The chemical psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, shows promise as a new treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). Several studies have shown that psilocybin-assisted therapy can help people with depression feel better quickly and for a long time.
Researchers published a study in 2018 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry that found that giving people with MDD a single dose of psilocybin and psychological support helped them feel less depressed than giving them a placebo. Up to six weeks after treatment, the effects of psilocybin were still going strong.
Another study, which came out in 2021 in the journal Nature Medicine, discovered that psilocybin-assisted therapy worked better than a regular antidepressant at helping people with MDD who had not responded to other treatments get better with their depression. The effects of psilocybin lasted for up to a year after the last dose.
Psilocybin makes neurons more flexible, which means they can change and adapt. By doing this, your brain may make new connections and pathways that can help lift your mood and lessen the effects of depression.
Mental Health
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and adapt in response to experiences and things in the environment. This is how psilocybin seems to work. According to most, psilocybin may help new neural connections, or synapses, grow and encourage the creation of new brain pathways.
These changes in how neurons work can positively affect mental health and mood. For instance, psilocybin has been shown to help some people with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) feel better. Also, it might make you happier, more creative, and more open to new things.
Thus, psilocybin is not a magic bullet for mental health problems. It should only be used with the help of a trained medical professional. In addition, more research is needed to understand this substance’s possible pros and cons fully. Still, the growing interest in psilocybin as a therapy drug shows that mental health treatment must be updated and more creative.
Psilocybin-assisted therapy involves trained therapists watching over the clients. People are given a dose of psilocybin and then monitored for a few hours. Therapists offer support and direction during this time to help patients make sense of their psychedelic experience.
Therapy
Researchers are still looking into psilocybin-assisted therapy, but the studies that have been done so far show that it could be an excellent new way to treat MDD. More research is needed to confirm that psilocybin-assisted therapy is safe and effective over the long term, but it can potentially change how MDD is treated.
It’s important to know that psilocybin is a Schedule I drug in the US. This means it can be abused easily and has no known medical use. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has named psilocybin a “Breakthrough Therapy.” This means that it may move faster through the review and development process.
If you want to try psilocybin-assisted therapy, you should talk to your doctor first. They can help you figure out if you are eligible for a clinical trial or treatment program and help you find one.
