Mushrooms help patients with severe depression
Magic mushrooms changed my life and nothing better has ever happened to me. For several years I suffered from the imperfections of the world (and sometimes my own) in the psychotherapist’s office - of course, I felt better. But perfectionism and narcissism, they told me, are impossible to get rid of forever. If after these three lines you don’t understand what I mean, then don’t try. If you need to explain, then there is no need to explain. Perhaps you are a happy person. For me, any thought starting with “what if...”, coupled with my imagination, could easily bring me to an anxious state.
I first saw people under mushrooms at the Burning Man festival in 2018 - they were lying at night in the middle of the desert in a glowing tent. Some cried, some laughed, some wanted to hug. I wanted to unsee this. “What drug addicts,” I thought. But life in California almost forcibly opens the third eye - first, the shaman Durek, who cast a marriage spell on the Norwegian princess, Gwyneth Paltrow’s mentor, casually talks about parallel dimensions at a home tea party, then famous artists, actors, directors, designers share insights after mushroom trips in Joshua Tree, the whole city is in mushroom symbolism (naturally, everything has mushrooms), professors of progressive universities publish studies on how psychedelics will rid the world of antidepressants forever. One day you realize that you no longer have a chance to remain an outsider, and you go to the mushrooms.
I studied articles for a long time, consulted with psychonauts and mycotherapists on how to go on a deep mushroom trip. I was just going through a difficult period, like many - because of SVO, all this terrible news and separation from loved ones, my anxiety intensified and depression occurred, from which neither therapy at Michelin-starred restaurants (for me there is no better treatment) nor beloved standing on ears to please me. Life has lost its taste. I ate the recommended serving of mushrooms without much hope that it would help. Over the next six hours, my life changed - everything became clear and understandable. Everything that I had discussed with my psychotherapist for years suddenly entered my head. My fears, worries, anxiety disappeared somewhere. I was in pain, and happy, and very happy. There are no words to describe this experience. I listened to Pink Floyd, and this music is definitely from outer space. The next day I woke up without anxiety. And the next one too. And for six months now, I don’t know what anxiety and depression are. This, of course, does not mean that it is not difficult for me to read military reports. It's just different. I found a mycotherapist from Colorado, and under his supervision I tried microdosing - when every 4 days you take a capsule with a minimal amount of psilocybin and write down your feelings in a diary. Physically, you have more than enough energy, but psychologically you are in a state of creative upsurge and no longer procrastinate.
I'm not the only one who has benefited from mushrooms. Similar results were observed in patients with severe depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorder in studies at the Hopkins Institute. To put it simply, psilocybin builds new neural connections and does not cause addiction. After a mushroom trip, you don’t want to repeat it again and again. It is curious that interest in meat and any types of psychostimulants from alcohol to marijuana is disappearing. In the United States, some states have legalized psilocybin, and some have decriminalized it. Magic mushrooms in LA (where their main fans live) are punishable by a fine or a year in prison, thanks to the Republicans who are stalling a bill allowing psychedelics. But DMT and mushrooms are about to be given the green light.
I naively believe that if the whole world ate mushrooms, it would become a better place. Well, or at least we can feed politicians psilocybin for a start.
This text is not drug propaganda. Don't do drugs. The experience described above was conducted under the supervision of qualified professionals and in areas where it is legal. Let me remind you that I live in the USA and the laws are different here.
Author: Yunia Pugacheva
