Magic mushrooms may help treat depression, researchers say

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, may help people with depression, based on two studies that suggest that the psychedelic could have an enduring effect on patients.

Professor David Nutt, the controversial sacked government drugs advisor, claimed this recent research proved what a mistake it was to abandon therapeutic psychedelic drugs more than 50 years ago.

Professor Nutt's team, at Imperial College London, hope to test the hallucinogen on depressed patients who have not benefited from antidepressants or behavioural therapy.

The first study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved scanning the brains of 30 people given the drug intravenously to measure changes in blood flow and activity. Activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, which is hyperactive in depression, was consistently lowered.

A second study, to be published January 26 in the British Journal of Psychiatry and conducted by the same researchers, found that psilocybin enhanced volunteers' recollections of positive personal memories, compared with those who took a placebo.

“Our findings support the idea that psilocybin facilitates access to personal memories and emotions,” Carhart-Harris said in a statement. “This effect needs to be investigated further but it suggests that used in combination with psychotherapy, psilocybin might help people recall positive life events and reverse pessimistic mindsets.”

Nutt cautioned that the new research was very preliminary and involved only small numbers of people.

"We're not saying go out there and eat magic mushrooms," he said. "But...this drug has such a fundamental impact on the brain that it's got to be meaningful -- it's got to be telling us something about how the brain works. So we should be studying it and optimising it if there's a therapeutic benefit."

Read more:

Could magic mushrooms help the fight against depression?
Magic mushrooms may be therapeutic

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Commenti

Ae - 2012-01-25 13:33:37

+10

I work as a shaman with the sacred mushrooms to help clients with different illnesses in neo-shamanic and ritual setting. The mushroom spirit has a unique ability and potential to heal people (even more illnesses than listed in this article), especially if the intentions of the participants are pure and honest.

It is difficult to approach this on a scientific level because the shamanic work goes beyond all boundaries of our physical reality.

Most of the time I see that the healing occurs because people are showed the root-cause of their illnesses (and it is always something they don't expect). After that the emotional and energetic cleansing takes place allowing the client to evolve to their potential state of wholeness.

I hope that i'll be able to do this work legal in the future. Ill give my life for the plant medicines.

Bob - 2012-01-26 03:06:41

I'm the living proof! :)

padelis - 2012-01-28 02:07:49

it is like that, as mentioned above. during the inner trip one understands itself, he starts seeing the way that he deals with his energy in everyday conditions. problems in this world, can be found when we don't deal in a proper way with this energy. so after understanding the root of the problem, you know where to look for the solution. even this knowledge could help with depression.
but, as usuall in life, there is always the other side of the coin. where you could start being depressed if you can't change your life, after seeing what was not correct.
no need to mention that if one happens to realise that is unable of dealing with the problem during the trip, it will turn in a long suffering bad trip...

cosmique - 2012-02-04 11:51:35

-1

In my opinion people who have depression or stress should not eat these. It will make things worse and trip will be horrible. It worked with bob but im opposite living proof. People are different.

Hal - 2012-02-07 00:20:26

Timothy Leary was advocating psychedelic therapy way back in the sixties. Whilst I agree that a healthy state of mind is essential for safe tripping, the therapeutic benefits for psychotherapy is beyond doubt. In these situations experienced and knowledgeable guides would be essential to avoid making the subject suffer adverse effects. Far more beneficial than the toxic junk the pharmaceutical companies are pushing.

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