A psilocybin study has found the psychedelic reorganises brain activity into patterns linked to people’s experiences and surroundings.
Researchers used brain imaging to examine 62 healthy adults using psilocybin during rest, meditation, music listening and movie watching.
The findings suggest the drug disrupts the usual organisation of brain networks, while also producing new patterns that vary according to what a person is doing and experiencing.
The five-year study was conducted by researchers at Monash University and involved brain imaging and artificial intelligence analyses.
Lead author Dr Devon Stoliker, a Turner Impact Research Fellow at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in the Monash School of Psychological Sciences, said: “We uncovered hidden order within that disruption.”
“Under psilocybin, brain networks that help us process our inner world and the world around us became less distinct, but reorganised into patterns that reflected what people were experiencing.”
“This was strongest in people who had more positive psychedelic experiences and felt less separate from the world around them.”
Psilocybin is the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms.
Researchers found that brain networks involved in processing people’s internal experiences and their surroundings became less distinct under psilocybin.
However, those networks reorganised into patterns reflecting participants’ experiences, with stronger changes seen among people who reported more positive psychedelic experiences and felt less separate from the world around them.
The researchers also found that brain organisation differed depending on whether participants were resting, listening to music, meditating or watching a movie.
Senior author and principal investigator Professor Adeel Razi, from the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in the Monash School of Psychological Sciences, said: “The patterns changed depending on whether participants were resting, listening to music, meditating or watching a movie.
“This shows that context is not just background to the psychedelic experience.
“What a person is doing and focusing on shapes how their brain responds.
“For treatment, that reinforces why the environment and what a person does and experiences during the psychedelic session matter.”
The study was carried out at Monash Biomedical Imaging, co-located with BrainPark, where the psilocybin therapy sessions took place.
Researchers combined advanced brain-imaging analyses with AI analyses.
Stoliker said researchers can now use what they learned in the trial to work towards developing therapies that help patients achieve greater clarity, psychological flexibility and new perspectives.
“People who showed stronger reorganisation also reported greater positive psychological changes the following day,” Stoliker said.
“Until now, brain-imaging studies have mainly told us what happens on average across a group.
“Using artificial intelligence, we could measure this reorganisation in each person.”
Razi said measuring individual responses could have important implications for treatment.
“If translated to patients, this could eventually help clinicians understand how someone is responding and predict who is most likely to benefit,” Razi said.
Australia is the first country in the world to legalise psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression and MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder.
The US and other countries are exploring similar approaches.
“Australia is a trailblazer in this growing area of science, with a distinct global advantage in scaling these therapies responsibly,” Razi said.
“As these countries look to us for direction, research from Monash will provide critical evidence to guide safe and effective implementation.”
