Magic mushrooms contain a hallucinogenic drug called psilocybin and are classified as a class A illegal drug in the U.K. along with heroin and cocaine.

For persons suffering from treatment-resistant depression, help may be on the way from an unlikely source — magic mushrooms. Magic mushrooms contain a hallucinogenic drug called psilocybin and are classified as a class A illegal drug in the U.K. along with heroin and cocaine.

In a recent clinical trial by researchers at Imperial College, London, 12 persons who had been depressed for an average of 17.8 years and who did not respond to standard therapy were given the drug orally. They showed a marked improvement in symptoms just one week after administration of the drug.

Three months later, five of the patients were completely free of symptoms. The study gains significance because the drug took effect with a single dose, unlike current medications which must be taken daily. The study, published recently in Lancet Psychiatry proved that the drug is safe, with no temporary or permanent side-effects. Single oral administrations of 10 mg (safety dose) and 25 mg (treatment dose) which were administered seven days apart were well tolerated and resulted in enduring reductions in symptom severity after two sessions.

Eight of the 12 patients responded positively one week after treatment with a marked improvement in symptoms even at the end of three months; five of the 12 were in total remission. Five patients showed a degree of relapse after three months.

Psilocybin’s other beneficial effects have been proven in previous studies. Eighty per cent of long-term heavy smokers quit the habit six months after two treatments with psilocybin. Alcohol-dependent patients reduced drinking behaviours over eight months after one or two psilocybin sessions.

As the study is small-scale, the authors caution that strong inferences should not be made about the drug’s ability to alleviate depression. The effects have to be replicated in larger trials with tighter experimental controls.

The best way to test the drug is by doing a placebo controlled randomised trial, particularly because five of the 12 patients showed a degree of relapse at three months.