r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Feb 08 '25

Neuroscience Specific neurons that secrete oxytocin in the brain are disrupted in a mouse model of autism, neuroscientists have found. Stimulating these neurons restored social behaviors in these mice. These findings could help to develop new ways to treat autism.

https://www.riken.jp/en/news_pubs/research_news/rr/20250207_1/index.html
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819

u/WickedClutz2 Feb 08 '25

This might explain why the most recent times I've felt emotionally "normal" were when I took psilocybin and the first couple of weeks after my daughter were born. Both times felt like something was chemically making me feel more and I started looking into it. Found out that psilo and hexadecanal (newborn baby pheromone) both induce oxytocin. Typically, I don't have strong emotional reactions even in intense situations. Those are literally the only two times I've ever happy cried in my entire life. I never understood that reaction before. My wedding day was great but I never felt the urge. I think for me, it's a chemical thing.

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u/3570526 Feb 08 '25

Do you have autism? Are you saying taking psilocybin helped with symptoms?

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u/jimbo224 Feb 09 '25

Not the person you responded to, but I have autism and can say psilocybin does help temporarily with the symptoms. It's much easier to process emotions and feel like I understand myself and those close to me much better. Unfortunately it does wear off, but the experiences do stick with you at least a bit.

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u/MileHiSalute Feb 09 '25

Have you done microdosing before? If so, how did it impact you?

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u/jimbo224 Feb 09 '25

Not yet. I'd like to, but I don't want to "waste" them, since they were pretty annoying to get.

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u/bippityboppityhyeem Feb 09 '25

Where do you even get this?

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u/Raibean Feb 09 '25

Psilocybin is shrooms

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u/bippityboppityhyeem Feb 09 '25

Sorry, I meant how would someone acquire it and know the right dose?

27

u/Strawberry3141592 Feb 09 '25

It is legal to order psylocibe cubensis mushroom spores online in the vast majority of US states, since they do not contain any psylocibin. In the interest of not drawing attention to resources on cultivating those spores, I won't link them, but you can find much information about this online.

10

u/itasteawesome Feb 09 '25

If you want to see actual medical research there is an organization called MAPS that has done a lot of advocacy in this space, and Johns Hopkins has a pretty large psychedelic research clinic. Its still not legal for any Dr to just rock up and prescribe shrooms outside of clinical research trials so you essentially have to DIY or go black market.

On the plus side they are pretty easy to cultivate at home if you go that route, and if you pay attention it's not hard to find psychedelics advocates just out and about in your day to day life. Keep an eye out for any weird hippie types with dichromatic glass jewelry and ask, they almost fall over themselves to connect other people to this stuff.

2

u/researchanddev Feb 09 '25

I think you could go to Oregon and do it under the supervision of a licensed therapist. There are places like Denver and Oakland where you can’t get in trouble for it but still might be hard to find if you don’t know anyone. Some of those kinds of places are listed here: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2020/rpt/pdf/2020-R-0323.pdf

There’s a few subs on here like that can show you how to grow them yourself from easily attainable material but be careful that you understand potential legal implications in your area.

As for dosage, start with about anywhere from a half gram to a gram and a half and move up .5 grams at a time taking them only once in about two weeks to a month. At 3 or 4 grams you should trip pretty hard.

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u/ebolaRETURNS Feb 09 '25

drug dealers, or psilocybes are relatively easy to culture.

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u/BadWolf2386 Feb 09 '25

Instructions unclear, took drug dealer to an Opera

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u/diqholebrownsimpson Feb 09 '25

I left mine behind the furnace after drug dealer expired

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u/ebolaRETURNS Feb 09 '25

You were supposed to take the mushroom spores to the symphony!

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u/WriteAboutTime Feb 09 '25

Every day I find myself with a new bit of knowledge telling me, yes, I do have autism.

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u/videogametes Feb 09 '25

Weed does it for me. But I haven’t had a chance to try psilo

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u/techlos Feb 09 '25

another anecdotal account for the pile, there was a period of time where i'd take small (but not microdose) amounts of LSD or mushrooms in order to do grocery shopping. It just made it way easier to interact with people without getting caught up in analysing the way our interactions feed back on each other.

I tried microdosing at one point, but the effects weren't nearly as beneficial as just having a light trip instead.