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Study Shows How LSD Interferes With Brain's Signaling (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A group of volunteers who took a trip in the name of science have helped researchers uncover how LSD messes with activity in the brain to induce an altered state of consciousness. Brain scans of individuals high on the drug revealed that the chemical allows parts of the cortex to become flooded with signals that are normally filtered out to prevent information overload. The drug allowed more information to flow from the thalamus, a kind of neural gatekeeper, to a region called the posterior cingulate cortex, and it stemmed the flow of information to another part known as the temporal cortex. This disruption in communication may underpin some of the wacky effects reported by LSD users, from feelings of bliss and being at one with the universe to hallucinations and what scientists in the field refer to as "ego dissolution," where one's sense of self disintegrates.
For the study, the researchers invited 25 healthy participants into the lab to be scanned under the influence of LSD and, on another occasion, after taking a placebo. They were shown around the scanner beforehand to ensure they felt comfortable going inside when the drug took hold. Had the machine suddenly taken on a threatening demeanor, the scans might not have come out so well. The scientists wanted to test a hypothesis first put forward more than a decade ago. It states LSD causes the thalamus to stop filtering information it relays to other parts of the brain. It is the breakdown of this filter that gives rise to the weird effects the drug induces, or so the thinking goes. Scans of the volunteers' brains suggested there may be some truth to the hypothesis. On LSD, the thalamus let more information through to some parts of the brain and suppressed information bound for others. "What we found is that the model is mostly true, but how information is distributed to the cortex under LSD is much more specific than it predicts," a researcher said. The latest research is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For the study, the researchers invited 25 healthy participants into the lab to be scanned under the influence of LSD and, on another occasion, after taking a placebo. They were shown around the scanner beforehand to ensure they felt comfortable going inside when the drug took hold. Had the machine suddenly taken on a threatening demeanor, the scans might not have come out so well. The scientists wanted to test a hypothesis first put forward more than a decade ago. It states LSD causes the thalamus to stop filtering information it relays to other parts of the brain. It is the breakdown of this filter that gives rise to the weird effects the drug induces, or so the thinking goes. Scans of the volunteers' brains suggested there may be some truth to the hypothesis. On LSD, the thalamus let more information through to some parts of the brain and suppressed information bound for others. "What we found is that the model is mostly true, but how information is distributed to the cortex under LSD is much more specific than it predicts," a researcher said. The latest research is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
After you screw-up your brain, you cannot possibly use your brain to accurately assess anything.
It's not a permanent effect, so you could accurately assess the results after the trip. If it prevents things you've been suppressing (which the experiment results point to be being true and done by the thalamus) you could easily fix that eating disorder/social anxiety/depression/self sabotage/or whatever other problem you have that you have been hiding from yourself.
I've never tried LSD myself, but I can see why some people who have problems might find benefit in it. (I'm too much of a geek and don't know how to get it, and I like my life enough not to mess with it.)
Microdosing, or regular use of normal doses of LSD, is less innocent then it looks. It can lead to or amplify an heart condition.
Given enough time between doses, the heart has time to recover. Long-term microdosing does sabotage that repair process. Read https://thethirdwave.co/psyche... for more detailed information.
Also, from personal experience, i found the 'after effect' of LSD lasts for a week or two, increasing good mood. I'm not talking about the 'next day' hangover when you're still a bit tired from the experience, but the following days where the 'anti-depressant' effect of the drug becomes more obvious.
Personally, for me that's two reasons not to microdose. I rather have the full trip, than building immunity for the hallucinogen effect. Also being overweight already i rather avoid a heart condition. I didn't trip at all for over 2 decades. Nowadays i might pop 2 trips in a single month, alternated by months of not using. But i will avoid experimenting with microdosing.
A glitch a day keeps the bugs away.