Mushroom Addiction Treatment

The Different Types of Magic Mushrooms

You might be wondering where do magic mushrooms come from? That’s a good question.

These mushrooms grow across large areas of South America, Mexico, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. You can also find them in Eastern Australia and the Southern US. It’s even believed that they have been ingested in religious rituals for thousands of years, particularly by the Aztecs. These days, however, they are mostly used as a recreational drug.

There are hundreds of mushroom types that have the hallucinogen psilocybin in them. Four common types of psilocybin mushrooms include:

• Psilocybe Cubensis. This mushroom grows throughout Central and South America, Mexico, Australia, India and areas in South Asia. They have identifying features, which include large, reddish or white brown caps. When you crush psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, they tend to bruise blue.
• Psilocybe Semilanceata. Often referred to as the most abundant form of magic mushrooms, this is the liberty cap mushroom. This mushroom grows all over the world, particularly in the largely populated areas of the United States and the Pacific Northwest Canada region. They have a tall stalk and small, cone-shaped cap. They range in color from dark to light brown.
• Psilocybe Baeocystis. These are known commonly as either abluebelll or bottle cap and have a dark brown cap and brownish or yellowish stalk. They can be found growing in moist fields on mulch, felled rotting logs or peats. Psilocybe baeocystis is often referred to as potent psilocybin because they are fairly strong as a hallucinogen.
• Psilocybe Pelliculosa. Growing on rotting plant matter and moss in clusters, psilocybe pelliculosa are usually found in paths and trails in coniferous forests. Their caps are brown and conical-shaped and they have a three-inch stem. They have a whitish partial veil and don’t have rings on their stalk.

The History of “Shrooms”

Since prehistoric times people have experimented with magic mushrooms for religious purposes and recreational use. Rock paintings in North Africa depict how Caspian cultures used mushrooms during shamanic rituals. Some anthropologists suspect that primates ate the mushrooms as they evolved over thousands of years into human beings. Others suggest early cultures relied on the effects of magic mushrooms to form the basis of modern religion.

From Mesoamerica to the Mayans to the Aztecs, evidence of “divinatory” magic mushrooms is prevalent. With the expansion of modern religion into those regions, however, the use of magic mushrooms to achieve religious enlightenment ended. In terms of medicine, the effects of psilocybin mushrooms first appear in a London medical journal in 1799, when a doctor reported treating a family that accidentally ate the psychedelic drug after visiting a park.

During modern times the famed chemist Albert Hofmann, who also first synthesized LSD, identified psilocin as the psychoactive compound in the psilocybin mushroom. Next, famed counterculture figure Dr. Timothy Leary experimented with the drug, and he advocated for its use in psychiatry as well as society. Leary’s promotion of the drug led to its explosion in popularity among his followers. Today magic mushrooms are one of the easiest psychedelic drugs to find, as well as one of the most popularly abused.

How Addictive Are Magic Mushrooms?

If you’ve come to this page, one of the most forefront questions in your mind most likely is: Are magic mushrooms addictive? They aren’t thought to be particularly addictive and don’t normally produce side effects that are dangerous, but you do build up a tolerance to them quickly. Psilocybin and psilocin are Schedule I drugs, which means they have a high likelihood of abuse, or they have no recognized medical use.

When you build up a magic mushroom tolerance, you end up needing more of them to get the same high. When you stop taking them, you may find yourself in a period of psychological withdrawal, which involves having a difficult time discerning reality.

As such, magic mushrooms can impair your decision-making, judgment, and memory. They can also cause personality changes. If you already have an unstable or diagnosed mental illness, clinicians say magic mushrooms can complicate or enhance the disorder’s symptoms. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation 800-338-5770.

Who Is Typically Suffering From Magic Mushroom Addiction?

Shroom addiction is usually caused by people looking for the vivid perceptual effects the mushrooms produce. Changes in perception of time, hallucinations and other perceptual and sensory effects are some examples. These mushrooms are popular at clubs, raves and college campuses, and typically, it is young adults and teenagers who abuse them.

Since many data sources quantifying drug use usually exclude psilocybin, it’s hard to measure the extent of use of this drug in the United States. However, the University of Michigan conducted a survey that revealed in the United States, about 9.2 percent of high school seniors used psilocybin hallucinogens (other than LSD) at least once in their lifetime.

