If you've ever seen someone on drugs (I'd be shocked if you haven't!), then you know how drastically they can affect someone's mental state. Depending on the type of drug and the dose, that person can either basically be a lump on the couch, or be ready to take on the world.
One of the most interesting but unstudied drugs is LSD, also known as acid. It became really popular in the 1960s with hippie counterculture, although it had already been around for decades. It's definitely not nearly as popular anymore, but it remains one of the most powerful drugs out there.
To find out exactly what is going on when someone drops acid, researchers injected subjects with a good amount of LSD and scanned their brains. They also did brain scans using a placebo for comparison, and the results were shocking, to say the least.
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When I think of LSD, I basically picture this.
But it's been around far longer than that.
LSD was discovered in the '30s, and the CIA started conducting experiments with it in the '50s while looking for a drug to brainwash communists.
After it was made illegal in the '60s that research basically came to a standstill.
Not to mention, LSD became harder and harder to find. Now, after over five decades, we've reopened that door and the findings are incredible.
A relatively small group was injected with LSD and a placebo.
As I'm sure you expected, the LSD had some serious effects on the brain, and the scans showed the brain lighting up like a Christmas tree. So what does this mean for you? Check out some of the effects on the next page.
LSD connects separate parts of the brain.
Regions that normally never communicate or operate together start to work very closely as brain activity skyrockets. When looking at the visual cortex at rest, you can see that LSD creates activity in other parts of the brain as well.
This could reverse the "restricted thinking" that develops as we grow up.
Which means that you could reclaim that childlike curiosity and creativity.
While we're not there yet, LSD could help us deepen our understanding of how consciousness works.
LSD makes the user feel like they're one with the universe, heightens creativity, and completely alters brain activity. There's even the potential for use in medicine in the future.
Right now it has pretty limited applications, but that seems to be rapidly changing.
I mean, Silicon Valley has started microdosing for creativity and productivity, so who knows what the future holds!
Main and collage image via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
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