Psychedelics and Eating Disorders: What Happens in the Brain
How do psychedelics or sacred plant medicines wok on the brain with individuals with eating disorders? The more I learn about the underlying mechanisms of the brain and psychedelics, the more and more I believe that it is possible to heal from an eating disorder (or eating adaption as I like to call it, but more on that in this post).
My eating disorder developed as my body’s smart and helpful survival adaptation to help my nervous system feel safe. That was in 2007, and over time the adaptation became more rigid, limiting, and oppressive. For a long time I believed these behaviours, that took over all aspects of my life, would control me forever. Indeed, I believed there was simply no recovery. I thought I would be living with it for the rest of my life. I held onto this belief tightly and it actually restricted my recovery process. The belief led to me think “well what’s the point in trying to recover if I never will” which led me to carry out certain actions that weren’t oriented towards recovery and kept me stuck.
However, number of times I have been completely and utterly free from my eating disorder - and I have the sacred plant medicines to thank for this. It were the plants medicine teachers, many guides and special human souls over the years who showed me it is possible for full recovery. And with this new belief, I think and act differently in line with recovery. Boom * new reality made *
Plant medicines and psychedelics lower my ego defenses, showing me that just as these behaviours were adopted, learnt and refined, they can be let released, unlearned and replaced. These powerful plant teachers have shone the light on anything that isn’t true or part of my essence. The addictive habits, the self-imposed limiting patterns, the rejection of emotions, and the repressed root traumas are revealed with the help of these powerful teachers.
Additionally, plant medicines have revealed time and time again the illusion of separation; it’s all connected, including my own body-heart-mind, and in this space of Divine connection, there is simply no place for my ED to exist, for it is something that wants me to stay separate and disconnected from the world. In that dark eating disorder space, the world is scary, dangerous and cut-throat, and so I withdraw and go into shutdown.
Being in my body without an eating disorder after so many years, even for a few seconds during these journeys, have felt liberating - and at times scary. In this space of expansion, surrender and openness, I have been shown that life is flowing through me and for me, a co-creative dance that pulsating with my unique rhythm.
So how does it all work?
Psychedelics and plant medicine, like psilocybin and Ayahuasca, have the potential to regulate serotonin functioning, enhance cognitive flexibility, and increase connection between neuronal networks creating opportunities to move beyond the rigid patterns - which is key for people who are dealing with any kind of eating disorder, or addiction for that matter.
Why serotonin functioning is important is that it helps moderate anxiety and stress, and promote patience and coping as well open a window of plasticity for greater adaptation through the 5-HT1AR and 5-HT2AR. Together, they mediate stress moderation and neuroplasticity-mediated adaptability in response to different levels of stress and adversity. The 5-HT2AR (aka serotonin 2A receptor) in particular is involved in increasing the connection between neurons, expanding synaptic connections. One could say that this particular receptor switches on plasticity, creating changes in neuronal properties and connections.
This results in a brain state that is “entropic” which means that it is more complex, chaotic, and unpredictable, specifically in the brain region of the prefrontal cortex (where all the mind chatter and monkey mind goes down). In this shaken up state, new connections are made, and the overly-refined and habitual thoughts are relaxed so they can become more amenable to change.
Psychedelics go beyond the symptom and dive into the root cause. They lower ego defenses (which are held in the cortex part of the brain), allowing anything repressed or unnoticed to come to the surface. Many eating disorder treatments try get rid of the symptoms (e.g. stop exercising) rather than investigating what caused these behaviours/adaptations/strategies to develop in the first place.
Individuals with who have been living with the oppressive eating disorder commands finally have space between themselves and the ED voice, allowing them a chance to consciously create a reality that isn’t dictated by the eating disorder’s rules, regulations, thoughts and urges.
Alongside complementary healing modalities like somatic practices, family therapy, nutrition support, art therapy, mindfulness, breathwork, and integration coaching, psychedelics and plant medicines are showing promise for eating disorder recovery support and treatment.
Of course we also have to acknowledge that we are also swimming in a culture that does not support this kind of work and transformation - we are living in diet culture after all. And so we have to be like the salmon: We have to go against the gluten-free, sugar-free grain and empower ourselves! Each day I have to remind myself to not fall into the trap of keeping myself small in someone else’s expectations of what I’m meant to look like, be like, achieve, speak, behave… rather, expand expand expand.
Healing is possible with the right support, and support comes in many shapes, sizes, forms and frequencies. And this takes time. So we take one step at a time and feel into it slowly, with support, with the breath, with guidance, and find our flow.
Some questions that you can journal about to get this flow going:
Is “my” eating disorder ready to let go of me?
What will it take for my eating disorder to let me go?
What is my eating disorder giving me?
What is it not giving me?
How do I feel towards my eating disorder?
Healing is a process, just like an eating disorder. Through it all, we are simply finding our way through life, learning how to be in and relate to the world, and finding and accepting our unique expression - our special energetic signature. I can celebrate the journey with my eating disorder as a smart and adaptive strategy for survival. While painful, it has led me back to myself, whole, mind-body-heart connected, and on this fascinating and curious journey with my plant allies.
Photo by celery soup on Unsplash