The UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics has embarked on an unprecedented study to explore why psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in certain mushrooms, alters visual perception in humans.

This investigation represents the university’s first human trials involving a Schedule I substance, classified by the federal government as having no accepted medical use.

Psilocybin, commonly known as “shrooms” or “magic mushrooms,” can significantly distort users’ sense of time, mood, and reality, often causing hallucinations.

Reference to an intrinsic healing mechanism or an ‘inner healer’ is commonplace amongst psychedelic users.

Inner healer scores were higher after the high versus placebo dose of psilocybin. Within the high-dose sub-sample only, inner healer scores predicted improved depressive symptomatology at 2 weeks post-dosing.