500+ brain scans reveal what LSD, psilocybin, DMT have in common

Psilocybin, LSD, mescaline, DMT, and ayahuasca have different chemical structures, different durations, different cultural histories — and they all do the same thing to the brain. A mega-analysis published in Nature Medicine found a shared two-part pattern across all five drugs: normally tight neural networks weaken internally, while brain regions that usually stay segregated start talking to each other.

The clearest version of this cross-talk appeared between the brain's higher-order thinking networks — the default mode network (active during self-reflection and mind-wandering) and the frontoparietal network (involved in planning and attention) — and the networks that handle vision and touch. That cross-wiring is almost certainly why psychedelics produce synesthesia, the mixing of senses, and ego dissolution, the sense that the boundary between self and world has dissolved.

Lead researcher Danilo Bzdok of McGill University said: "For the first time, we show there's a common denominator among drugs that we currently consider completely separate." Changes also appeared in subcortical regions — the caudate, putamen, and cerebellum — beyond the cortex. The findings could help guide future mental health treatments and support the regulatory loosening that researchers have been pushing for, according to the paper in Nature Medicine.

Previously:

• Tobacco plants now produce psilocybin and DMT — on purpose
• Ketamine's neurotoxicity suddenly in the spotlight
• New research reveals how ketamine repairs brain's reward system to fight depression