Mushrooms for Depression: The Pros & Cons

Everybody gets the blues sometimes.

Maybe you experienced the passing of someone you love. Or maybe you lost a job. In these and similar situations, it’s normal to feel sad and experience grief.

Over time, you’ll feel better.

But with depression, it’s a different thing. Major depression or major depressive disorder is defined as having a sad mood for over two weeks.

Even worse, major depression can affect various facets of your life, from your relationships to your career.

That is why it is critical to get the help you need. And one option you should strongly consider for severe depression is psilocybin treatment.

What Are Magic Mushrooms?

Magic mushrooms is an umbrella term for mushroom species containing psilocybin and psilocin. These mushrooms are either collected from the wild or cultivated in mushroom farms.

Various cultures have used magic mushrooms for thousands of years for ritualistic and religious purposes.

However, it was only in 1958, through the efforts of Dr. Albert Hoffman, that the scientific community turned its attention to magic mushrooms and their potential for treating mental health disorders.

Magic mushrooms can be eaten raw. Some people prefer dried mushrooms like penis envy shrooms, while others pickle them. You can also add these mushrooms to food and beverages.

What Are The Effects of Magic Mushrooms

Magic mushrooms are classified as hallucinogenic or psychedelic drugs. This means that these mushrooms can cause people to experience seemingly real hallucinations.

However, the effects can vary from one person to another. Furthermore, the immediate environment plays a crucial role in your overall psychedelic experience.

Other factors that may affect your magic mushroom psychedelic trip include your weight, personality, age, emotional state, and dosage.

Magic mushrooms, along with other substances like marijuana and mescaline, have long been associated with the spiritual because of their ability to induce mystical experiences.

The psilocybin in magic mushrooms is converted to psilocin upon ingestion.

Studies suggest that psilocin affects the production of the hormone known as serotonin in the brain, especially in the prefrontal cortex region of the brain. In turn, this leads to altered perceptions.

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for various functions, including a person’s perception, mood, and cognition.

It can take between 20 to 40 minutes before the effects kick in. The effects may last up to six hours, roughly the same time psilocin stays in the body.

The effects of psilocybin are similar to the effects of another psychedelic drug – LSD. Aside from altered perception, other effects of magic mushrooms include euphoria, thinking distortion, drowsiness, lack of coordination, paranoia, confusion, and hallucinations.

Are Magic Mushrooms Legal?

The growing scientific interest coupled with public acceptance of psychedelics has proven a boon for researchers who wish to explore the potential benefits of magic mushrooms for treating mental health issues, including major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression.

However, there are still a few setbacks that need to be hurdled.

Despite numerous research and clinical trials following the work of Dr. Albert Hoffman during the fifties and sixties, experts in behavioral sciences faced a major stumbling block with the classification of psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs as schedule I substances.

The classification of psychedelics as schedule I substances meant that these drugs had no therapeutic use. Even worse, these drugs were flagged for their potential for drug abuse.

But not everything is doom and gloom.

While magic shrooms and other psychedelics are still classified as illegal, that status may change soon. In fact, some cities in the United States have decriminalized magic shrooms.

What is Psilocybin Treatment for Mental Health?

One factor that will likely change the classification of psilocybin mushrooms is their potential to treat various types of depression, including treatment-resistant depression.

While there are several types of treatment for depression, including Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) and talk therapy, there is still considerable space for alternatives to treat depression.

For starters, antidepressants don’t work for everyone. While some medications offer relief from depression symptoms, they may not provide relief for a significant number of patients.

Most existing treatments take time to take effect. It is not unusual for some treatments to take as long as several weeks before a patient notices significant improvements in their mental health.

Another drawback of common treatments is that once they are discontinued, patients can relapse.

And finally, the common treatments for depression cause adverse side effects, including weight gain, nausea, and sexual issues.

Experts are now exploring using psilocybin therapy to treat mental health disorders, especially treatment-resistant depression.

According to some studies, psilocybin has the ability to reset the brain of people with depressive symptoms.

Furthermore, when participants in clinical trials underwent MRI, researchers discovered that psilocybin inhibited blood flow to different brain parts, including those responsible for processing emotions.

Essentially, psilocybin can reboot a person’s brain, allowing them to alter some of their brain’s functions and overcome emotional and thought patterns.

This type of treatment does not rely solely on administering psilocybin. Instead, research suggests using this treatment method in conjunction with other approaches, including offering patients psychological support during therapy sessions.

