Your Brain on Psychedelics - The Truth | Neuroscientist | Raj Shamani Clips

Añadido: 2026-06-05

[00:00:01]Drugs help your brain grow.

[00:00:04]>> How?

[00:00:04]>> Okay, so drugs like life experiences interact with your brain and change your brain.

[00:00:10]>> Some drugs cause neurons to atrophy, dry, shrink. Some drugs, depending on what receptors they work on, can actually cause neurons to grow out new connections and grow new synapses.

[00:00:22]That's not very surprising because there are things in your own body, neurochemicals in your own body that can cause neurons to grow and there are also neurochemicals that cause things to shrink. So if your body can have a cortisol that causes neurons, many neurons to shrink and if your body can also have a growth factor that causes neurons to grow, much the same way, many of these substances, several of which are plant derived and from the external world, also have the capability of changing the brain, both causing damage and promoting repair. So that idea is an old idea. As long as we as human beings have walked on this planet, we have used drugs from plants to treat ourselves, right? Something as simple as an aspirin, which is something that we all think about and take routinely starts with an origin which is a plant derived origin. In India, Ayurveda is inspired by a repository of traditional Indian knowledge that has come from plants largely from plants. Right? So the idea that something that comes from plants can have this. So these are also psychedelics are also molecules that come from either plants or fungi.

[00:01:30]They happen to have the property of modulating a particular serotonin receptor in the brain and associated with that they also increase growth factors and that seems to have something called a psychoplastogenic effect which means that neurons grow new connections make new synapses etc. That may not necessarily always be good. It may come sometimes be good sometimes not. Right now traditionally people have used these for thousands of years in the Amazonian forest. the shamans have used them etc. Now we have a rediscovery and a red desire to explore them because we currently have genuinely a mental health crisis in the world. The number of patients who have anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder is large and growing and the complexity of the world we are creating this is only going to go higher rather than in the other direction. So given that and because most drugs that are currently used anti-depressants etc they work only on twothirds of the population one/3 doesn't even respond to any of the drugs that are there out there. So and they work slowly. So when a patient starts on an anti-depressant you don't know if it's going to work for at least six 3 to 6 weeks.

[00:02:42]>> So you have a patient you're giving a drug you don't know if it's going to work and 6 weeks later you'll find out if it has worked at all otherwise you'll have to switch drugs. So it's a really not a good situation in terms of quality of available medication. So that's why there's been a desire to reinvestigate psychedelics.

[00:03:00]But we are in a very we're in a delicate juncture right now for two reasons. One because recreationally these drugs have been abused >> and because they've been recreationally utilized. Uh there are a lots of recreational narratives which are often biased towards the positive without being aware of the complexity of these drugs and their challenges and because of that that is moving faster the recreational narrative is moving faster than the careful clinical research associated narrative.

[00:03:29]>> What kind of drugs you mean like give me one or two names.

[00:03:32]>> Iaska psilocybin from magic mushrooms LSD from lysurgic acid diylomide which is a synthetic psychedelic. These drugs have been utilized by for recreational abuse in a sense and that narrative of its quote unquote beneficial effects has moved faster than the clinical research has moved. So now the worry with this is you need to do the careful clinical research. You need to do the pre-clinical research. You need studies on rats, mice, monkeys, humans. You need all of that to understand both the usefulness, the potential harmful side effects, the potential beneficial effects carefully and systematically.

[00:04:11]You have to study this before you can rush into saying, "Hey, these may be potentially of use. If you don't do this and you rush fast in here, you will have negative reactions because these drugs are there are class of drugs called psychotoimetic drugs which means they produce hallucinations and they produce altered states of consciousness.

[00:04:31]>> The other thing that you know produces hallucinations are states like schizophrenia.

[00:04:36]>> Okay. So they are drugs that are that's why they call psychotomimetic. They mimic >> the psychosis like state. You can have negative reactions and you could have a psychotic break. Right? This is a worry.

[00:04:48]>> You can't do this without carefully doing this.

[00:04:50]>> And if you take your time to do it carefully, you may even be able to synthesize new drugs that don't have the trip and don't have the psychosis element or the, you know, the psychedelic part, but have the beneficial parts. But you have to take your time. This is a 10, 12 year, 15 year investment of time. And part of the problem is because patients want drugs that work and they want them fast. They may be tempted to recreationally try something which may actually have a negative effect.

[00:05:21]>> So this is why we are at this very delicate juncture where >> it's important to study them. It's important to study them well and it's also equally important to not rush them into the clinic and have a situation where there is a problem. But then a lot of people who are taking let's say LSDs or mushrooms just for recreation and going for a trip they tend to take it and they come out very happy that oh I had a great trip etc etc and then they forget about it and probably 6 months later they do it again right so they're not even like probably addicted to it the way they are addicted to let's say some people would do maybe a weed or cocaine or some other stuff right so it doesn't look like that they're super addictive.

[00:06:06]>> No, they're not because >> So they're not addictive to so I've not met anyone who's like addicted to >> because they don't hit the mental temental area common pathway in the same way as a cocaine, heroin, nicotine or alcohol. So they're not on that scale addict.

