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Depression is a challenge for public health since its prevalence is very high: the number of people who suffer from it throughout their lives is between 8% and 15%. 350 million people suffer from depression in the world.
From pharmacological treatments to psychotherapy, through research and experimental therapies. In this sense, a new compound has emerged as the hope for treating severe depression. It is the hallucinogenic compound known as Magic mushrooms, present in some species of mushrooms such as psilocybes or panaeolus, as published in ”The Lancet Psychiatry”.
In the middle of the last century, several researchers analyzed its properties and possible benefits for the modern world, although the expansion of its recreational use led to illegalization, slowing down its study.
A few years ago, research was resumed in patients with strong resistance to traditional treatment. Scientists have been able to verify that the Magic mushrooms compound is well-tolerated and safe, and more importantly, helps to remit depressive symptoms in about half of patients from 3 months after treatment.
If the trials worked in their final phase, there would be scientific evidence that the psychedelic experiences of the Aztecs and the hippie movement could one day become a conventional medical treatment.
How Do Magic mushrooms Work?
At first, they were given a Microdose of Magic mushrooms to make sure they had no adverse reactions, but a week later they were given a higher one. The test was performed in a specially conditioned room, with music and the presence of two psychiatrists to supervise everything. The psychedelic experience lasted five hours.
the drug is oral and in those six hours are included the initial preparation, the hallucinatory experience itself, and the subsequent ‘landing’, helped by the two therapists, who have received special training.
The substance Magic mushrooms go directly to the receptors in the brain responsible for collecting serotonin, in the same way as most antidepressants, but, and this is one of the advantages, it acts more quickly than traditional treatments due to its chemical structure well differentiated from the rest of the current treatments.
“Psychedelic drugs have powerful psychological effects and only occur in our research, when there are guarantees, there is a careful strategy and professional therapeutic support,” says Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, one of the doctors who are part of the research.
The most novel of the results is the rapid action of the ‘new drug’, which showed a palpable improvement in the symptoms of depression the day after the experience, something that does not happen with current antidepressants, which need between 6 and 8 weeks to improve four points on the Montgomery-Asberg scale.
In this context, its long-term effects are increasing. At six weeks, the highest and lowest dose groups showed a difference of 6.6 points on this scale. At three months there were 24.1% of patients in the 25 mg group maintained this improvement, compared to 10.1% in the 1 mg group. In the 10 mg group, there was no significant difference with the latter.
Adverse Effects?
The first effects of Magic mushrooms appeared between 30 and 60 minutes after the intake of the doses, reaching the maximum period of psychoactivity at 2-3 h. All effects disappeared at 6 h and no serious side effects were reported beyond mild and transient paranoia in 2 of the patients and they were referred immediately. They also experience mild symptoms such as headache, nausea, fatigue, or insomnia.
In this sense, speaking of adverse effects, experts warn “we would not like members of public opinion to think that they can treat their own depressions with hallucinogenic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be dangerous,” they explain. In fact, they point out that although these drugs do not have a high addictive capacity and are administered at the hospital level, they are not harmless.
Therapists who prescribe and administer the drug must have specific training. “It has to be used in a very regulated environment and, if the therapeutic strategy is not very well studied, it can have significant risks. These substances must be administered in very special circumstances.”