Treatment using magic shrooms involves three steps.

Before psilocybin is administered to patients with a mental problem, they need to talk with their therapist to establish a relationship. This also helps patients be more at ease during the psilocybin treatment.

Next, the patient is administered psilocybin in a room specifically designed for comfort.

While the drug is being administered, the patient needs to focus. That is done by listening to a music playlist curated by the therapist and by wearing an eye mask. Each treatment session can last up to eight hours.

The final phase of the treatment involves talk therapy, where the patient discusses their experience.

The therapist tries to help patients develop ideas to help them change their behavioral and emotional patterns.

How Safe Are Magic Mushrooms for Treating Depression?

According to a study conducted in Switzerland from 1999 to 2008, psilocybin was found to be generally safe for both short and long-term use.

The study, which involved over 100 participants, listed fatigue and headaches as the most common side effects during the clinical trial.

And contrary to the general belief that using magic shrooms can lead to drug abuse or dependence, the participants in the clinical trial showed no signs of such.

Additionally, test subjects did not report long-term side effects like perception disorders, psychosis, or impairment of any kind.

On the other hand, Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that using psilocybin for treating major depressive disorder showed efficacy lasting for a year in some test subjects.

Initially, researchers reported that psilocybin could remain effective for at least a month.

But despite the safety of using magic mushrooms for severely depressed patients, shrooms have a few drawbacks, especially when taken without professional help and guidance.

Psilocybin can cause a visual flashback that can last a few weeks to years. This condition is known as hallucinogen-persisting perception disorder.

Other possible side effects include confusion, psychosis, agitation, and fear. Accidental poisoning can arise from consuming poisonous mushrooms thought to be magic shrooms.

Psilocybin Therapy for Depression: Pros and Cons

If you or a loved one has been suffering from depressive symptoms and have found no relief from existing treatments, there are plenty of reasons to consider psilocybin treatment.

But before you undergo this type of treatment, it is worthwhile to learn about the pros and cons.

Pros

• Significant and immediate effects

One of the chief disadvantages of using standard antidepressant medications is that they take longer to take effect. It can take as long as six weeks for patients to find any relief from their depressive symptoms.

Psilocybin treatment provides invaluable results in a considerably shorter amount of time. This is critical for patients who may be having suicidal thoughts or experiencing the symptoms of severe depression.

• A smaller amount of side effects

Compared to antidepressants, psilocybin has a smaller amount of side effects.

One of the key drawbacks of treating patients with antidepressants is that these medications can dull a person’s emotions. While that can help eliminate the symptoms of depression, patients become unable to experience and process other emotions.

Another disadvantage of using antidepressants is that the symptoms come back again after a patient stops treatment. There are also reported instances of withdrawal.

Many patients stop taking antidepressants, citing emotional numbness as the number one reason. This creates a vicious cycle of going on and off antidepressants without a long-term solution in sight.

When psilocybin is used in conjunction with psychological support, patients can process their emotions and thoughts while avoiding emotional numbness.

• Relief from treatment-resistant depression

Experts are optimistic that psilocybin treatment can provide relief from treatment-resistant depression.

According to some studies, as much as 30% of patients suffering from depression show little to no progress from using antidepressants and other treatments currently available. If these do work, patients have to contend with an extensive list of side effects.

Current research and clinical trials suggest that psilocybin effectively treats different mental health issues, including treatment-resistant depression.

Cons

• Side effects

Hallucinations, confusion, vomiting, depersonalization, and derealization are a few side effects of using magic shrooms recreationally.

However, it is important to point out that none of the participants exhibited or reported any of these during clinical trials.

The chief reason behind that is that psilocybin was administered in a controlled research setting where patients received the necessary support.

It’s also important to note that psilocybin isn’t recommended for patients with psychosis symptoms and young ones with developing brains.

• Legal status

The classification of psilocybin as a schedule I controlled substance is a substantial hindrance. For one, it means there are still lingering misconceptions surrounding psychedelic substances like magic shrooms. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine had to resort to crowdfunding for their initial round of research.

Second, even if there are ongoing trials and research, treatment using psilocybin is still limited. If you are looking for long-term relief from your depressive symptoms, it can be particularly hard to find institutions that conduct studies on psilocybin treatment.

And although people who microdose magic shrooms report some success, self-treatment is not a viable solution because of the lack of established standards for dosage.

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