London: Eating magic mushrooms can help treat depression. That's according to a new study that found that the drug psilocybin, found in mushrooms, can "reset" the brain's circuits and help ease symptoms.
Scientists got special permission to give the mushrooms to 19 people who had not been helped by traditional treatments. They said their mood was lifted immediately, and that in some cases the effect would last as long as five weeks.
Brain scans showed that the neural circuits in the brain had been reset, pushing them out of their depressive states, the scientists found.
Magic mushrooms containing psilocybin and its derivative psilocin can cause hallucinations, changes in perception and an altered sense of time.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans showed reduced activity in certain parts of the brain after taking the drug. They included the amygdala, a small almond-shaped region known to be involved in processing emotional responses, stress and fear.
Psilocybin also induced increased stability in another brain network previously linked to depression.
Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, head of psychedelic research at Imperial College London, said: "We have shown for the first time clear changes in brain activity in depressed people treated with psilocybin after failing to respond to conventional treatments. "Several of our patients described feeling 'reset' after the treatment and often used computer analogies.
The drug may be giving the patients the "kick start" they need to break out of their depressive states, he said.
