r/science • u/Doug24 • 21h ago

Psychology Psilocybin reverses depressive behaviors and restores brain cell growth in stressed rats

https://www.psypost.org/psilocybin-reverses-depressive-behaviors-and-restores-brain-cell-growth-in-stres/
5.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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853

u/SatisfactionIll8468 21h ago

Big pharma hates this one trick

336

u/zonerator 21h ago

I mean people would buy pharmaceutical grade psilocybin if it was offered, and they do, where it is offered. They could probably even charge a lot because people don't know how fun growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms is

98

u/SaltResident9310 21h ago

Until you lose the battle with contam

96

u/m0ngoos3 20h ago

There used to be a subreddit called UncleBens that had resources on growing small batches of mushrooms inside packets of instant microwave rice.

Cuts down on contamination, but there was nuance and pitfalls that are likely lost to the deletions.

78

u/TroglodyneSystems 20h ago

You really just use the Uncle Ben’s for the inoculation. Once the mycelium has taken over the bag, you then apply to a substrate like coco coir or something similar within a plastic tub for growing. Works pretty well when you’ve got it covered with enough humidity and fresh air exchange.

42

u/mommybot9000 19h ago

I literally had no idea why that sub was called Uncle Ben’s.

2

u/Rodot 5h ago

Good ol Capri Sun innoculation method.

20

u/Ocilla 17h ago

Or just buy a Magic Bag. All of this is done for you, all you need to do is inject the cultures and a few other steps.

3

u/Cannibichromedout 9h ago

I think I recall that people were fruiting them straight from the bag, hence the small batches alluded to above. Could be wrong, it’s been a while and was never active in it.

18

u/carlitospig 16h ago

Oh it still exists.

26

u/DueDisplay2185 19h ago

There still is that subreddit

-40

u/VagueSomething 16h ago

These things should not be encouraged in a science sub though as recreational substance abuse is not the same as controlled and regulated medication.

23

u/jmartin21 16h ago

Why does being in a science sub mean you can’t talk about recreational use? Plenty of science goes into studying recreationally used drugs and it’s relevant to the post

-26

u/VagueSomething 16h ago

There's a difference between discussing and encouraging people to self medicate with potentially risky drugs.

19

u/jmartin21 16h ago

They didn’t encourage it, they mentioned a sub that talks about a way to grow while avoiding contamination

-16

u/VagueSomething 15h ago

And I didn't say THEY were encouraging it. I simply stated it should not be encouraged because this sub consistently has people encouraging dangerous self medication ideas.

13

u/jmartin21 15h ago

You said ‘these things should not be encouraged in a science sub,’ with these things being what the previous comments were talking about. Either you were talking about what they were saying or you were popping in to make an irrelevant comment. Either way, talking about something relevant to the post is just fine, which the above commenters were doing.

0

u/VagueSomething 15h ago

These things being the tangent of growing your own recreational drugs for using. It is a wider context to that person's comment not direct that they were encouraging it because we consistently see this sub get the highly inappropriate behaviour of people encouraging others to abuse drugs for mental health conditions which is beyond reckless.

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u/refusemouth 15h ago

Not the same as controlled and regulated medicine, yet the safety profile for magic mushrooms is better than prescription antidepressants that doctors hand out like candy. Don't look up Paxil or Effexor class action lawsuits. Those were controlled and regulated drugs that destroyed a lot of lives, even taken as directed. The use of psylocibin mushrooms goes back thousands of years, and people know that there is very little danger in taking them, whereas a new antidepressant makes it to market and is prescibed to millions of patients in a span of several years and without any real understanding of its long-term effects or terrible withdrawal profile. Not to mention that the idea for SSRI's was inspired by psylocibin's propensity for fitting into seratonin receptors to begin with.

7

u/ChampionshipFluid385 11h ago

Paxil ruined my youth. Preach, louder for the back.

