Psilocybin mental effects

Psilocybin and psilocin molecules are the primary psychedelic agents in the psychoactive mushrooms known so far, but four related molecules may in some way contribute to the mental effects. The term "psilocybian mushrooms has been proposed to include all of the dozens of species containing psilocybin it will be used in that sense here. Quite distinct isoxazolic molecules are present in the Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric) and Amanita pantherina (Panther Caps) mushroom species, which are said by some people to create psychedelic states. 

When Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond took up the matter of mental effects in their book The Hallucinogens, they remarked that "the major difference between the mushroom effect and pure psilocybin seems to be the dryness of the scientific accounts and the richness of the accounts of self-experimentation. Probably no finer example of "richness" exists than in the descriptions of R. Gordon Wasson. 

Effects Drowsiness, euphoria, and mental changes similar to mild (5 mg) dose of psilocybin. 

As a result of psychiatric and psychological experiments, many mental patients and volunteers (an example of the latter is the novelist Ken Kesey) were exposed to the effects of LSD and other psychedelics. Sandoz deserves most of the credit for this, because it distributed LSD and psilocybin to licensed researchers all over the world, mostly free of charge. This was done with hopes that a researcher somewhere would find a medical use for these novel compounds. 

Many users feel that psilocybin and psilocin in synthetic form produce a more lucid mental state than the mushrooms they also seem to provide more physical energy. Mushrooms generally have longer effects and are more sedating. 

After oral ingestion, the full effects will begin in about 90 minutes. For me, these are characterized by wavy motion in the visual field, an "alive quality to inanimate objects, auditory hallucinations and a sense of great mental stillness and clarity. The effects are distinctly different from psilocybin, LSD or mes-... 

The serotonergic neurons of the raphe nuclei in the brainstem innervate the entire brain and likely exert substantial modulatory effects on our perceptions, emotions, thought processes, and conscious awareness— the mental states that may collectively be called the mind. Psilocybin and related tryptamines from Psilocybe fungi are believed to produce their profound effects on the brain and mind by way of interacting with 5-HT2A receptors in the cerebral cortex, limbic system, and elsewhere. As chemical probes that might lead to a better understanding of how the neural circuitry of the brain is related to the nature of mind, they offer unprecedented opportunities ... 

Similarly, the mycophilia t5q)ical of ancient Mexican cultures goes hand in hand with a general social acceptance of the effects of Psilocybe mushrooms and their established ritual usages. Among Mexican Indian tribes, the effects of psilocybin have never been causally linked to any type of known mental illness. It is interesting to note that the Indians of Mexico were the only Indians in the Americas who also harvested a large number of mushroom species for food. 

Still, the reports about an irresistible urge to dance constitutes a rather unusual effect of psilocybin, from our current point of view. While psilocybin is initially known to cause fits of laughter, this phase is generally followed by a state of relaxation and a drop in levels of physical activity. It is likely that, in this case, medieval Japanese mentality was a cultural factor that modified the specific expression of an altered state of consciousness. 

Mexican mushroom in the form of its phosphate ester, psilocybin. The discovery of the structure of this compound, and its synthesis, were the work of the same Swiss chemist (2) who first synthesized LSD 25. Psilocin is not quite as effective in man as is LSD 25, but it produces essentially the same effects on the mental processes, and should therefore be included in any discussion of psychochemical drugs. Much less is known about the effects of psilocin than about the effects of LSD 25, because the latter has been more widely studied over a number of years however, the relatively simple chemical structure of psilocin is an advantage from the point of view of large scale synthesis and the development of more effective homologs and analogs of the original molecule. 

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