IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD:

In 2010, almost 20 years into his battle with cancer, Martin read about a strange research program. Participants wouldn't take a magic pill that might shrink their tumors in a novel way. No. They'd be getting drug-drugs: Brain scientists wanted to see how hallucinogens that alter thinking patterns and sensory perceptions might affect afflicted people's mental health. "I had always been interested in psychedelics but never had taken any," says Martin, a retired clinical psychologist. "I was terrified that I would mess up."

With someone else guiding him, though, the experience seemed less risky. Those someones--scientists in the psychiatry department of Johns Hopkins University--are part of the burgeoning field of psychedelic studies. Recently invigorated by a more permissive regulatory environment, the sector investigates if, how, and why reality-bending substances might help human brains. So far, research from all over the world suggests the drugs can break old mental patterns and help fight addiction, alleviate depression, shrink existential fears, and improve relationships.

Additionally, investigators have been surprised by another consistent finding: When people have spiritual experiences while tripping, they're even more likely to kick bad habits and be happier or more satisfied with their lives in the long term. The mysterious encounters take many forms. Sometimes people feel they're in the presence of God, or of a more nebulous entity like Ultimate Reality--a higher power that reveals the truth of the universe--or they just feel a novel connectedness to everything from now back to the big bang and beyond. Because of the link between the mystical and the medical, scientists like those at Johns Hopkins are probing why people have transcendent tendencies at all, how that might help our brains, and what it means for how we perceive the world.

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