New study looks at ‘magic’ mushrooms as treatment for depression, without the

A new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) will attempt to harness the antidepressant power of psilocybin mushrooms, but without the psychedelic experience.

Psilocybin is the hallucinogenic chemical compound in “magic” mushrooms that generates a psychedelic high. However, clinical trials have shown psilocybin mushrooms also have antidepressant effects on people whose depression is resistant to other treatments, when combined with intensive psychotherapy.

Over a period of three years, researchers at CAMH will try to learn whether the psychedelic experience itself is necessary to treat depression in a federally-funded study that lead researcher Dr. Ishrat Husain says is the first of its kind.

“What we’re trying to address with this study, which I think is a glaring question in the field, is whether the psychedelic high is required for the therapeutic benefits,” Husain told CTVNews.ca. “It’s assumed that it is, but nobody’s actually designed a clinical trial to answer that question.”

Husain and his team will compare the outcomes of 60 adults with treatment-resistant depression. Over the course of the study, a third of the participants will receive a full dose of psilocybin plus a serotonin blocker to inhibit the drug’s psychedelic effect. Another group will be given psilocybin plus a placebo. The final group will receive a placebo, plus the serotonin blocker. All participants will also receive 12 hours of psychotherapy.

This is the second clinical psilocybin trial at CAMH, which was the Canadian site for the world’s largest clinical trial of psilocybin in mental health to date, in 2021.

If the new study shows psilocybin mushrooms have equal antidepressant effects with or without the psychedelic experience, Husain said it could be a “game changer” for people with treatment-resistant depression who aren’t candidates for a psychedelic high.

“There are certain physical and psychological contraindications to receiving potent psychoactive drugs like psilocybin,” he said. “If we’re able to show that the psychedelic experience isn’t entirely necessary, it could lead to a sort of new therapeutic development for the treatment of depression.”

‘HOPE OF INNOVATION’

Some day, Carole Dagher might need to put her trust in a new treatment. In fact, Dagher believes it’s inevitable. After years of trying to treat her depression, she’s in a good place. But she knows it won’t last.

“I will have another dip, there’s no question about it,” Dagher told CTVNews.ca. “This is just going to be my life, it’s something I’m going to have to manage.”

Dagher is a patient of Husain’s who suffers from treatment-resistant major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder. She first developed postpartum depression following the birth of her oldest daughter 12 years ago. Her symptoms were compounded by trauma from childhood experiences growing up in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War…