Magic mushrooms, peyote cacti and other hallucinogenic substances have been used for millennia in shamanic rituals. The idea? To achieve a state of fusion with the “whole”, the cosmos.
Let’s agree: from a secular and rational point of view, all this seems strange, even far-fetched. But in terms of psychological well-being, did these traditional societies understand something that modern medicine is beginning to understand?
“They had understood that indeed, a certain number of procedures – medicinal, but also trance, rhythmic music, dance – can put the person in a state which perhaps simply allows them to forget themselves, to forget this deleterious self-centered rumination,” replies neuropharmacologist Joël Bockaert.
Professor Emeritus at the University of Montpellier in France, Joël Bockaert was in Montreal last week to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Montreal. He took the opportunity to give a lecture about his most recent book, Drugs, the Brain, and Altered States of Consciousness — From Shaman to Doctorpublished by Odile Jacob.
Getting out of “mental rigidity”
An international leader in neuroscience, Professor Bockaert has devoted his career to the study of intercellular communications. He has been particularly interested in one family of receptors—G protein-coupled receptors—which are the target of more than 30% of drugs on the market. In short, his research has had a significant impact on medicine and on understanding the brain.
PHOTO MASON TRINCA, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Psilocybin, the psychoactive component of hallucinogenic mushrooms, is of particular interest to researchers.
And here is Professor Bockaert looking at… psychedelic drugs. Yes, those that made the reputation of the 1970s (for better or for worse), and which, in recent years, have enjoyed growing popularity in psychiatry. Government organizations around the world – including in Quebec – are funding clinical studies to measure the effect of these substances on resistant depression and end-of-life distress, among other things. There is also interest in psilocybin, the psychoactive element of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
To be interested in psychedelics, according to Joël Bockaert, is to try to understand how these small molecules are capable of manipulating our brain to get it out of a “mental rigidity” that can lock it up, particularly in cases of depression or addiction.
“We know the gateway for these drugs – one of the serotonin receptors – but then how do we get to this extraordinary modification of the brain, with the hallucinations and all that?” asks Joël Bockaert.
The “default mode brain network”
Brain imaging shows that psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, mescaline, etc.) alter what is called the “default mode brain network.” This network—“hyperactive” in cases of depression and addiction—is the one that activates when the mind wanders, or when it looks toward the past, the future, or the intentions of others. The effect of psychedelics on this network is not only immediate, but can also last over time, even after a single treatment.
Joël Bockaert emphasizes one thing: human beings have the impression of being in control of everything, but “this is not entirely true.” The brain works by itself most of the time, he says: it is the one that brakes in a car, that formulates grammatically correct sentences, that types on the keyboard, that plays the piano, that makes a judgment about this or that person…
When the state of consciousness is modified, whether naturally (dream, hypnosis, trance, etc.) or thanks to psychedelic drugs, the “self” no longer pulls the strings, explains Joël Bockaert.
These treatments are not a panacea either, the scientist is keen to point out. According to a clinical study published in 2022 and conducted in 10 countries, 29% of patients suffering from resistant depression and treated with psilocybin were in remission after 3 weeks, and 20% after 12 weeks. What’s more, it is difficult to assess their real potential in classic clinical studies: given the hallucinogenic effects, the placebo group doesn’t really make sense, notes Joël Bockaert.
“Large laboratories, particularly in the United States, are trying to find substances that would have antidepressant effects, without having the psychedelic effects,” he explains. As long as there is a psychedelic or dissociative effect (as with ketamine), the treatment will not be easily accessible, believes Joël Bockaert.
The latter also views with suspicion the proliferation of private clinics in the United States that offer ketamine treatments. The danger, he says, is that abuses will emerge, as was the case in the 1970s. “We have to go gently, gradually, seriously,” he concludes.