Magic mushrooms hit the God spot

The active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms produces a spiritual experience that can have lasting positive effects, a trial has shown. The ingredient, psilocybin, increases wellbeing and satisfaction with life two months after being taken, according to the research by scientists at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, which is published online today in the journal Psychopharmacology. Psilocybin is a plant alkaloid that affects the brain's serotonin system, in particular, the 5-HT2A receptor. "Under very defined conditions, with careful preparation, you can safely and fairly reliably occasion what's called a primary mystical experience that may lead to positive changes in a person," study leader Professor Roland Griffiths says. Australian professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Sydney, Ian McGregor, says he isn't surprised that the study confirms the ability of psilocybin to induce a spiritual state. "Psilocybin and related hallucinogens have been used since ancient times in religious rituals and this study is really formalising ... what many people already know," he says. But he says the apparent long-term benefit of the drug is "remarkable". "To see a positive effect two months later is quite striking," he says. However, the study also reports that about a third of the volunteers experienced fear and anxiety after taking the psilocybin and McGregor says it should be avoided by anyone with schizophrenia or other psychotic illnesses. First study of its kind in four decades In what is described as the first scientifically rigorous study of its kind in 40 years, 36 volunteers were given either psilocybin or a comparator drug methylphenidate hydrochloride. Subjects were asked to describe their experiences immediately after the session in a set of detailed psychological questionnaires and at a two-month follow up. More than 60% of subjects (22) described the effects of psilocybin in ways that met criteria for a full mystical experience according to established psychological scales, compared to only 4 of the 36 after the comparator drug. After two months, two-thirds rated the experience as either the singly most spiritually significant in their lives or rated it among their top five. The God spot? Professor John Bradshaw, an Australian neuropsychologist from Monash University, says the brain's medial temporal lobe is rich in serotonin receptors and has previously been described as the 'God spot' because it is active in transcendental states. In a commentary accompanying the article, Professsor David Nichols of the Purdue University school of pharmacy says it's likely that psilocybin triggers the same neurological process that produces religious experiences during fasting, meditation, sleep deprivation or near-death experiences. He says the current research adds to the emerging field known as neurotheology, or the neurology of religious experience, and could shed light on the "molecular alterations in the brain that underlie religious and mystical experiences".