Study finds ‘magic mushrooms’ may improve personality long-term

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story
By David Edwards



A new study suggests that a single dose of psilocybin -- the active ingredient in "Magic Mushrooms" -- can result in improved personality traits over the long term.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that individuals who received the drug once in a clinical setting reported a greater sense of "openness" that often lasted 14 months or longer, according to study published this week in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

The study defined openness as a personality trait that "encompasses aesthetic appreciation and sensitivity, imagination and fantasy, and broad-minded tolerance of others' viewpoints and values." It is one of five main personality traits that are shared among all cultures worldwide.

Of the 51 participants, 30 had personality changes that left them feeling more open. Other personality traits (extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness) were not impacted. Only the participants who said they had a "complete mystical experience" while on the drug registered an increased sense of openness.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/29/study-finds-magic-mushrooms-may-improve-personality-long-term/

[IndyPragmatist]

1. My friend is a neurosurgeon and he always told me that shrooms were actually good for you

After 2 days, your body and mind are 100% back to normal (this cannot be said about anything like alcohol, cigarettes, or even marijuana.

The occasional shroom trip is good for you.

Like bacon.

[Taverner]

2. Yep. And in small doses, they are the ultimate antidepressant.

[MrModerate]

3. Having gone to school at the University of Washington . . .

Which, decades ago, put in new lawns and fertilized them with horse manure — thus leading to a (literally) mind-bending profusion of psilocybe mushrooms 6 months out of the year — I can confirm that my mind has been pretty open ever since.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Only if openness, tolerance, aesthetic appreciation, imagination & sensitivity are positive traits!

I mean, really. Is it any wonder that shit is illegal????

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. I remember those!

:hippie::smoke:

[silverweb]

6. I'd love to try psilocybin...

... but I have no idea where to begin, and I'm absolutely positive I'd be directed to an undercover agent and get arrested.

Just an old wanna-be hippie fraidy-cat. *le sigh*

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. Here:

http://www.magic-mushrooms.net/picking.html

[silverweb]

12. Step #1 is self education.

Thank you!

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. My pleasure.

:hi:

[stevedeshazer]

8. I must have the greatest personality in the world.

Or one or more of them.

It's kind of a Northwest thing.

:evilgrin:

[Gregorian]

9. Anyone who has ever been to a shroom party knows this.

I'll always remember the night I was trying to find this place where there was a shroom party. It was hilarious because once I got near the place all I could hear was a group of people laughing like loons.

One evening I was in my kitchen, on shrooms, and I was doing the dishes. We lived in an old house on the corner of an intersection. I started this routine whereby I began ordering the dishes to do something. I forget now. But at the end I was shocked when I heard a chorus of applause coming from the people in the cars sitting at the intersection.

Shrooms are one of the best things on earth. It has been nearly forty years since I did them. And I was a better person for doing them.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. My friend's girl friend told me she could see the leaves on a tree passing chlorophyll to eachother....

I looked. She was right!!!!

[Gregorian]

14. It might be interesting to have a thread on people's first experience.

I was so fortunate to be in a fantastic place. UC Santa Cruz, 1974. My guru was an amazing guy. It's too long a story. The whole group were people I would give anything to hear what their lives were like over the years.

There was a lime stone quarry that had a dull glow to it. That became a phenomenon. And we were in pitch black, yet able to hike as though we had flashlights. There truly was light enough to see everything clearly. I'll never understand it. The fun part was when the moon came up, the rocks looked like glowing loaves of Wonderbread. And a quiltwork of small leaves that were connected to form what looked like huge leaves on the ground, about 5 feet across. Then there was the super slow motion ping pong matches.

Being in the redwoods back when things were slower and quieter was just the best way to have the experience.

I remember sitting on a bench overlooking the town of Santa Cruz just as the sun was rising. It was like someone flipped a switch, and the place went from asleep, and then "click" awake. It's hard to put this stuff into words. I just know that it was the most incredible experience of my life.

[RZM]

10. Long term maybe, short term only to other tripping people n/t

[ChillbertKChesterton]

15. I've known people who were self-obsessed narcissist a**holes before trying shrooms

after several trips they became more humble, caring, altruistic, and empathetic