Resources
On the fence about mushrooms? Would you like to learn more about psilocybin from reputable sources? We’ve compiled a list of studies, articles and news to help you make an informed decision. Please read the articles and share this page with your loved ones. These articles were not written by us and are unbiased.
Psychedelics May Help People Reinvent Themselves
Excerpt: Researchers from the University of Cincinnati examined the post-treatment journals kept by participants in a 2014 smoking cessation study that found psychedelics were effective in helping some people quit smoking for years.
Article Link: Neuroscience News
Date: February 27, 2023
Personal use of psychedelics among therapists may be common, study finds
Excerpt: There is a long history of researchers and clinicians who work with psychedelics valuing personal experience with the substances for their professional development, including Hofmann’s self-experiments with LSD, and dating even further back with other hallucinogens such as mescaline.16,17 Moreover, in some indigenous cultures, it is not uncommon for the facilitator or one providing support to take the substances with—or even instead of—the patient or one seeking care
Article Link: Liebert Pub
Date: March 13, 2023
Subtypes of the psychedelic experience have reproducible and predictable effects on depression and anxiety symptoms
Excerpt: Methods: In the current study, machine learning cluster analysis was used to derive three subtypes of psychedelic experience in a large (n = 985) cross sectional sample. Results : These subtypes are not only associated with reductions in anxiety and depression symptoms and other markers of psychological wellbeing, but the structure of these subtypes and their subsequent impact on mental health are highly reproducible across multiple psychedelic substances
Article Link: Ohio State University
Date: August 1, 2022
Psychedelic Treatment with Psilocybin Relieves Major Depression, Study Shows
Excerpt: In a small study of adults with major depression, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that two doses of the psychedelic substance psilocybin, given with supportive psychotherapy, produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms, with most participants showing improvement and half of study participants achieving remission through the four-week follow-up.
Article Link: The Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Date: November 4, 2020
Clinical potential of psilocybin as a treatment for mental health conditions
Excerpt: Certain mental health disease states and symptoms have been studied, including depressed mood, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcohol use disorder, and tobacco use disorder. This article provides an in-depth review of the study design and results of psilocybin in each of these conditions and discusses the clinical potential for use.
Date: January 7, 2017
Restrictions on Psilocybin ‘Magic Mushrooms’ Are Easing as Research Ramps Up
Excerpt: Magic mushrooms are undergoing a transformation from illicit recreational drug to promising mental health treatment. Numerous studies have reported positive findings using psilocybin—the mushrooms’ main psychoactive compound—for treating depression as well as smoking and alcohol addiction, and for reducing anxiety in the terminally ill. Ongoing and planned studies are testing the drug for conditions that include opioid dependence, PTSD and anorexia nervosa.
Article Link: Scientific American
Date: November 4, 2020
How ecstasy and psilocybin are shaking up psychiatry
Excerpt: Magic mushrooms are undergoing a transformation from illicit recreational drug to promising mental health treatment. Numerous studies have reported positive findings using psilocybin—the mushrooms’ main psychoactive compound—for treating depression as well as smoking and alcohol addiction, and for reducing anxiety in the terminally ill. Ongoing and planned studies are testing the drug for conditions that include opioid dependence, PTSD and anorexia nervosa.
Article Link: Nature.com
Date: January 27, 2021
Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive DisorderA Randomized Clinical Trial
Excerpt: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a substantial public health burden, but current treatments have limited effectiveness and adherence. Recent evidence suggests that 1 or 2 administrations of psilocybin with psychological support produces antidepressant effects in patients with cancer and in those with treatment-resistant depression.
Article Link: Jama Psychiatry
Date: November 4, 2020
Psychedelics use linked to a lower risk in opioid addiction, study says
Excerpt: Psilocybin, the substance found in magic mushrooms, has been connected to a lower risk in opioid addiction, a recent study conducted in the U.S. suggests.
The survey found that people who used psilocybin were 30 per cent less likely to have an opioid addiction in comparison to those who have never used the hallucinogen. Data collected between 2015 and 2019 found that of the 214,505 respondents, those who used psilocybin were also 17 to 34 per cent less likely to develop symptoms of opioid dependence.
Article Link: CTV News
Date: April 8, 2022
Psilocybin Rewires the Brain for People with Depression
Excerpt: When administered under psychologically supportive, double-blind conditions, a single dose of psilocybin produced substantial and enduring decreases in depressed mood and anxiety along with increases in quality of life and decreases in death anxiety in patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. Ratings by patients themselves, clinicians, and community observers suggested these effects endured at least 6 months.
Article Link: The University of California
Date: November 4, 2020
Psychedelics use linked to a lower risk in opioid addiction, study says
Excerpt: Psilocybin fosters greater connections between different regions of the brain in depressed people, freeing them up from long-held patterns of rumination and excessive self-focus, according to a new study by scientists at UC San Francisco and Imperial College London.
