Shelly Fan in Singularity Hub:
A handful of healthy senior citizens are about to trip on psilocybin—to see if the psychedelic protects aging brains. Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, is best known for its ties to 1960s counterculture. But now it may also herald a new genre of mental health treatment. From severe depression to post-traumatic stress disorder, studies have highlighted psychedelic drugs’ ability to reshape brain networks and relieve debilitating symptoms.
Most of these studies have focused on younger people with mental health conditions that don’t respond to standard treatment. The field’s success is prompting scientists to ask if psychedelics could also help healthy brains age better. A team from the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics is about to find out. In a first-of-its-kind study focused on adults between the ages of 60 and 85, they’ll investigate how psilocybin affects perception, emotion, and memory using a battery of psychological tests.
More here.
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