At the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, there was a session on psychedelic drugs.
The symposium was held at the San Diego Convention Center.
They'd come to hear about how drugs like MDMA and psilocybin can alter individual brain cells and how they can be used to treat a range of disorders.
Alex Kwan, an engineer at Cornell University who spoke at the session, was surprised by the number of people.
There has been a lot of public excitement about the drug. Now that we don't know much about what these compounds do, the scientists are starting to catch on.
The researchers shared what they know about the drugs during the session.
The active ingredient in magic mushrooms, called psilocybin, seems to help the brain by generating new connections between neurons.
The dendrites, the branch-like structures that extend from a nerve cell, were altered by the drug.
Dendrites form connections through small pieces of bone. Cells were able to form new connections in mice that got the drug.
New connections can be seen within a day with a single dose of the drug. It's the equivalent of many months in a human.
Brain plasticity is a process in which new connections allow the brain to learn and adapt.
It seems that psychics elevate plasticity.
A single dose of a drug can have a long-term impact on disorders such as anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
Dr. Gitte Knudsen says it can be months or years. It's amazing.
The long-term effects of drugs have been shown. Most existing drugs need to be taken on a daily basis.
There are some drawbacks to the drug. They can make you nauseatingly ill or make you hallucinate.
It can be overwhelming to people. You need to be with them while they are in the experience and you need to be prepared for that as well.
Patients may have differing feelings after a session.
She says that when people have been in her lab, they say that it was a great experience. Do you want to come back next week? They don't thank you.
At the world's largest meeting of brain scientists, the drugs were featured. That is a new development.
After the 1960s, the drugs were made illegal in the U.S. and Europe, ending the popularity of the research.
In the 1990s, a few researchers began cautiously studying how drugs like LSD, MDMA, and psilocybin might help with mental health issues.
The National Institute of Mental Health's Dr. Joshua Gordon says a pair of studies published in 2016 really caught the attention of everyone.
One study found that a single treatment with the drug reduced anxiety and depression.
A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in November showed that people with major depression who hadn't been helped by other treatments were helped by the use of the hallucinogen.
Gordon says that studies like that one suggest that psychedelics will be useful in treating mental illnesses.
The effects found in large studies have been less dramatic than those found in smaller studies. Some companies have overstated the benefits of their products.
He says there is a lot of hope.
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