‘Magic’ Mushrooms are usually known to cause a state of euphoria and hallucinations but a study in England is revealing much more about these funny little spores.
You see, most mushrooms contain Psilocybin, which contribute to “psychedelic effects,” and spiritual experiences. This same compound is known to help people who suffer with alcohol problems, end-of-life anxiety and OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The UK has banned all magic mushroom usage in 2005 categorizing them as a Class A drug which is the highest in danger but using it for research was allowed.
Read: University President Says the Time to Speak About Mental Health Is Now
A small trial was led by Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, of Imperial College London in the United Kingdom that included 12 volunteers. After going through many efforts to get licenses and approval to conduct the study, of the 12 participants, 6 men and 6 women included people who had been clinically depressed for a long period of time in the life span, averaging about 17.8 years. One had suffered for 30 years who have tried other treatment options that led to zero results in assisting in their depression.
The participants were provided with psychological support before, during and after each session when doing the clinical trial. The trials were 2 days of treatment in which they were given 10-milligrams of psilocybin and a week later given a much higher dosage.
The results varied within each but to the most part had a bright outcome. The side effects included confusion, temporary nausea, and passing headaches when the effects of the psilocybin were occurring and once this has passed the volunteers were discharged.
A week after this, the participants saw improvements in symptoms of depression in all of the patients. Three months later 5 patients continued to show no symptoms. The only issue is that this study size isn’t as wide enough for researchers but the results show progress in helping with people who suffer with depression.
“Treatment-resistant depression is common, disabling, and extremely difficult to treat. New treatments are urgently needed, and our study shows that psilocybin is a promising area of future research.” – Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris
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