First, I want to thank you for doing this AMA and for your research related to psilocybin!
I have taken LSD once and Ayahuasca once, but I am fearful of experiencing psychedelics again because I think, that they are not well enough researched and they could lead to permanent damage (“going crazy” due to a “predisposition”).
Here are my questions:
• Could you please explain, what the correlation/causation relationship between higher psilocybin concentrations in the brain and increased amygdale activation is? Is a “bad trip” inevitable at higher doses?
• Does psilocybin cause vasoconstriction in certain parts of the brain? If so, can this lead to a collapse of capillaries and/or death of neurons in those regions at higher doses?
• The experiences caused by psilocybin are very similar to the ones of people suffering from schizophrenia and psychosis.
Because of the plasticity of the brain, do you see a danger with regard to psychedelic experiences exercising the brain to become schizophrenic or psychotic (by forming some of the unwanted connections of those diseases)?
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First, I want to thank you for doing this AMA and for your research related to psilocybin!
I have taken LSD once and Ayahuasca once, but I am fearful of experiencing psychedelics again because I think, that they are not well enough researched and they could lead to permanent damage (“going crazy” due to a “predisposition”).
Here are my questions: • Could you please explain, what the correlation/causation relationship between higher psilocybin concentrations in the brain and increased amygdale activation is? Is a “bad trip” inevitable at higher doses?
• Does psilocybin cause vasoconstriction in certain parts of the brain? If so, can this lead to a collapse of capillaries and/or death of neurons in those regions at higher doses?
• The experiences caused by psilocybin are very similar to the ones of people suffering from schizophrenia and psychosis. Because of the plasticity of the brain, do you see a danger with regard to psychedelic experiences exercising the brain to become schizophrenic or psychotic (by forming some of the unwanted connections of those diseases)?
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