- A new study has revealed that a single dose of magic mushrooms could significantly ease depression and help with treatment-resistant symptoms.
- The publicly-funded trial, led by King's College London and published in Nature Medicine, involved 60 participants with depression that had not responded to two previous treatments.
- Results showed that 40 per cent of patients receiving psilocybin entered remission from their depressive symptoms within three weeks, compared to just 3 per cent in the placebo group.
- More than four in ten (43 per cent) of those given psilocybin met the threshold for treatment response after three weeks, rising to 56 per cent after six weeks.
- Professor James Rucker, of King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), said: “This trial makes a strong case for larger publicly funded trials of psilocybin therapy in community settings, which are often more convenient and less anxiety-provoking for patients than hospital settings.”
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