[imagesource:wikicommons]

Over the years, recreational users have reported that dimethyltryptamine (DMT) can have some serious mind-altering effects.

The psychedelic, the major psychoactive compound in ayahuasca, is said to have a relatively brief but intense effect on the brain, altering consciousness for only a few brief minutes, but often with profound after-effects for the user.

Despite the intensity of the cerebral experience, no one has officially studied brain activity, during, and after the use of the psychoactive.

Researchers have now used fMRI and EEG to study the effects of DMT on 20 individuals, finding increased connectivity across the brain and increased communication between different areas.

“We found that DMT generated a prominent alteration of the brain’s evolved areas and networks, which have been linked to human brain expansion in evolution, language, and semantics.”

Chris Timmerman, from the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, and the study’s first author, said: “This study is the first to comprehensively image the brain using multiple techniques during a psychedelic experience.”

“This is the first study examining the effects of a psychedelic using multiple neuroimaging methods while the brain is at rest and not doing a task. This provides opportunities for participants to have full psychedelic experiences and not be distracted.”

According to VICE, Timmerman believes these results provide insight into the function of psychedelics in humans, which has implications for consciousness research and clinical applications such as the treatment of mental health disorders.

“The advanced human cortex has been linked to how we build our normal experiences of the world,”  he wrote. “By altering these systems, we may be able to construct novel worlds of experience, resonating with the DMT experience.

DMT may be useful when combined with psychological treatment due to the disruption to complex human brain systems, which has also been linked to feelings of sadness.

While this study shows the primary effects of psychedelics on the brain, more research is required to pinpoint exactly how these brain effects are connected to some of the most remarkable psychological experiences one may have during a DMT trip.

“We are now in the process of collecting detailed accounts of the experience during the trip and matching them with brain effects. We are also looking to expand the usually short-acting experiences of DMT (which last only around 10 minutes) by using continuous infusions of DMT to expand that experience further.”

Timmerman also emphasizes the psychological potency of DMT, emphasizing that when used improperly, it can cause intense anxiety and dread emotions.

“We carefully screened participants to guarantee their psychological well-being, and we made sure we had a medic on site, as well as experts with training in psychology and therapy, to assure everyone’s safety both before and after the experience.”

The use of DMT as a ‘treatment’ is perhaps still far off considering the intensity of the experience. The authors have also not speculated on the often mentioned ‘ancients’ that appear to many DMT users, with people often experiencing the same hallucinations of entities asking them ‘what they are doing there?’

Image: Maxpixel

Psychedelics seem to be a promising field of research in the last couple of years, and perhaps it could break the stranglehold pharmaceutical drugs have on most people. But once again, way more study is needed.

We’ve said it before, but maybe the hippies were right after all…

[source:vice]