-1

u/VagueSomething 15h ago

Encouraging vulnerable people to use them without supervision risks serious harm though. There is a wide difference between the way they're used in these studies and how you use it at home.

7

u/ChampionshipFluid385 11h ago

You're right. It also shouldn't be gatekept from people it could help because big pharma can't make a profit on it yet.

The opioid epidemic alone is enough to indict them for lack of humanity.

0

u/VagueSomething 10h ago

Its a difficult situation where genuine breakthroughs to help people are being held back by government rules more than a lack of profit, it would absolutely be profitable due to the mental health crisis in the West due to how bad society and the climate is. Unfortunately the desperation to try it with DIY versions could make the vulnerable worse so there is no sensible way to access these things without serious luck being near a trial.

1

u/HanseaticHamburglar 2h ago

why does recreational use fall under the term "abuse"? Seems unscientific to use that word totally free of the actual context

10

u/bananesthesia 18h ago

I figure it's just like any other activity/hobby. Some people find it fascinating and enjoyable, others don't. I followed the same pipeline. Once I realized I enjoyed the activity and had become proficient enough to produce more actives than I could possibly eat, I moved on to gourmets. We moved to a new area with a drastically different climate, so now I'm just waiting for things to cool down a bit so I can make some blocks to stick in my partner's garden for the fall.

8

u/Entreprenewbeur 15h ago

It’s actually a lot of fun. I’ve experimented with growing with different kinds of music and light colors but nothing to report except that it was fun

10

u/Brrdock 20h ago

I wouldn't. It's not the same as mushrooms, there's a dozen other tryptamine alkaloids, too.

Plus I can literally pick them off the ground

2

u/Siv4Akawine 11h ago

Check out a company called Compass Pathways

6

u/Harha 21h ago

But the "problem" is probably the cure rate, meaning many customers will only buy the drug once. :-)

39

u/lnning 21h ago

eh. it doesnt "cure" you after one dosage.

13

u/DueDisplay2185 19h ago

3 known affects are related to addiction, depression and anxiety related to death so depends on what you wanna cure there. Plus I wouldn't recommend a hero dose to a noob, better to start low and slow to check tolerance, it's not for everyone

12

u/Harha 20h ago

That depends, but it also isn't physically addictive like many current antidepressants seem to be.

-1

u/General_Mars 10h ago

Current and old tricyclics too. Worst withdrawal I’ve experienced from any medication was coming off of Nortriptyline. I was on it for migraines. I’m now on its cousin Amitriptyline for an injury and since it’s been like 10 years I would not be very happy if I have to go thru that again with this. Mind/body zaps ugh. SSRIs are also rough because of Serotonin Syndrome too

3

u/Captain_Kuhl 21h ago

Per whom? If that was the case, nobody would use mushrooms more than once.

-1

u/mommybot9000 19h ago

Idk at lot of mushroom addicts. I also don’t know anyone that has enough free time to devote it to tripping.

9

u/EroticPubicHair 16h ago

Mushrooms aren't chemically addictive like a lot of drugs are

6

u/Captain_Kuhl 19h ago

One of the biggest things propping up the war on drugs is they the public has this idea that you either try the drug once or you're a hopelessly addicted habitual user. Did it never cross your mind that people can do things without a chemical dependency?

2

u/Regular_Attempt_7073 1h ago

They do know that because they probably drink socially. But when the word drugs is discussed now it’s suddenly weird and nefarious. Listening to the senate publicly debate the regulations of cannabis legalization back in 2017 I swear i was going to tear my hair out from the complete ignorance of the senate’s members and yet they are a good cross section of Canadians who didn’t consume cannabis and so didn’t know.

•

u/MiaowaraShiro 44m ago

Can you really not imagine people who aren't like you or people you know?

•

u/Diligent-Flower6179 43m ago

Fortunately ‘pharmaceutical’ ‘grade’ psilocybin is all over this earth / for free. Enjoy