Funky fungal psychedelic ain’t all bad, depression study finds

Boomers, silly cybin, caps, little smoke, cubes, musk, silly putty, sherm, simple simon, god’s flesh, shrooms. Psilocybin fungi go by many names, but they’re more commonly known as magic mushrooms. These humble fungi are predominantly used recreationally as entheogens (what a word), substances that induce psychological or physiological changes, often used in a religious, or spiritual context. Users claim they can induce euphoria, synesthesia, alter the way we think and perceive time, and generally aid at the journey towards transcendence. In other words they’re a hallucinogen that will send you on a pretty psychedelic trip. All in all, there is general consensus that shrooms are pretty strong stuff, which explains why they're illegal in most countries around the world

Despite many governments’ (including our own) strong no-no stance on shrooms, research is occasionally green lit – some of it in our own back yard. Indeed, some of it takes place here at Imperial and it recently yielded results suggesting shrooms might be beneficial for those struggling with depression.

The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, aimed at investigating whether patients with depression, could tolerate doses of psilocybin without exhibiting adverse side effects, such as anxiety and paranoia, which the UK government considered serious enough to warrant a ban. The ban took effect with the 2005 Drugs Act, which reclassified mushrooms as a class A drug, making possession a crime that could induce a seven year prison sentence.

This is not the first time a psilocybin study has been conducted at Imperial. In 2014, research illuminated what areas of the brain are activated by shrooms and showed that brains of users exhibit similar patterns to brains of people who are dreaming. Patients with moderate and severe depression who are resistant to treatment volunteered to receive Home Office-approved psilocybin capsules twice over seven days, as well as close monitoring, not only during the drug administration but also at regular intervals over the following five weeks.

Results showed a complete lack of adverse reactions (with the exception of anxiety right before the drug administration, and at the very start of the psychedelic experience, which is probably just a result of the bad rep shrooms have) and also a decrease of depression symptoms which, for a few patients, lasted to some extent for over three months.

Despite the positive results, the lead author of the study, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, made reserved comments regarding the research. “Psychedelic drugs have potent psychological effects and are only given in our research when appropriate safeguards are in place, such as careful screening and professional therapeutic support. I wouldn't want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depressions by picking their own magic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be risky.”

Although anticlimactic, his under-enthused comments were probably strategic rather than an honest reflection of his excitement, considering Prof David Nutt’s fate in 2009, which was sealed when he claimed that tobacco and alcohol are in fact much more harmful than many illegal drugs and suggested what some (Jacqui Smith)considered a radical reclassification.

While Prof Nutt’s outspokenness cost him his position as the government’s chief drug adviser, to the public’s dismay, Dr Carhart-Harris has managed to stay on the government’s right side becoming, in 2014, the first scientist in over 40 years to have been granted permission for testing LSD on humans. The LSD study, which again enlisted a number of volunteers, used brain scanning to look at how the brain works under the psychedelic substance. The study showed that under the influence, volunteers used more areas of the brain for visual processing than they would normally and that the compartmentalization of their brain, which usually allows different parts of the brain to perform separate tasks, broke down possibly causing the phenomenon some people call ‘ego-dissolution’.

If you’re wondering where this research is taking place and how to get involved, don’t worry. So are we.