Antidepressants may not help the approximately 40 percent of people with cancer who suffer from a mood disorder. Now, two research teams–one from Johns Hopkins University and the other from New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center–have published randomized, blinded studies published in The Journal of Psychopharmacology, the results of which show that a single dose of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, can provide relief from the anxiety and depression in patients being treated for cancer.
The researchers provided treatment to participants who had life-threatening cancers as well as a psychiatric diagnosis of anxiety or depression. In the Johns Hopkins study, after six months, 78 percent of the participants were less depressed than they started, as rated by a clinician, and 83 percent were less anxious. The New York University study was very similar, with 60 to 80 percent of the participants seeing improvements in various measures of depression and anxiety after six months.
Journal article:http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881116675512
Story via The Atlantichttp://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/12/the-life-changing-magic-of-mushrooms/509246/
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