What Happens to Your Body When You Take Mushrooms

This Infographics Show explainer follows psilocybin, the compound in Psilocybe cubensis and related mushrooms, through its effects on the body and brain, its Mesoamerican and 20th-century history, and its current standing in mental health research. It reports claims from researchers and historical sources rather than endorsing them; psilocybin remains a Schedule I substance in the United States, and nothing here is medical advice.

Body and brain effects

Swallowed psilocybin converts to psilocin in the liver, then binds serotonin receptors and reaches the brain, raising activity in the prefrontal cortex (tied to abstract thought, mood, and perception) as normally separate brain regions begin firing together, a pattern the video links to hallucinations. Visible signs include dilated pupils, drowsiness, relaxed muscles, poor coordination, and sometimes nausea.

What a trip tends to look like

A trip tends to peak three to four hours in, bringing visual and auditory hallucinations, altered perception of time, and colors that look more vivid; objects may shimmer or seem to "breathe," and some people report synesthesia, where sound triggers perceived color. A 2014 study cited in the video found psilocybin increases the kind of brain activity typical of dreaming sleep, and a calm, prepared setting is described as lowering the odds of a "bad trip."

Sacred mushrooms, centuries before science

Ceremonial mushroom use in Mesoamerica goes back roughly 3,500 years, including Aztec use of teonanácatl, or "flesh of the gods." Modern Western interest began when Gordon Wasson published his account of a 1955 Mazatec ceremony in Life magazine in 1957; a specimen he collected let chemist Albert Hofmann isolate psilocybin in 1958. Timothy Leary read Wasson's article and ran Harvard's Psilocybin Project from 1960 until 1962, when Harvard ended it over safety concerns.

From Schedule I to decriminalization

The US classified psilocybin as Schedule I under the 1971 Controlled Substances Act, though legal spores fueled home cultivation and forums like Shroomery.net. A decriminalization movement began in Denver in 2019 and reached Oregon in 2020, the first state to permit supervised use; Eugene opened the first licensed psilocybin service center in 2023.

The case for psilocybin as therapy

The video centers a 2022 New England Journal of Medicine study from COMPASS Pathways, where 233 people with treatment-resistant depression took a 25mg dose alongside therapy and showed reduced depression at three weeks, though experts flagged study limitations. The FDA has since named psilocybin a Breakthrough Therapy for further study. On mechanism, it may raise serotonin availability like SSRIs while promoting neuroplasticity.

Microdosing and the risks the video flags

On microdosing, the video describes doses of 0.1 to 0.3 grams taken several times weekly, far below the 25mg used in a full trip, and notes no studies yet confirm the same benefits, with some attributing anecdotes to placebo. On safety, it cites higher psychosis risk for people with a personal or family history of psychosis or bipolar disorder, and a 2017 Johns Hopkins study where 39 percent called a difficult trip one of life's five hardest experiences, yet 84 percent still reported long-term benefit.

Key takeaways

• ●Psilocybin converts to psilocin in the liver, then binds serotonin receptors, concentrating effects in the prefrontal cortex.
• ●A trip tends to peak three to four hours in, with visual and auditory hallucinations and sometimes synesthesia.
• ●A 2014 study cited in the video links the psilocybin state to brain activity seen during dreaming sleep.
• ●Mesoamerican peoples used psychoactive mushrooms ceremonially for roughly 3,500 years before Western science documented them.
• ●Wasson's 1957 account, Hofmann's 1958 isolation of psilocybin, and Leary's Harvard project shaped Western interest.
• ●Psilocybin became Schedule I in the US in 1971, but decriminalization starting in Denver in 2019 has since reached Oregon.
• ●A 2022 COMPASS Pathways study reported reduced depression after a 25mg dose with therapy, though experts flagged methodological limits.
• ●Risks include a higher chance of psychotic episodes in vulnerable individuals and a psychologically difficult "bad trip."