Can People Become Addicted To Magic Mushrooms?

According to Brown University, an addiction to hallucinogens is rare, and psilocybin doesn’t cause compulsive drug-seeking behavior. However, when you abuse other drugs, you are more inclined to abuse hallucinogens, too. As mentioned, tolerance does build up quickly to psilocybin mushrooms, which can fuel regular use in some people and cause others to seek more potent substances.

Now, even though mushrooms aren’t addictive physically, there is a possibility of becoming psychologically addicted. You might abuse the mushrooms because you’re looking for an intense spiritual awakening. Therefore, it is this “spiritual journey” that plays a role in their addiction characteristics.

At our mushroom addiction rehab center in Florida, we have been helping individuals recover from addiction for many years, and we can help you rebuild your life after using shrooms.

Key Statistics About Magic Mushrooms Addiction

There are various dangers brought to light from magic mushroom facts and statistics. Let’s take a look at some of them:

• In 2014, around 1.2 million people who were 12 years or older were reported to have used hallucinogens in the past month, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Additionally, about 136,000 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 in the year 2014 were current users.
• A Johns Hopkins study involving 51 participants revealed that 60 percent of these participants experienced a measurable change in personality that lasted at least a year after taking just one dose of psilocybin. Some of these participants of the study reported feeling strong anxiety or fear during portions of their psilocybin sessions. Although they didn’t report having any lingering harmful effects, in settings that are not supervised that well, these anxiety and fear responses could result in harmful behaviors, according to the study leader Roland R. Griffiths.
• It only takes one exposure to a hallucinogen like mushrooms (LSD in particular) to increase your risk of hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), which is a continual experience of sensory disturbances. In a web questionnaire, out of 2,455 participants, 4.2 percent felt they were experiencing hallucinogenic effects from this disorder and needed help.

What Do Magic Mushrooms Do to the Brain/How Do They Work?

The physical effects of magic mushrooms are similar to low doses of marijuana in that they lead to feelings of relaxation. Although magic mushrooms give you a ‘mind-melting’ feeling, in reality, they are doing the exact opposite. They are actually boosting your brain’s connectivity.

Similar to peyote or LSD hallucinogenic drugs, shrooms are believed to get their effects by acting on your brain’s neural highways that use the serotonin neurotransmitter. They affect the prefrontal cortex of your brain, more specifically the part of your brain that regulates thought analysis and abstract thinking as well as perception and mood.

Another 2014 study showed how communication across your brain networks is affected by psilocybin. Participants of the study were injected with two milligrams of psilocybin and showed stronger activity across various areas of their brain that would usually not engage in the cross-brain activity.

Mushrooms have other effects on your brain as well. For instance, they bind to your neurotransmitter serotonin receptors. The studies don’t show exactly how your brain is affected by this binding, but they have found that shrooms increase synchronicity and have other brain communication-related effects.

They tend to slow down activity in your thalamic areas, which enables information to freely travel throughout your brain, as this area acts as a gatekeeper and typically limits connections.

What Are the Signs of a Magic Mushrooms Addiction

If you are worried you might have a magic mushroom addiction or know a loved one who does, there are certain magic mushroom addiction signs that are similar to other substance addictions. Bearing in mind that the signs of a magic mushroom addiction can vary from person to person, here are some common signs to look out for:

• Obsession. If you spend a good deal of your waking hours using shrooms or thinking of how you’ll get them, it’s a sign that you’ve transferred from a simple recreational user to a person who has an addiction issue.
• Flashbacks. If you’re experiencing flashbacks in between trips after you have been using mushrooms, it is an indication of long-term use, whereby the flashback occurs days, weeks, months or even years after the trip. These flashbacks can happen in a non-drug context where a certain sound, smell or sight triggers a reminder of a previous event.
• Using as a means to cope. Another sign of addiction is when your first response to something that isn’t pleasant is to use again so you can zone out.
• Detrimental effects of magic mushrooms in other areas of life. Having your work or schooling affected negatively is also a sign of the regular use of shrooms.

What Are the Symptoms of a Magic Mushroom Addiction?

Now that you know the signs of a magic mushroom addiction, what are the symptoms of shrooms? The good news, as mentioned, is that it is unlikely that you’ll become addicted to mushrooms from a physical standpoint.

You can become psychologically addicted to them, though. This can happen when you have gotten used to taking the trips, but those trips can be good or bad.

There are different factors that play in your trips, including your:

• Previous experiences
• State of mind/mood
• Sense of well-being
• Physical environment
• Dosage strength

You may exhibit one or various characteristics as symptoms of a shrooms addiction, including:

• Loss or increase of appetite
• Dilated pupils
• Euphoria
• Personality change
• Distorted perceptions
• Increased heart rate

We mentioned earlier that your tolerance builds up quickly, which reduces the effect of the drug with repeated use. Your tolerance to shrooms can last for several days and cause cross-tolerance with other psychedelic drugs like DMT, LSD, and mescaline. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation 800-338-5770.

What Is a Magic Mushroom Addiction Like?

Addiction to mushrooms typically begins with occasional or casual use. It then turns into a full-blown addiction that can last for months or years. When you become addicted, you’re unable to control how much you use, and you continue to use even despite negative consequences.

Since denial is the typical characteristic of your behavior, it can be challenging for you to accept you have a substance abuse problem. This is despite the fact that you experience money problems, lose friends, damage your health and even have professional setbacks.

Typically, when you are a habitual mushroom abuser, you’re not taking the drug to satisfy a physical craving. Instead, you’re likely self-medicating because of:

• An underlying behavioral or mental health issue.
• Psychological or emotional reasons.
• The need to cover up some kind of past trauma.

Magic mushroom addiction can cause problems in the following areas:

• Isolation. This is a common social effect of abusing drugs. You eventually maintain only the connection you have with the mushrooms.
• Financial. You can suffer a significant financial blow due to buying these drugs all the time because they become more important to you than your daily responsibilities.
• Relationships. Your close relationships and connections are affected. As you realize the drug’s effects, the relationship you have with other people becomes dysfunctional.
• Family. The social effects on your family can often be felt even after you kick the addiction. Kids can develop emotional problems. Families can also be dissolved, and trust can be shattered.
• Professional life. Abusing drugs can cause you to miss days at work, deplete your sick days and eventually lose your job.

Does a Magic Mushroom Addiction Cause Any Permanent Damage?

If you have a psychotic reaction to mushrooms, it could be that you have an undiagnosed pre-existing mental illness. When you use hallucinogenic drugs, such as mushrooms, you risk experiencing a psychotic experience if you have a latent mental illness. This experience can affect you permanently. It can lead to paranoia, anxiety and panic attacks. You can experience a complete psychotic episode of visual or auditory hallucinations when using this drug.

There are a number of other negative things you can experience by abusing mushrooms. You can face both short- and long-term consequences that produce negative physical and mental outcomes, including strong and risky psychological reactions. The physical side effects of magic mushrooms use are minimal, but there is still a potential danger.

Physical psilocybin mushrooms side effects can include:

• Loss of appetite
• Hypothermia
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Impaired motor skills
• Dilated pupils
• Increased heart rate
• Hyperthermia
• Rapid breathing
• Stomach pain
• Chemically induced mental illness
• Increased blood pressure

Psychological side effects of mushrooms are abundant and can include:

• Severe depression
• Flashbacks
• Panic attacks
• Unpleasant emotions
• Hallucinations
• Psychosis
• Schizophrenia
• Paranoid delusions
• Emotional swings
• Seeing objects appearing to breathe
• Short-term memory loss

Most of these side effects only last throughout your trip. However, some of the more severe side effects can last for years, even after you stop using the drug.

Some people report the effect of magic mushrooms can be long-term and even permanent, including increased insight and memory. These may seem to be positive effects, however, others have claimed to experience flashbacks. Flashbacks are recurrences of hallucinations that mimic those of the high you get from mushrooms. These mushroom after-effects are typically random.

The other danger of shrooms is increased symptoms of schizophrenia by those who suffer from the condition. Some abusers say they experience panic attacks that have continued a year after they took the mushrooms. By using mushrooms, you could experience any one or more of these effects, and some may become permanent.

How Long Does It Take to Withdraw From Magic Mushrooms?

When you use psilocybin mushrooms regularly, you build up a tolerance to them. In addition, you can develop a cross-tolerance with other drugs, like mescaline and LSD. After a while of using these hallucinogens, you won’t be able to produce the same psychedelic effect with the same dosage.

Although there are no reports of physical addiction to the chemical in shrooms mushrooms to date, a few days following your mushroom use, you can have difficulty discerning reality and may experience psychological withdrawal.

What Are the Stages of Magic Mushroom Withdrawal?

Similar to other drug addictions, there are some stages of withdrawal you go through after stopping the use of the drug. As the magic mushroom chemical leaves your system, you may begin feeling uncomfortable psychological and physical changes.

It can be challenging having to cope with the hallucinogen withdrawal symptoms, and you might start feeling overwhelmed. Since there are psychedelic mushroom varieties, each with different effects, the type of mushroom you ingested will determine your withdrawal symptoms.

Knowing the physical effects of shrooms and how they affect your thinking process can help you ride out the worst withdrawal symptoms you will experience from this hallucinogen. Because of the dangers of psychedelic mushrooms and your addiction to them, you will need to get help from the committed counselors at our mushroom addiction rehab center in Florida to continue maintaining abstinence.

Hallucinogens work like other psychoactive drugs in that they interfere with the normal chemical processes of your brain and can ‘rewire’ your brain’s chemical pathways over time. It is the cumulative effects that these drugs have on the chemical functions of your brain that make you develop withdrawal symptoms.

After you stop using, your brain will need to relearn how to regulate bodily process when it no longer has the drug in its system. You will go through withdrawal until your body does this.

Magic mushroom abuse treatment involves treating psychosis and stabilizing your physiological processes. If you show aggressive or hostile behavior, you might have to be sedated.

When you’re treated for a hallucinogen addiction, you might be given certain types of medicine to calm your mind and body while you go through withdrawal and experience any psychological shifts as the substance leaves your body.

As part of your treatment therapy, you’ll learn to live without using psilocybin mushrooms for recreational and mind-altering reasons. Many users of magic mushrooms also abuse other drugs, too, and if this is the case with you, you’ll require treatment for your addiction to those substances as well. In most cases, the withdrawal stages for a magic mushroom addiction look like this:

• Manage negative thought patterns. The chemical in shrooms mushrooms leaves behind imbalances, which will leave your emotions and processes in a disarrayed state after you stop using the drug. Remember, your brain is going through its repairing stage, so any feelings of anger or sadness will soon go away.
• Stability. Activity and chaos characterize drug addiction and abuse. Once you stop using the mushrooms, you’ll need to establish a daily routine that will help you to stop thinking about using hallucinogens.
• Connecting with others. A good way to get through your withdrawal stage and symptoms is by connecting with others. Typically, when you use drugs, you inherit a certain lifestyle. Therefore, when you spend time with your family and friends who don’t abuse drugs, it can help you get back to a drug-free, normal existence.
• Physical care. When you were abusing magic mushrooms, your diet was probably not a huge concern for you. Not having a healthy diet can really take a toll on your body and overall health, though. During your withdrawal stage, your diet should be filled with nutritious and healthy food, which can ease the withdrawal symptoms and help the process along.

Getting Your Loved One Professional Help From A Mushroom Addiction Rehab Program

It’s not just your loved one who is going through recovery. Being the loved one of the person with the addiction can be just as hard in many cases. If you want to help your loved one recover from their addiction to shrooms, there are some things you have to keep in mind.

First, understand that your loved one might not be ready to give up their addiction and change their life. Pleading, begging and using guilt to stop their magic mushroom abuse won’t work.

