How Drugs & Magic Mushrooms Change Your Personality (The Fast Facts!)

Psychedelics have been primarily used for recreational purposes for centuries. But, whether it’s to go on a trip for fun or a spiritual experience, these substances helped people reach an altered state of consciousness. 

It is this experience with psychedelics that make people say that it is a life-changing thing for them. But, while it is a life-changing experience, do psychedelics and mushrooms change your personality?

Can drugs permanently change your personality?

Depending on who you talk to, psychedelics can either be a good thing or a bad thing. Some people might demonize these substances, saying they can drive you crazy and make you lose your mind. 

On the other hand, others may say that they help open up your mind and help you see things differently. Science and research would agree more with what the latter has to say about it between the two.

Studies and research on psychedelics have increased over the past few years, looking at their effects on people. So far, these studies have pointed out that these drugs do have the ability to change your personality. But, it must be emphasized that these changes aren’t the drastic kind of becoming a completely different person. 

Instead, you can consider a psychedelic drug trip as a way to reboot your brain, but in such a way that small changes in your thinking and the way you see yourself. Thus, it’s more of an eye-opening experience than a total personality change.

This brain rebooting potential of these drugs makes psychedelics an exciting field of study in psychology. Specifically, these drugs can help open up new ways and methods to help treat certain mental illnesses. Given that some of the current treatments may not be as effective, this can be a blessing for helping people with mental illnesses.

What drugs can give you these changes?

Several psychedelics have been studied and were noted to induce some change in its consumer. Two such drugs are LSD and psilocybin. While each psychedelic drug has its unique effect on one’s personality, these effects help positively introduce and effect change in a person.

For example, LSD was shown to help induce several changes when consumed in varying doses. LSD, more commonly known as acid, is known as a hallucinogen. But aside from it being able to induce hallucinations, it can also cause an increase in pain tolerance and decrease one’s perception of pain. 

Other studies also noted that acid could also help one have a more positive mood, become more friendly, be more alert, and have fewer attention problems. With all this in mind, can acid change your personality?

Acid has shown the potential to be effective in various therapies. In some studies, patients suffering from terminal illnesses were put through a guided acid trip and were also given counseling. 

The results showed that these patients had a decrease in anxiety and depression, both of which were brought about by the diagnosis of the illness. Some studies also noted that acid intake also induced openness in the person who consumed it. 

But, of course, with the good comes the bad. If there is a “good trip,” this also means a “bad trip” exists. 

With this in mind, can a lousy trip change your personality?

When acid is taken, there is a chance that a person could experience what is called a “flashback.” These flashbacks could be caused by factors such as stress, fatigue, and even other drugs. Whatever the root cause, these bad trips can be terrifying and even debilitating, leaving lasting effects. So, caution must still be exercised when taking this drug.

Can doing acid once change you? Yes. But since this substance is still being studied, a comprehensive understanding of acid is still yet to be achieved. There is indeed promise in this drug, but it has a long way to go before it can be used as a standard treatment for mental illnesses and disorders.

Magic Mushroom and Personality Change

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, is another psychedelic that can help cause changes in your personality. Much like acid, it’s also known for its ability to take you on a psychedelic trip. 

On psilocybin, you’re given a chance to abandon your sense of self and take an introspective look at yourself. It’s this moment of introspection that can help bring about change in you and open your eyes to several things about you and your life. 

Based on all the studies on psilocybin so far, one of the most noticeable changes this drug has on people is a newfound openness. Not only does this drug allow you to open yourself up while on a trip, but it helps keep you more open even after the trip. This openness was what was noted to have the most long-lasting post-trip effect on people.

Doctors take advantage of this and utilize this drug to take you on a guided trip. They put you in an environment where you feel safe and allow yourself to be vulnerable. This safe environment allows you the perfect setting to be able to explore your thoughts. 

You have the chance to be able to think about how you feel, learn more about it, and try to understand yourself better. You can face many things going on in your mind and find a way to come to terms with them. 

Psilocybin has the potential to help unlock your brain and make some changes in how your mind works, giving you the chance to improve.

Aside from helping you become more open, psilocybin also showed some promise in treating anxiety and depression. In terminal patients, this substance helped them look at their illness and their situation differently. 

Things such as an appreciation for their life, life satisfaction, a newfound meaning in their life, and decreased anxiety and depression were just some of the items noted in these terminal patients. 

Thus, this “mushroom change your personality” theory is plausible, especially in psychology.

So can mushrooms change your personality?

With all of this in mind, the question of “can it permanently change you” can finally be answered. Yes, these psychedelics can permanently change you. However, although these aren’t drastic, you still have the chance to allow some change to take place within yourself. 

Whatever the case may be, how it changes you and how much it can change you is something you control since these trips are a personal experience.

But since these drugs are still not wholly understood, knowing how they can bring about that change and what extent they do so is still yet to be discovered. For this reason, these psychedelics need to be studied further to understand their nature and their effects. Thus, their potential can be tapped into, helping revolutionize areas such as psychology.