How Psilocybin Can Rewire Our Brain, Its Therapeutic Benefits & Its Risks

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2023

⏱️ 129 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, I discuss what psilocybin is (chemically) and how it works at the cellular and neural circuit level to trigger neuroplasticity, which is our brain’s ability to rewire itself in ways that lead to long-lasting shifts in our emotional, cognitive and behavioral patterns and abilities. I discuss the emerging clinical trial evidence for the use of psilocybin in the treatment of depression, addictions and other psychiatric challenges. I explain the typical duration and phases of a psilocybin journey, the different categories of dosages often used and I explain the importance of set, setting and support when using psychedelics. I explain which groups of people place themselves at great risk by taking psilocybin as well as groups that could benefit, and I highlight the rapidly changing legal and medical landscape around psilocybin. This episode is a thorough exploration of psilocybin from the scientific and clinical literature perspective and ought to be of interest to anyone curious about psilocybin, mental health, neuroplasticity and/or psychedelics more generally. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman HVMN: https://hvmn.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Psilocybin, Legal Considerations (00:08:32) Sponsors: Eight Sleep, ROKA, HVMN (00:12:00) Psilocybin Becomes Psilocin in the Gut, Serotonin (00:17:00) The Serotonin 2A Receptor, Therapeutic Outcomes SSRIs vs. Psilocybin (00:21:40) Serotonin Receptor Expression; Visual Hallucinations & Eyes Closed (00:27:21) Safety & Cautions for Specific Patient Populations (00:29:13) Sponsor: AG1 (Athletic Greens) (00:30:28) Psilocybin, “Magic Mushrooms” Dosing, Micro-Dosing, “Heroic Doses” (00:36:21) Psychedelic Journey: Set, Setting & Support (00:43:43) Music & the Psilocybin Journey; Duration of Effects (00:48:58) Psilocybin & the Brain: Subjective Experiences, Perception (00:58:36) Sponsor: LMNT (00:59:48) Brain Networks & Therapeutic Outcomes (01:05:23) Creativity; Music, Emotionality & Psychedelic Journeys (01:12:39) Depression & Psychedelics as Neuroplasticity “Wedge” (01:16:53) Positive Psychedelic Journeys, Unity, “Oceanic Boundlessness” (01:25:23) “Bad Trips”, Anxiety & Physiological Sighs (01:32:57) Therapeutic Use of Psilocybin (01:36:11) Neuroplasticity, Structural Brain Changes & Psilocybin (01:48:08) Psychedelics: Therapeutic Breakthroughs & Depression (01:56:37) Combining Psilocybin Therapy & Talk Therapy, Antidepressant Effects (02:03:11) Psilocybin Experience & Mental Health (2:06:42) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Neural Network Newsletter, Social Media Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
0:08.7	I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and
0:12.1	Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today we are discussing
0:16.2	psilocybin.
0:17.2	psilocybin is a psychedelic meaning it modifies the psyche and in doing so it changes our level of consciousness.
0:25.1	Psychedelics such as psilocybin change the way that we perceive the outside world and our internal world
0:30.0	our memories our thoughts our feelings etc.
0:33.2	Not just while one is under the influence of psilocybin
0:36.4	But it can also fundamentally change all of those things afterwards and for a very long period of time afterwards as well
0:43.1	Which is one of the reasons why there's growing excitement about the application of psilocybin and another psychedelics for the treatment of various mental health issues such as depression
0:52.4	Alcohol abuse disorder and addictions of various kinds as well as things like OCD and eating disorders. Today we will discuss psilocybin
1:00.2	Talking about what it is in fact you may be surprised to learn that psilocybin
1:04.6	Basically is serotonin now for those of you there are familiar with psilocybin and serotonin you might think wait
1:10.1	That's not true, but in fact psilocybin's main effect is to mimic serotonin
1:15.4	But it does it in a very specific way because it activates a subset of serotonin receptors in a very strong fashion
1:24.4	Leading to neuroplasticity at the level of the neural circuits that is the brain areas and connections that serve things like memory and perception
1:33.1	So if any of that is confusing at this point. I promise to make it all clear in just a few minutes
1:38.2	psilocybin is one of many psychedelics of course. There are things like LSD DMT 5MEO DMT
1:44.4	Even MDMA will not consider to classic psychedelic is considered a psychedelic in the general sense
1:50.4	Today's episode is going to focus on psilocybin in particular
1:54.2	I will tell you what psilocybin is how it works at the molecular and cellular level
2:00.0	I'll talk about how it changes brain circuitry
	...

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