‘Magic Mushrooms’ Provide Fast, Long-lasting Depression Relief: Study

Feb. 18, 2022 — Treatment with psilocybin, the psychedelic compound present in “magic mushrooms,” relieves main melancholy for as much as a yr, and maybe longer, new analysis exhibits.

In a examine of adults with a long-term historical past of melancholy, two doses of psilocybin, mixed with supportive “speak” remedy, led to massive, steady, and enduring antidepressant results by a yr of follow-up.

At 12 months, three-quarters of these within the examine had an antidepressant response, and greater than half had been in remission from their melancholy, report researchers from the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.

“Psilocybin not solely produces important and speedy results, it additionally has an extended length, which means that it could be a uniquely helpful new therapy for melancholy,” Roland Griffiths, PhD, a examine investigator and founding director of the middle, stated in an announcement.

“Compared to plain antidepressants, which have to be taken for lengthy stretches of time, psilocybin has the potential to enduringly relieve the signs of melancholy with one or two remedies,” he stated.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) notes that psilocybin can alter an individual’s notion and consciousness of their environment and of their ideas and emotions. Treatment with psilocybin has proven promise in analysis settings for treating a spread of psychological well being problems and addictions.

“The outcomes we see are in a analysis setting and require numerous preparation and structured help from educated clinicians and therapists, and folks mustn’t try to strive it on their very own,” cautioned Natalie Gukasyan, MD, who additionally labored on the examine.

Psilocybin and associated compounds are nonetheless not accessible for medical use underneath the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The present examine, revealed within the Journal of Psychopharmacology, included 19 ladies and 5 males with reasonable to extreme melancholy. The overwhelming majority had beforehand been handled with normal antidepressant medicines, and greater than half reported utilizing antidepressants of their present depressive episodes.

At the time of psilocybin therapy, all examine individuals accomplished 6 to eight hours of “preparatory” conferences with two individuals educated in psilocybin remedy. After that, they acquired two doses of psilocybin given about 2 weeks aside in a cushty and managed setting.

They returned for follow-up 1 day and 1 week after every session, after which at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the second session.

Psilocybin therapy led to massive decreases in melancholy, and melancholy remained much less extreme as much as 12 months after therapy.

There had been no severe negative effects associated to psilocybin within the long-term follow-up interval.

“We haven’t but collected formal knowledge previous 1 yr in our pattern, [but] some individuals in our examine have stayed in contact and report continued enhancements in temper,” Gukasyan tells WebMD.

“A earlier examine of psilocybin-assisted remedy in sufferers with cancer-related melancholy and nervousness signs discovered that enhancements in temper and well-being could persist as much as 4.5 years following therapy,” Gukasyan says.

The researchers say additional analysis is required to discover the prospect that psilocybin’s antidepressant results could final for much longer than 12 months.