New images taken by scientists have revealed what the brain looks like while tripping on the psychoactive chemical DMT — which Prince Harry said helped him heal the trauma he felt after the death of his mother.
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, is the strongest psychedelic known to man and a key ingredient in the potent brew ayahuasca, used by tribal societies widely in the Amazon basin, where it is considered a ‘wisdom’ plant that allows entry into the spiritual world.
It has permeated the mainstream in the past few years with famous figures like Joe Rogan, Mike Tyson and Lindsay Lohan claiming it changed their perspective on life and freed them from past trauma. Most recently, Jake Paul claimed he did ayahuasca with NFL star Aaron Rodgers.
It is being explored as a therapeutic for depression and PTSD by research teams in the US and around the world.
Fascinating MRI and EEG brain scans show it lights up regions of the brain responsible for memory and imagination while shutting down the main rhythms of the brain which inhibit and constrain brain function.
Brain connectivity during a DMT trip is increased, and ranges from red to orange to yellow
Prince Harry has admitted using psychedelics – magic mushrooms, psilocybin (the active component of magic mushrooms) and ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic from the leaves of a shrub – in an attempt to help him heal from ‘grief’
Prince Harry has admitted using psychedelics – magic mushrooms, psilocybin (the active component of magic mushrooms) and ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic from the leaves of a shrub – in an attempt to help him heal from ‘grief’
Scientists investigating DMT said pictures of the brain helped them understand that the drug makes brain activity more chaotic or information-rich.
Researchers from Imperial College London injected 20 healthy volunteers, with an average age of 33, with a high 20mg dose of the drug.
They also took detailed brain images with two kinds of scans: functional Magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI), which measures small changes in blood flow that take place with brain activity, and electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures the electrical activity of the brain.
Professor Robin Carhart-Harris, founder of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, and senior author on the paper said: ‘fMRI allowed us to see the whole of the brain, including its deepest structures, and EEG helped us view the brain’s fine-grained rhythmic activity.’
Brain images were taken from eight minutes prior to the DMT trip to 20 minutes after.
The images reveal a significant impact on the brain, especially in regions necessary for planning, language, memory, intricate decision-making and imagination.
The brain areas from which we produce our reality become super-connected and communication more random and fluid.
Professional boxer Mike Tyson said ayahuasca and other psychedelics saved his life, while Hunter Biden said profound trips helped him reach sobriety
The scientists discovered that the normal organization of the brain collapses and electrical activity becomes chaotic, particularly with areas in charge of imagination.
Professor Carharrt-Harris told The Guardian: ‘The stronger the intensity of the experience, the more hyperconnected were those brain areas.’
He said: ‘People [on DMT] describe leaving this world and breaking through into another that is incredibly immersive and richly complex, sometimes being populated by other beings that they feel might hold special power over them, like gods.
He added: ‘What we have seen is that DMT breaks down the basic networks of the brain, causing them to become less distinct from each other. We also see the major rhythms of the brain – that serve a largely inhibitory, constraining function – break down, and in concert, brain activity becomes more entropic or information-rich.’
The study, the first to track brain activity before, during and after DMT with so much detail, was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DMT and ayahuasca are part of a wave of psychedelics, along with psilocybin mushrooms and ketamine, that were dismissed as hippy drugs but are now being explored by scientists as powerful therapeutics.
Previous scientific details on what exactly ayahuasca does to the brain are scant, but research suggested there were increased ‘utilization rates’ of monoamines within the amygdala, which increases the intensity of memories.
There is also increased blood flow to the insula, which could be responsible for users’ increased self-understanding.
The rise of psychedelics coincided with the rise of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Rogan – a self-professed ‘psychedelic adventurer’ – was one of the few major outlets championing the use of the drugs in the back 2010s
In 2021, actor Will Smith revealed during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that he drank the brew over 12 times during a retreat in Peru, while having marital problems with his wife Jada.
Prince Harry discussed his experiences with psychedelics including DMT in a livestreamed chat with controversial ‘trauma therapist’ Gabor Maté earlier this month.
The Duke of Sussex said on his use of ayahuasca: ‘It brought me a sense of relaxation, release, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hold on to for a period of time’.
But he said: ‘The moment I’m back in the chaos it kind of dissipates. I started doing it recreationally and then started to realize how good it was for me. I would say it was one of the fundamental parts of my life that changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and the pains of the past.’
Prince Harry cheerfully described taking the hallucinogen, describing it as ‘cleaning the windscreen’ of his troubled mind.
Meanwhile, Joe Rogan – a self-professed ‘psychedelic adventurer’ – was one of the few major outlets championing the use of the drugs in the back 2010s through his podcast the Joe Rogan Experience.
Mike Tyson said ayahuasca and other psychedelics saved his life, while Hunter Biden said profound trips helped him become sober.
Actress Lindsay Lohan credited drinking ayahuasca – which is created by pounding vine stems in boiling water – with helping to free her from ‘the wreckage of my past’.
Musician Sting is also a proponent, saying ayahuasca had convinced him a ‘higher intelligence’ was at work.
And Aaron Rodgers, an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, revealed that he took the drugs on two separate retreats to Peru, which he credited for helping with ‘a lot of healing’.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk