Diving into the brain of a psychonaut

While historic users of psychedelics used to throw in a few grams of truffles or downed a blotter of LSD without thinking, current psychonauts now know exactly what the substances are and why we use them. Research has shown that the new generation of psychonauts often has detailed information about the substances they take - very different from users of the past. 

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The brain of the psychonaut

Today's psychonauts are "avid and willful researchers of hallucinogens including psychedelic drugs, both synthetic and natural, for self-exploration, spiritual attainment, or inducing an altered state of consciousness," says a new study. Many of today's psychonauts also call themselves followers of shamanism, but have an almost scientific approach and urge to document their experiences and share them online. 

Not much research has been done on the psyche of psychedelic drug users, but a new study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry has attempted to discover the differences between the brains of psychonauts and non-psychonauts. 

First of all, users of psychedelic drugs seem to fit a certain profile today. Psychonauts in 2021 are usually single, well-educated, young adults and have good IT skills. In addition, they generally report being more euphoric, emphatic, alter, and creative when taking hallucinogenic drugs. And that is not surprising, after all we already know a bit more about what psychedelics do to the human brain. 

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Online research

Something where current psychonauts also differ a lot from drug users of the past is that nowadays we share a lot with other and potential psychonauts. Online communities therefore offer a unique environment to communicate with like-minded people in an open and anonymous way. The main purpose is to share information about the purity, dosage and safety of drugs prior to experiments.

For this study, 82 people were studied who identified themselves as psychonauts, users of 'club drugs' and people seeking help with certain substances. This was done by dividing cognitive processes into 'warm' and 'cold', which in turn related to two parts of the human brain. The cold loop is involved in planning and concentration, while the warm loop is involved in risky decision-making, emotion and behavior.

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Are we more adventurous?

What turned out? Psychonauts scored the same as non-psychonauts on 'cold cognition', but when it comes to 'hot cognition', which determines emotional and social intelligence, psychonauts seem to score higher. In other words, users of psychedelic drugs had a high level of thrill-seeking properties. Among other things, this suggests that psychonauts are more adventurous than non-psychonauts. Do you feel related to that yourself?