Magic Mushrooms May Provide Treatment for Depression
The active ingredient in magic mushrooms may help people with depression by enabling them to relive positive and happy moments of their lives, according to UK researchers.
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Freya Petersen
Global Post
The active ingredient in magic mushrooms may help people with depression by enabling them to relive positive and happy moments of their lives, according to UK researchers.
Scientists from the Imperial College, London have peered into the brains of 30 healthy volunteers tripping on psilocybin — intravenously injected.
They then had their brains observed with magnetic resonance imaging scanners.
Activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, which is hyperactive in depression, was consistently lowered.
The findings by researchers David Nutt and Robin Carhart-Harris were published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Meanwhile, a second study conducted by the same researchers — to be published Jan. 26 in the British Journal of Psychiatry — “found that psilocybin enhanced volunteers’ recollections of positive personal memories, compared with those who took a placebo.”
“Our findings support the idea that psilocybin facilitates access to personal memories and emotions,” Carhart-Harris said in a statement.
“This effect needs to be investigated further but it suggests that used in combination with psychotherapy, psilocybin might help people recall positive life events and reverse pessimistic mindsets.”