Mushrooms are more than just an edible item found in the grocery store produce section and on top of pizzas. Some mushrooms, often referred to as “shrooms”, produce hallucinogenic effects and are taken by people to get high. Are shrooms addictive? Like other hallucinogenic drugs, this can become a pattern that turns into an addiction. Both physical and mental damage can occur to someone who abuses shrooms. Buckhead Behavioral Health provides a program designed to help people overcome substance use disorders and relearn the art of living without feeling the need to get high.
What are Shrooms?
The type of mushroom often referred to as “shrooms” is a variety called psilocybin which can cause someone who consumes them to experience hallucinations. This can include both visual and auditory hallucinogenic effects. Psilocybin mushrooms are ingested orally or can be brewed into tea or added to food. They grow in the wild and are classified as a Schedule I drug, which means they have no accepted medical use and cause a high risk of being abused. Other Schedule I drugs include heroin, crack, and PCP. Shrooms have been used by indigenous populations as part of religious and social rites for many decades, but they didn’t become well-known and popularized among the general population until the 1960s.
How do Mushrooms Affect People?
Before answering the question “Are shrooms addictive?”, it’s important to understand how people react when they ingest them. When someone takes shrooms, how they affect them depends on a few factors. This includes the following things:
- The amount of mushrooms taken
- The potency level
- Prior experience using mushrooms
- The setting a person is in when they take them, including if it’s a familiar location, how many people are around, and visual and audio stimulation
- The person’s mental state when they consume them
- The individual’s personality
The high that comes from using mushrooms begins anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours after taking them. The high lasts from three to six hours. Once mushrooms take effect, the person may experience hallucinations that range from mild to severe. They will have an altered perception of things going on around them and often have an extra-sensory perception of things like color, music, and other sounds. This is referred to as a “good trip”. Alternatively, some people experience a “bad trip”, which can include scary or distressing hallucinations, feelings of paranoia, anxiety, and doom.
Are Shrooms Addictive?
Whether someone uses them sporadically or on a regular basis, they may wonder, “Are shrooms addictive?” Psilocybin mushrooms do not have the same potential for addiction that many other drugs have, such as opioids and stimulants. However, some people develop a reliance on the pleasurable aspects they experience when using them. This leads them to begin a pattern of abuse that can interfere with their careers, education, and personal lives.
While someone who does not have a physical dependence on shrooms may feel they don’t need help, a psychological dependence can be damaging, too. In this case, the person may attempt to stop using the drug but find the withdrawal symptoms too difficult to bear. A professional treatment program can help them by minimizing the symptoms and helping them break their emotional and psychological reliance.
Can Taking Shrooms Be Dangerous in Other Ways?
Besides answering the question, “Are shrooms addictive?”, it’s important to understand other negative impacts using them can cause. Even mild dosages can cause a person to experience any of the following:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Headaches
- Muscular weakness
- Elevated heartrate
- High blood pressure
- Fever
- Dilated pupils
- Drowsiness
Usage of any type of hallucinogen drug can increase the chances of a person developing a mental illness. For those who already have a mental health disorder, shroom usage can increase their symptoms. Some trips, including bad ones, can cause psychosis, and lead people to make unwise and unhealthy choices that can injure or even kill them. Last of all, because shrooms are obtained through illegal channels, they could be misidentified and actually be a poisonous type.
How Are Mushroom and Hallucinogen Addiction Treated?
When someone comes to us for help with addiction to mushrooms, we help them enter a detox program first. This allows them to learn to live a substance-free life while receiving valuable medical and psychological support. From there, we can enroll the individual in one of our outpatient programs. We offer access to several types of therapy in a structured program that fits the needs of each person. The levels of outpatient programs we provide includes:
- Outpatient Program (OP)
- Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
- Evening IOP
- Virtual IOP
- Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
In addition, we give people access to prescription medications that help alleviate many of the withdrawal symptoms that happen when someone enters recovery.
Find Help For Addiction in Atlanta Today
Have you developed a reliance on using mushrooms to escape life and find you cannot stop using them on your own? Buckhead Behavioral Health offers a structured program that helps people beat their substance use disorders. Our experienced staff of addiction-trained therapists help you identify the triggers to escape into the world of hallucinogens. From there, you can learn to resolve past and current issues and resist the urge to use drugs to cope with life.
For more information, visit our admissions page now. We can talk to you about how to take charge of your life again and get excited about your future.
