https://www.dpa-international.com/trends-and-features/urn:newsml:dpa.com:20090101:250618-99-196545/
The team said they found that “robust antidepressive activity from a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin combined with psychotherapy” could be a “potentially paradigm-changing alternative to traditional antidepressants.”
“If randomized testing shows similar results, this could lead to greater use of psilocybin to treat depression in patients with cancer,” the team said, amid their carrying out a follow-up trial to assess the effects of “up to two 25mg doses.”
“We’re exploring whether repeating the treatment resolves depression for more than half of the patients,” said Manish Argwal of Sunstone Therapies, which describes its mission as “delivering innovative psychedelic therapies administered in a safe, compassionate environment.”
The latest results followed a Sunstone team in 2023 reporting depression patients claimed to feel better eight weeks after a dose of psilocybin. In 2022, the New England Journal of Medicine published similar findings by a team from mental health care company Compass Pathways.
A study published last year by Nature described psilocybin as “a psychedelic that acutely causes distortions of space–time perception and ego dissolution” and which appears to chiefly affect brain regions associated with introspection, memory and day-dreaming.
There has even been speculation that ancient human consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms played a part in our brain development and expansion – and in turn helped lead to advances such as progressing from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture and urban living.