The discovery points toward a general mechanism through which psychedelics may be acting therapeutically on the brain to alleviate depression and possibly other psychiatric conditions that are marked by fixed patterns of thinking.
Article Link: British Association for Psychopharmacology
Date: November 30, 2016
Microdoses of psychedelic mushrooms may improve mood and mental health
Excerpt: We found psilocybin microdosing to be associated with improvements in mood and mental health, which adds to the growing body of research that suggests positive benefits of microdosing specifically in the domains of mental health and cognition. Joseph Rootman, study co-author.
Date: July 25, 2022
Psychedelic Medicine May Offer a Better Solution to Overcoming Alcoholism
Excerpt: Psychedelics treatment can really affect people in many, many layers. One of them would be to affect our consciousness and allow us to look differently at the problem that we experienced before that.I just spoke with a very well-known psychiatrist. There’s something in psychiatry that cause “elephant path”, meaning that elephants will always go in the same path, they will never change the path. We are very similar, in that when we have this memory or thinking of something that traumatize us- it causes PTSD, depression, alcoholism.
Article Link: Pharmacy Times
Date: Oct 21, 2022
Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may effectively treat alcohol use disorder
Excerpt: Memory impairment, injury accidents, liver disease, and death: These are potential outcomes for patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to NYU Langone Health. But hope may be in sight. Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may reduce patients’ number of heavy drinking days, paving the way for treatment that merges traditional therapy with psychedelics.
Article Link: MDLinx
Date: October 18, 2022
How do psychedelics work? This brain region may explain their effects | NOVA | PBS
Excerpt: Now, medical researchers are exploring ways to harness magic mushrooms and other psychedelic substances to help treat mental health conditions like depression, addiction, and PTSD—sometimes with dramatic results. But what actually happens in the brain during a psychedelic experience? Fred Barrett, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University, is one of the scientists trying to figure that out. His work suggests that “a brain region called the claustrum may be at the center of all of this,” he told NOVA.
Article Link: P.B.S.
Date: October 19, 2022
Trending: Why psilocybin could be used in mental health treatment
Excerpt: Psilocybin, better known as the stuff that makes mushrooms magic, is the next big wellness industry—and a new frontier for mental health. If you hadn’t noticed psilocybin’s move toward the mainstream, a company like Numinus will come as a surprise. Led by founder and CEO Payton Nyquvest, Numinus is a brand-fantasy of the next iteration of wellness: clean, straightforward, empathetic, inclusive and self-aware. It’s one of several Canadian companies—Field Trip Health and Wellness among them—ready to capitalize on psilocybin. Its head office in Vancouver’s Gastown may look like any random vegan café, but instead of cookies, it has ketamine—currently the main psychedelic legally used in therapy in Canada.
Article Link: Macleans
Date: January 20, 2023
Alberta’s new policy on psychedelic drug treatment for mental illness: Will Canada lead the psychedelic renaissance?
Excerpt: Patients in Alberta will now be able to legally consider adding psychedelic-assisted therapy to the list of treatment options available for mental illnesses. Alberta psychiatrists and policymakers suggest that they are getting ahead of the curve by creating regulations to ensure the safe use of these hallucinogenic substances in a therapeutically supported environment. As of Jan. 16, the option is available only through registered and licensed psychiatrists in the province. Alberta’s new policy may set a precedent that moves Canadians one step closer to accepting psychedelics as medicinal substances, but historically these drugs were widely sought out for recreational and non-clinical purposes. And, if cannabis has taught us anything, medicalizing may simply be a short stop before decriminalizing and commercializing.
Article Link: theconversation.com
Date: January 15, 2023
Scientists are beginning to unravel the effects of psilocybin mushrooms on bipolar disorder
Excerpt: A new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology is the first to characterize the psychological impacts of psilocybin among people with bipolar disorder. The findings indicate that many people with bipolar disorder who consume psilocybin, the primary psychoactive component of psychedelic “magic mushrooms,” believe that the experience is helpful. However, many also report adverse outcomes, such as manic symptoms. Psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression is gaining attention due to promising research results over the past decade. A growing body of evidence suggests that, when combined with supportive therapy, ingesting certain psychedelic compounds in a controlled setting can lead to better mental health outcomes for individuals suffering from various mental disorders. However, it is unclear whether psilocybin holds any promise for those with bipolar disorder.
Article Link: PsyPost
Date: January 21, 2023
New study supports psilocybin's potential as an antidepressant
Excerpt:
Depression affects an estimated 300 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of disability. Psilocybin has shown promise in reducing symptoms of depression after one or two doses with few side effects and no current evidence of causing addiction. However, studies published to date have not investigated factors that may moderate psilocybin’s effects, including type of depression, past use of psychedelics, dosage, and publication biases. To address this, a team of UK researchers examined databases looking for randomized controlled trials that compared psilocybin as a treatment for symptoms of depression with controls, such as placebo, niacin (vitamin B), or micro doses of psychedelics.
Article Link: MedicaXpress
Date: May 2, 2024