Psilocybin administration may rewire associations between past, present, and future events, leading to relief from depressive narratives and fostering optimism.

“And it does seem that psilocybin can have this effect of invoking new patterns of learning. New considerations about what might be possible. And indeed, may even lead to actual rewiring of the emotion centers in the brain with these other brain areas and vice versa in ways that eject people from the psilocybin session thinking, oh, yeah, I used to feel this way about something, work, relationships, myself, et cetera. But I'm willing to consider this”

“And a lot of people researching psilocybin in the clinical setting think that that's one of the major reasons why psilocybin and other psychedelics can rewire our relationship to things more broadly. It allows for new learning, new contingencies.”

“And indeed, may even lead to actual rewiring of the emotion centers in the brain with these other brain areas and vice versa in ways that eject people from the psilocybin session thinking, oh, yeah, I used to feel this way about something, work, relationships, myself, et cetera. But I'm willing to consider this other possibility.”

“The use of things like amphetamines or methamphetamines, in particular, will lead to rewiring of the brain. But that is strongly maladaptive rewiring So now, there are really dozens of studies conducted in humans using brain imaging and other techniques have evaluated how things like psilocybin change connectivity in the brain. And I think the take home message is it expands that connectivity.”

“It's somehow rewiring associations between events, emotional events, past events, current events, and future events, in ways that allow people to get some sort of relief or distance from these narratives, these depressive stories about their past and present, and allow them to see new opportunity and optimism in the future.”