Take A Trip

The psychedelic mushroom is pushing its way out of the darkness and back into mainstream culture, but not in the way you’d expect. Ellie Packer traces its magical rise.

PSYCHEDELICS WERE ONCE the domain of Peruvian shamans, hyper-creative types and tie-dye-wearing hippies at festivals in the Byron hinterland. Now they’re being harnessed by Western medical practitioners for their ability to treat everything from clinical depression and anxiety to PTSD. While this psychedelic renaissance hinges on the magic mushroom – a naturally occurring psychoactive that contains psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound (this is where it differs from, say, the kind of mushroom you’d throw in an autumnal risotto) – it also includes LSD, a synthetic psychoactive with a similar effect. These hallucinogens bind to the brain’s serotonin receptors, leading to a higher state of consciousness – or what is known in layman’s terms as “a trip” – and giving rise to the mushroom’s “magic” prefix.

You’ve probably already heard of microdosing, where people take small doses of psychedelics so they can experience a subtle increase in focus, creativity and productivity. This process has been anecdotally enhancing productivity in Silicon Valley for the past few years, and James Fadiman, a Harvard- and Stanford-educated psychologist, estimates that 100,000 Americans have already experimented with the growing trend. While the supposed benefits of microdosing have more to do with boosting creativity, current studies are focused on the purported therapeutic effects of larger doses of psilocybin. This is not the first time the funny little fungus has been prized for its remedial qualities. The ancient Maya and Aztecs were believed to have relied on mushrooms in their spiritual healing practices and archaeological evidence suggests North African tribes were using them as early as 9000BC.