If your loved one is refusing treatment, the first thing you must do is stop enabling them. Enabling can manifest in a wide range of things you do for them, such as:

• Lending them money (even if they say it’s not for drugs)
• Buying them substances
• Allowing them to drive under the influence of drugs
• Driving them around because they can’t drive (for instance, if they lost their license due to a DUI)
• Covering up for them
• Letting them use your home
• Bailing them out of jail
• Not contacting their probation officer or the police when they commit illegal activities or have relapses

There are things you can do that will genuinely help your loved one (and yourself). These include:

• Learning everything you can about their addiction and their drug of choice
• Listening to them without being judgmental
• Encouraging and pointing out positive changes
• Showing interest in their treatment and recovery
• Avoiding drinking and using substances around them
• Going to therapy yourself

If they haven’t found treatment yet, you can help your loved one, but don’t do all the work. Your loved one needs to take control of their own choices, treatment, and life. You have to hold them accountable and have them experience the natural consequences of their actions. This can actually be a great motivator for your loved one to change. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation 800-338-5770.

What Types of Co-Occurring Disorders Exist With Magic Mushroom Addiction?

When you have a co-occurring disorder, it means you have both a substance use disorder and a mental health disorder. This is also known as dual diagnosis. Treatment will target both of these disorders. There are various types of mental illness which can range from minor depression to more serious impairments like PTSD or schizophrenia.

In fact, the SAMHSA’s 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that approximately 18.1 percent (43.6 million) of Americans, 18 years of age and older, suffered some type of mental illness. Around 8.4 percent (20.2 million) of adults in the past year suffered from a substance use disorder. And, out of these people, 7.9 million people had co-occurring substance use and mental disorder.

Hallucinogen abuse is a type of substance use disorder that is commonly linked simultaneously with mental illnesses. In many cases, a person’s habitual hallucinogen use may be caused by an underlying mental disorder. For instance, hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) and persistent psychosis can occur together and coexist with a substance use disorder.

It is also possible to develop a co-dependence to other drugs like LSD, MDMA, and PCP when you are using shrooms. When this happens, you’ll require treatment for these substances as well.

Some co-occurring disorders that have been linked to psilocybin mushroom abuse include:

1. Schizophrenia

A study suggests that heavy use of hallucinogenic drugs can trigger schizophrenic episodes or schizophrenia itself. This is usually the case when you abuse substances during impressible years. For example, the rate of LSD psychotics who also abused alcohol topped that of schizophrenics who didn’t abuse any substance.

2. Personality changes

Psilocybin mushrooms can induce a lasting personality change, reports Johns Hopkins Medicine, making you more open to how you perceive and feel things. According to a Johns Hopkins’ study, people who took magic mushrooms continued to show personality changes even 12 months later. This contributed to the belief that psilocybin can have a lasting effect.

Hallucinogens are not only a gateway to other drugs, but they can also lead to personal drama. For instance, teenagers who begin to abuse shrooms can quickly start to suffer in other areas of their life. They begin seeing their grades drop and might even get expelled from school because they were caught using magic mushrooms or had them in their possession during class.

Shrooms abuse can cause you to distance yourself from your family, lose friends or develop antisocial behaviors as well. You can even end up with a dual diagnosis of substance abuse and a mental disorder, like anxiety or depression. When you first begin to experiment with hallucinogens, your goal is not to ruin your life. But, your shroom habit can easily turn into a pathway of negative actions and consequences.

3. HPPD

Although HPPD (hallucinogen persisting perceptual disorder) is rare, it can happen. This disorder, which results in continuous sensory disturbances, is severe and typically surfaces as a result of hallucinogenic drug use on a long-term basis.

It makes sense to suspect that ingesting a large number and variety of hallucinogenic drugs can increase your chances of HPPD (future flashbacks), and you can experience flashbacks even a year after you first used mushrooms. You can think of these drugs as being similar to bad daydreams you have no control over — a flashback can randomly appear anytime without warning.

4. Persistent psychosis

This is another disorder you can endure when you abuse psilocybin mushrooms. It can also come with a number of other mental symptoms like:

• Disorganized thought patterns
• Paranoia
• Visual disturbances
• Volatile Mood

When you are suffering from psychosis, you are not able to distinguish what is real and what is not real. You experience delusions or hallucinations you think are real, and they can make you behave in a confused or inappropriate manner.

Hallucinogens may also lead to long-term memory loss, paranoia and psychological drug dependence.

How Do Magic Mushrooms Interact With Other Drugs?

There are not many reports on psilocybin interactions with other drugs since no uses are legal. Any drug interactions with them are found through doctor reports and controlled studies. Therefore, there is little to no information on drug-drug interactions.

