Magic mushroom treatment for depression

Magic mushroom treatment for depression: To micro dose or get completely blitzed. New research shows that magic mushrooms can help people with depression where other treatments have not worked. This gives new hope to long time depression sufferers. Psilocybin is the main mind-altering substance contained in magic mushrooms. It alters your perception, changes the meaning of time, sensory perceptions and alters your moods.

Magic mushroom treatment for depression

This ground-breaking research questions the belief magic mushrooms negatively affect people’s mental health. Previous research shows some evidence of harm from magic mushrooms. This includes negative psychological effects and even leading to thoughts of suicide for some people. The psilocybin in magic mushrooms targets the same serotonin receptors of the brain that antidepressants target. And the current research suggests psilocybin could have similar results as man-made drugs. Antidepressants are the normal treatment for depression. But antidepressants do not work for one in five patients and they often relapse.

Antidepressants most commonly used

Antidepressants are one of the most commonly used drugs in the United states. In the period between 2011 and 2014, 12.7 percent of Americans over the age of 12 had taken antidepressants. The preliminary results of several studies show positive outcome using psilocybin for people with untreatable depression. But, it is only the beginning.

Psilocybin relieves depression in some patients

A 2016 study by Imperial College London looked at how psilocybin could help long-term depression sufferers. Six men and six women enrolled in the study. None of them were responding to traditional treatments. They had all had severe untreatable depression for an average of 17 years. All had taken two courses of antidepressants for a period of 6 weeks or more without success. also, eleven of the patients had also been psychotherapy without success. None of the patients came from a family with a history of depression or suicide. Also, they were not drug or alcohol dependent either.

10 milligrams dose of psilocybin

All participants had two days of treatment. The first day they had a dose of 10 milligrams of psilocybin. A week later they had a 25-milligram dose. Patients took the drug in a relaxing environment where they could lie down. The special treatment room had music playing and dim lighting. There were two psychiatrists in attendance at all times. The psychiatrists supported and watched over participants throughout the process. Patients experienced psychedelic effects up to an hour after taking psilocybin dose. These reached its full effect within three to four hours. Patients could go home 6 hours after taking the psilocybin.

Follow-up sessions

All study participants attended a follow up session after the first dose. After the second dose they all had a magnetic resonance imaging scan. Follow-ups continued at 1, 2, 3 and 5 weeks after the second dose. And, then at 3 months. The results showed psilocybin, along with supportive therapy, is safe and well received. At this point half the participants had a reduction in symptoms of depression. A week after the second dose, there was an improvement in depression symptoms in all patients. Eight even went into temporary remission. At the 3-month mark, seven patients continued to improve. And, five out of them even continuing to experience remission. Another of the five subjects also experienced different levels of relapse.

Psilocybin works same as antidepressants

Researchers said psilocybin worked in the same way as antidepressants but acted faster. But, there needs to be more research done to confirm the long-term benefits of this treatment. This trial did not include a placebo group for comparison so more research is required in this area. University of Oxford Professor Philip Cowen said the results noted at three months were promising. He said this was a short time when people had a long-term illness so they needed to do more research. This is difficult as there is an intense debate into the harms of using recreational drugs. He said that it may be that the results could be influenced by the differences in people’s personalities. Other influences could be the different types of supportive therapy and people’s environment.

Small study with big results

Another small study in 2017 had a total of 19 patients. All had a single dose of psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms. Three patients dropped out of the study for various reasons leaving a final study group of 16. The results were 50 percent of patients had a drastic reduction in symptoms that lasted for 5 weeks. Conducted by an Imperial College of London team, they warn people not to self-medicate. The team did brain scans of all patients before and after taking the psilocybin. The scans showed it affected two areas of the brain:

1. The default mode network of the brain became more stable.
2. The amygdala became less active. The amygdala is the area of the brain that deals with emotions like anxiety and fear. The less active this area became the better the result for patients.

Psilocybin reboots the OS in your brain

Imperial head of psychedelic research Dr Robin Carhart-Harris said the psilocybin appeared to reset the brain. He said patients used this analogy and they reported it was like being reborn or having their brains rebooted. This was a small study only. It did not include a group of healthy patients to compare brain scans against the brain of depressed patients. King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry Professor Mitul Mehta said the study was impressive. He said the changes occurred in the areas of the brain known to cause depression. And, this was after only one dose of psilocybin. This study does not confirm the use of magic mushrooms for treating depression. The positive results of this study mean there is the possibility psilocybin can help people with depression. But, the subject requires more in-depth research to confirm the findings.

Psilocybin can improve moods in depressed patients

Another new study demonstrates treating depressed patients with psilocybin can improve how they process their emotions. Previous research shows that people with depression tend react in a more negative way to people’s facial expressions. The study had 17 participants. All had depression that had not responsive to other treatments. All found psilocybin helped them better interpret facial expressions. The treatment allowed them to interpret facial expressions such as sadness, fear and anger with more accuracy. This study also included a comparison group of 16 people with depression. This group did not receive the magic mushroom treatment.

Process facial emotions better on shrooms

The 17 patients started the study by completing emotional face recognition tasks. And, they repeated these a month later after two treatments of psilocybin. The patients who took the psilocybin were better able to process facial emotions at the conclusion of the study. But, there was no change in the 16 patients who did not receive the treatment.     These studies are all a positive step in finding alternative treatments for depression where normal treatments do not work.