
One of the most exciting discoveries in the last 2 decades of neuroscience was that of the Default Mode Network. The default mode network is so called because it is most active when the brain is in a resting state. Despite being active in the resting state, the DMN receives more blood flow and consumes more of the brain’s energy than any other brain region. Neuroimaging studies suggest that the DMN is involved in higher-order “metacognitive” activities such as self-reflection, mental projection, thinking about the past or future, and theory of mind— trying to guess what others are thinking. All these functions may belong exclusively to humans, and specifically to adult humans, as the default mode network isn’t fully operational until late in a child’s development (>9 years old).

When we are born we know nothing of ourselves or the world around us. We need to learn quickly in order to survive. Our nervous systems receive information from our environment via our sense organs. Our brains take this information to construct a model of the world, and our place within, in our minds. This model is continuously updated as we continuously receive more information in order to obtain closer and closer approximations of the external reality. We develop schemata which are basic assumptions that become core beliefs. New information is sorted in our minds after being tested against our core beliefs. Things that make sense to us, that fit in with our core beliefs, are incorporated into our existing schemata. Other things that do not make sense to us cause a sense of anxiety and we must find a way to explain them or else disregard them.

We can never know reality directly; we only know our internal experience of it. Our truth is entirely subjective. For every mind that exists, there is another constructed version of reality.
This is what the Default Mode Network does. It takes the raw chaos of stimuli and organizes it into coherence according to categories of time, number, spatiality, and other elements of our minds. All information passes through it, is filtered, condensed, summarized, and only then presented to our conscious awareness. It is the lens through which we perceive the world, and more specifically, our place within it. It does not present us with the actual world, rather a personal interpretation that allows us to navigate our own daily existence efficiently. Rather than 'truth', it gives us 'what's true for me'. It is a construct that Dennis McKenna calls the 'reality hallucination'.

You can appreciate how easily the model of reality that appears in our conscious awareness may not match up with actual reality. To mitigate against these prediction errors, we have developed the Scientific Method which allows us to measure the physical world around us as accurately as possible to give us as close an approximation as is feasible. Even then, our perception of our environment will be deeply personal as we can only experience the world from our own position within it. Our science is not so advanced when it comes to gaining a more objective appreciation of who we are as individuals in this world. How do we measure and describe ourselves? How do we assign ourselves importance or purpose in this world?

Most psychopathologies develop via the gradual (or rapid in the case of life threatening trauma) entrenchment of pathological misperceptions regarding ourselves and the world held as core beliefs, e.g. in the form of negative self perception or fearful, pessimistic, or paranoid outlooks. The creation of the aberrant belief is a coping mechanism that works to reduce the individual’s felt uncertainty in the short term. For example, when a child is emotionally neglected, they 'learn' that they are not worthy of love, that there must be something wrong with them, and they have nothing of value to offer the world. Children are dependent on their caregivers for food and shelter and will accept this role in order to survive. The child will carry these beliefs into adulthood and although, as adults, they are no longer physically dependent on anyone for their basic needs, they will continue to perceive themselves as useless and unloveable, increasing their liklihood of developing mental health disorders.

In psychotherapy, we aim to challenge these pathological cognitive biases but asking someone to let go of their core beliefs is an anxiety inducing request. Having a 'known' that causes us misery is felt to be psychologically safer than embracing the unknown. Even when a person wants to engage fully in psychotherapy, their subconscious egoic defences may prevent them from ever changing.

This is where psychedelic science comes in!
Serotonin is a very important neurochemical that was discovered on the back of Albert Hofmann's LSD and psilocin research.

Serotonin transmission is known to play an important role in normal brain development. It also enhances sensitivity to environmental influences as well as making us hyper-suggestible by promoting neural plasticity. Serotonin 2A receptor densities are highest early in life, dropping significantly when adulthood is reached and we become set in our ways. It enables explorative learning rather than exploitative searching and it plays an important role in enhancing adaptability in the face of uncertainty. This is the neurochemical reason children are quicker learners, more creative, more sensitive, and more adaptible than adults. It is also the reason why pathological beliefs taken on during a traumatic childhood remain entrenched in adulthood.

Psychedelic medicines are Serotonin 2A agonists. They activate key serotonin 2A receptors in the brain structures that switch off the DMN and our conscious awareness is now able to receive information without first being filtered through the old lens. We are thus freed of our cognitive biases and can see things anew with fresh eyes.
Psychedelic medicines are the keys that unlock the door to our core beliefs, making them sensitive and malleable to information from our environment and our subconscious, and allowing us to change the way we view ourselves in the world.

In psychedelic assisted therapy, where careful attention is paid to therapeutic set and setting, we can work through previously repressed memories, revise cognitive biases, and gain insight into our mental processes. We become more sensitive to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us. We feel more connected to the world as the illusion of separation is lifted.
Psychedelic medicines are not hallucinogens. It is the Default Mode Network that creates the 'reality hallucination' in our minds, an idea of ourselves in the world that is filled with misperceptions. Psychedelics allow us to briefly see through this hallucination and revise these cognitive errors that were holding us back and causing us to suffer. Psychedelics offer us the chance to clean the dirt from our lens and see the world afresh.

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