Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and in Australia, in any given year, one million people will experience depression. There are standard treatments for depression such as cognitive behavioural therapy and antidepressants but unfortunately one in five people do not respond to therapy and many experience relapse. However, some promising research has suggested that a component from magic mushrooms might offer a way forward.
Magic mushrooms have the species name Psilocybe cubensis and is one of more than 100 species of mushroom that contain the psychoactive substances psilocybin and psilocin which can cause hallucinations, euphoria, and other symptoms associated with “tripping”. Right at the start we should say that no-one is suggesting we use magic mushrooms to treat depression. For one thing the effects of psychoactive mushrooms have been shown to be long lasting. However, this new study has shown that psilocybin could be of interest in depression treatment.
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The new study was a relatively small one involving six women and six men who had experienced moderate to severe depression for an average of 17.8 years. For these 12 people a common theme was that their depression was not responding to treatment. They had all taken two courses of antidepressants without success and 11 of them had also had psychotherapy sessions.
What made the researchers think of trying psilocybin from magic mushrooms as a treatment is that it targets serotonin receptors in the brain, as do other antidepressants.
For the study subjects were given a 10mg dose of psilocybin on the first day and then a week later took a dose of 25mg psilocybin. The psilocybin was taken in a capsule and with two psychiatrists present. The subjects were then followed up one day after the first dose, one day after the second dose and then one, two, three, and five weeks after the second dose and then again three months later.
The subjects did experience some mild side-effects initially such as headache, confusion, temporary nausea, and two experienced mild, passing paranoia. Detectable psychedelic effects were experienced 30-60 minutes after taking the capsules but all subjects were discharged after six hours and after one week all subjects showed improvements in their symptoms of depression. After three months the symptoms of seven subjects continued to improve and five of the seven were still in remission. Five subjects relapsed to some degree.
This is a small study and it does not in any way license use of magic mushrooms by individuals however, as the researchers say, it does offer some promising areas for future research in a vitally important area.