As mentioned earlier, you can develop a cross-tolerance between psilocybin and pharmacological drugs like LSD. You can also develop a cross-tolerance between this drug and phenylethylamines like 5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine and mescaline.

Macalester College reports that monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) enhance and prolong psilocybin effects. The same is true of alcohol. If you smoke, it can also enhance the powerful effects of hallucinogens since tobacco smoke or exposure to it decreases MAO levels in your peripheral organs and brain.

Magic Mushroom and Liver Damage

Your liver metabolizes psilocybin, and most types of mushrooms are considered safe — or at least, they don’t lead to liver damage. There is an exclusion to this, though.

There is a debate surrounding Amanita phalloides (death cap) poisonous mushrooms. These are a poisonous and deadly type of basidiomycete fungus. They typically appear in the summer and fall. Their caps are green in color and have a white stripe and gills.

Amatoxins that are found in this type of mushroom are thermostable. This means they are resistant to heat, so you can’t reduce the toxic effects by cooking them. Out of all known toadstools, Amanita phalloides are the most poisonous. Just a few bites of Amanita phalloides mushrooms have enough toxins to kill a human adult.

In fact, the majority of mushroom-related human deaths have been from this class of mushroom. It also damages your kidneys and liver and causes renal and hepatic failure, which can lead to death.

Dangers For Severe Addicts Quitting Without Assistance

It is never a good idea to stop any drug addiction without professional and medical help. Although mushrooms aren’t physically addictive, they are psychologically addictive and can negatively impact your emotional well-being.

Remember, you’ll be going through a series of withdrawal symptoms when quitting magic mushrooms that will need to be monitored and treated in some instances. Treatment at 12 Keys mushroom addiction rehab center in Florida will address both the magic mushroom addiction, as well as the psychological challenges you are facing that led you to use this drug.

How Do You Safely Detox From Magic Mushrooms?

Addiction is much more than simply stopping your use of the drug. To safely detox from your psilocybin mushroom addiction, you need to be under 24/7 supervised medical professional care. Our mushroom addiction rehab center in Florida promotes healthy daily habits, cognitive healing and coping mechanisms that are beneficial to dealing with stressful life confrontations. Help is available 24/7 call this number for a free personal consultation 800-338-5770. Our medically-assisted detox program will ease you through your uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms safely.

How We Help At Our Mushroom Addiction Rehab Center

We utilize a treatment model for recovery that helps you regain a healthy life. Because we combine our proven, time-tested 12 step model with cutting-edge trauma and mental health services, it sets us above other treatment facilities.

We understand you can’t recover with a one-size-fits-all approach. This is why we devise a treatment plan that is customized specifically for your needs. We assess your situation so we can understand the entire picture of your challenges and how you react to various environments. We learn what you want and what you see as barriers to improving.

We also involve the entire family, as it’s a crucial aspect of our 12 step rehab program. Family members are educated on the substance, the addiction and the treatment methods. They also have the opportunity to share their feelings through compassionate and supportive discussions.

We have a highly qualified, multidisciplinary treatment team who assesses your unique situation and provides treatment for the addiction and any behavioral or mental problems.

Our goal is to ensure you have a smooth and seamless recovery by eliminating any obstacles that could get in the way of you recovering successfully. You can take a look at our process to see for yourself what we offer in terms of help to get you off your mushroom addiction and back to living healthy.

Get The Help You Deserve From Our Mushroom Addiction Treatment Center In Florida

If you have been suffering from a magic mushroom addiction or have a loved one who is, treatment is crucial. By choosing the right addiction recovery program, you can finally learn how to live your life without mushroom dependency so you can rebuild your life and move forward.

Here at 12 Keys’ mushroom addiction rehab facility in Florida, we have helped many people recover from their addiction and provided them the stepping stones to rebuild their life substance-free — and we can do the same for you.

Choosing a magic mushroom recovery center should not be taken lightly. It’s going to be one of the most important decisions you will ever need to make. Come visit us or give us a call with your questions. Don’t let magic mushrooms health effects ruin your life. We can help you finally find your way out of your mushroom addiction and back into living life with health and happiness.