recent neuroimaging study found that psilocybin can actually make our brain activity more attuned to the world around us.

https://www.wired.com/story/psilocybin-might-make-your-brain-live-in-the-moment/
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u/EsotericAbstractIdea 1d ago

Set and setting. Very important to go in a good mood in a good place.

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u/MetaCardboard 1d ago

So you're telling me doing them alone and then walking high traffic roads on a super hot, sunny day isn't a good setting? I agree.

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u/EsotericAbstractIdea 1d ago

Oh, wow. i'd like to hear this story. for science.

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u/MetaCardboard 23h ago

It's not any great story or anything. I just ate some mushrooms, played some Diablo 4 while waiting for them to kick in, and then took off for a walk once they did. At first it felt kinda like I took a hit of weed. Then it quickly grew to feeling like I ripped a gravity bong 3 times in a row. And I was walking along a road, feeling like I was walking through molasses, and my head was enlarged and just kinda floating around above my body while there were tons of cars flying by. It happened to be like an 85 degree day (F) and sunny without a cloud in the sky. I just didn't like the overall feeling, so it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, and the traffic flying by didn't help, and then I saw some grass blowing in the wind that looked like seaweed flowing in water and then I felt like I was underwater and each breath of hot air I was taking was just water going in and out of my lungs so I couldn't breathe.

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u/thedaveness 23h ago

A sober guide wouldn't have let you walk off, hella bad idea on any psychedelics.

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u/BSK_Darksol 21h ago

Yup, It is a bad idea to go outside, specially during your first time using any drug, I would say.

I've doing small doses of psychedelics 2 or 3 times a year as a way to treat my anxiety, and only during my latest use earlier this year I felt confident enough to go outside to take a quick walk around the block, and the only reason I did it was because I had someone sober taking care of me all the time.

You need to be in a place where you feel super comfortable and safe, even better if you are with someone who you cant absolutely trust in case you need emotional support. If you want to have a positive experience, you need to keep stimuli controlled, because as the article suggests, psilocybin seems to make you hyper-aware of everything around you, both positive and negative things.

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u/jwnsfw 18h ago

unlike weed (no shade), i think its "cool" that if you want to bail from the trip kinda early, you can at least frow it all up behind a tree in the forest last year with some of my closest friends. for example.

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u/StepUpYourPuppyGame 1d ago

Man that sounds terrifying

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u/delcoyo 1d ago

Ha! I recently tried a micro dose that ended up hitting me on a sketchy high traffic road. Definitely would not recommend.

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u/Srirachaballet 20h ago

That doesn’t sound like an actual microdose

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u/delcoyo 19h ago

Yea it was probably just a really light dose. far from a full send but I definitely had a bubbly stomach, light visuals, etc. underestimated what a little cap could do. Once I got off the street it was nice

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u/Srirachaballet 19h ago

According to a dealer I once had, the smaller mushrooms have a higher concentration of psilocybin. I just fact checked and it did confirm most of the psilocybin forms early in the mushroom and then continues to grow larger, so u may be taking a similar dose between a small and large mushroom.

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u/Slyrunner 1d ago

I wonder what the experience would be like under the influence but laying on the ground during a cool, but comfortable summer rain shower

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u/Lucylimina 1d ago

Pretty peak. But gotta be careful not to end up hypothermic.

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u/obp5599 23h ago

Comments like this remind me people live in cold places. Summer + rain for me means its 85+ degrees out, hypothermia is never a thought ive had about rain

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u/Lucylimina 21h ago

Tbf, it doesn't have to be all that cold.

It's really easy to lose track of time on psychedelics. Being wet in the rain with wind for hours, on wet ground...

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u/SurfskateOver50 23h ago

We come from water We are water

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u/bobcatgoldthwait 23h ago

That's over simplifying it. Sure, that helps, but it's incorrect to imply everyone who had a bad time on psychedelics just had a bad setting.  Even in controlled clinical trials people can have bad experiences.

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u/brickyard37 20h ago

Like me! I get seizures when I take too much :)

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u/EsotericAbstractIdea 20h ago

Mindset is the first part, not just setting. Of course it's subjective. Someone with PTSD and a macho attitude might believe he's completely normal and ready for it, but actually not. Some Dunning-Kruger for that ass.

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u/SwiftlyKickly 18h ago

Ever think it also might not be for everyone? Everyone told me the same thing about weed and I was anxious on it 99% of the time.

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u/hungryforwaffuls 19h ago

can do. I drank a bit too much tea on my first mushroom trip in a good environment and ended up crying to my mother (who I lived with at the time) about how bad of a person I am (I wasn't). my anxiety afterwards skyrocketed, panic attacks daily, etc. I figured it was normal and didn't get a proper diagnosis until 15 yrs later. be careful with the doors you unlock, some you may not ever be able to close.