[00:06:19]>> So let's say LSD and mushrooms are not on that scale >> but people are taking it without any care without any stuff >> really worry about first of all. What is happening like why majority of them tend to enjoy it even without the even when they take it without care so there's no side effect at least looks like >> is we tend to hear the narratives that are positive more than we hear the narratives that are negative also keep in mind that all of these retreats that give them have a financial interest in your hearing the positive narratives over the negative absolutely so there is a financial interest element here as well because obviously there for them they are making money from this There are negative narratives. Maybe their fraction is smaller, but the negative narratives are genuinely scary as well. And yes, there's no doubt that these molecules can induce states which are fairly powerful. And some of those come also with the beneficial effect of giving you a mood modulatory effect which could actually kick a person out of a state of PTSD or a state of chronic me, you know, major depression.

[00:07:26]But we cannot go based on anecdotal and right now that's where we are in the narrative recreational space. It's anecdotal. You need to do this carefully and you need to do this with large enough numbers. You need to have it in a cultural context like ours. One of the things that I've been doing is talking to people at Nimhan saying India needs its own policy.

[00:07:47]We can't not have our own policy of how we're going to do this. We currently they're banned because they're all substance. They're all, you know, schedule one substances, so they are banned. So, anyone accessing it, it's illegal.

[00:07:59]>> But we need a thought through policy of our own clinical trials. The US has moved fast with their clinical trials.

[00:08:06]So has Switzerland, so has Australia, Canada, many places across the world. We are yet to take a call on what we are going to do with our own clinical trials. And there is a set setting element where the cultural context will matter. So we have to find a way that it works in our society and culture and see if it's appropriate in our context the same way which we are not doing at the moment >> we are not but my question is only that more anecdotes come or more stories are that people have enjoyed it doing it >> people always >> and it doesn't look like they've gone through any negative you know experience >> that's not true though because there are >> so you would argue that there's enough >> there enough concern that I would not especially in individuals that have a family history of either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. I would say this is contraindicated, >> right? It was absolutely contraindicated because there have been examples where it has caused a psychotic break and people have ended up with a psychosis-like event under the influence of these drugs. So anyone let's say right now listening to this is is hearing stories from their friends that Iaska is one of the best experiences or uh you know they did some mushrooms or they did some I don't know some random psychedelic drug like LSD or stuff like that and they are incentivized or motivated or maybe just lured towards trying it because some of their friends or some story or some social media influencer did it right.

[00:09:40]What would you tell them?

[00:09:41]>> I would say no. Plain and simply as simple as that. I would not I mean >> and why because the other side actually gives an explanation that you will reach an altered state and get clarity in life and all that.

[00:09:52]>> I would I so first I would say that I that that these are molecules that have potent effects on your brain and they don't only have short-lived potent effects they have longived potent effects on your brain.

[00:10:05]Very often these people are the same people who are worrying about eating organic vegetables and eating healthy food only etc. uh and they are very worried about what they put into their body, but they're not worried about it when it comes to a drug of this scale which has the potent ability to change networks in your brain. Right? So I would say that if it was someone who had clinical depression and they really wanted to and they were not responding to any treatment then I would say see a psychiatrist and see if you can be part of a clinical trial. That would be one way to do in India right now that's not a possibility but people abroad are doing it anyone else I would say >> a normal human being there's nothing going on >> yeah I would say you know these are really potent drugs they rewire your brain not just for the short term but often for the long term and that direction in which it's exactly going to rewire is not obvious and it's not in your control.

[00:10:59]It's a it's a risk that I'm not sure one should be so willingly signing up for.

[00:11:04]So rewiring of brain will happen >> but you don't know if it's going to be negative or positive.

[00:11:10]>> I don't know which way it will go.

[00:11:11]>> So rewiring of brain is possible with drugs. You decide which direction.

[00:11:17]>> I mean it's a it's a scary thought. It's a bit of a Russian roulette in that sense. Right. So I would say why are you doing this? I mean you know is it we still far away from fully understanding the long-term consequences of these drugs. Everything that we have looked at indicates long-term effects >> in animals, in humans, longlasting rewiring of circuits, longlasting synaptic changes in neurons.

[00:11:44]I don't know if I would just be, you know, on a for the pure recreational value of trying something new. I mean, you could try many other things also, right? So, you could try for >> Would you try? Have you tried it?

[00:11:55]>> I have not. And I have zero interest but I'm like as I >> But because you're so curious about brain >> have you ever has it not crossed your brain like you should maybe try I ask maybe >> what has crossed my mind is the following which is that if you can have altered states of consciousness that respond to a molecule like this and inherently your brain has the capability of experiencing altered states of consciousness.

[00:12:19]>> Yeah. And there are other ways to tap into it and those exercises I find particularly interesting. I've always found meditation an extremely interesting exercise to train your brain with.

[00:12:30]>> That's my chosen path because I think that there is much more room to direct where you will go then you do it molecularly with an external agent.

[00:12:42]>> So I would say that there are I mean it's opening your mind to the possibility of what all can happen with your nervous system. I would find other ways to do this. Not >> true >> not the drug. For me, this is my altered state of like like I love this. I'm on such a different high when every time I'm doing a podcast and conversation.

[00:13:01]>> I fully understand that and for me Z I mean I work with psychedelics. I work with giving psychedelics to rodents looking at the effects on the brain and I think they are very powerful molecules and they should be studied and potentially they may become relevant in the clinic either them or some downstream that comes from them. So they will move at some stage I think into the clinic. But I think for a person who is just a regular human being who has no requirement at that moment for drugs that are treating a psychiatric condition perhaps these are very potent molecules and maybe you want to give them a bit of a wide birth.

[00:13:35]>> Thank you so much for watching this video till the end. If you'd like to watch moreformational and educational clips, please subscribe to Rajamani Cliff channel and share this video with someone who you think would like to learn