Magic Mushrooms Could Boost Your Mental Health—and Traumatize You

It’s an old and tired observation, but it is annoying how the medical community seems to flip-flop on whether eggs are good for you or not. Some research says they’re going to kill you. Others say they’re perfectly fine and not to worry. That’s kind of what we’re seeing with ‘shrooms’, a.k.a magic mushrooms.

Shrooms offer an abundant source of psilocybin, a psychedelic that has recently been used in a medical setting to help patients overcome trauma and depression. But while magic mushrooms might be good for your mental health, they may also be bad for your mental health.

There have been plenty of clinical trials that show promising results for psilocybin’s applications toward mental health. However, some experts are warning that recreational use of psilocybin can lead to a whole host of psychological maladies, like anxiety, insomnia, trauma, and something called HPPD. HPPD stands for Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, which is when a person who has used a psychedelic experiences hallucinations long after they’ve taken the drug.

Are Mushrooms Good or Bad for Your Mental Health?

The use of psilocybin to treat mental health issues has been on the rise in recent years. Several states in the US legalized its use strictly under medical circumstances, and a tiny minority of states legalized it outright.

Back in November 2020, the state of Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin-assisted therapy. Colorado soon followed suit. Even conservative stalwart Texas has made strides in recognizing the medical benefits of psilocybin by passing a bill in June 2021 that calls for the study of psilocybin’s therapeutic use for veterans with PTSD. It could just be a matter of frequency.

Some research suggests that 8.9% of people who have used psychedelics regularly over their lifetime reported impairments lasting longer than a day. The study of psychedelics on the mind is still in its infancy. Right now the debate seems to be stuck in the same place the egg debate finds itself in even after all these years.

There are pros. There are cons. Your decision to use psychedelics and reap the benefits of psilocybin rests almost entirely on whether the pros outweigh the cons for you.