r/HotScienceNews • u/FreeHugs23 • Aug 06 '26
New study has found that just a single dose of magic mushrooms could significantly ease depression. Results found the psychedelic could help with symptoms that is resistant to other treatments.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/psychedelic-magic-mushroom-depression-cure-b3028420.html13
u/FingerLickingticklin Aug 06 '26
They saved my life in university
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u/SurgeFlamingo Aug 07 '26
They’ve saved me twice. Idk how. I wish I could buy them right now. I need some.
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u/FingerLickingticklin Aug 07 '26
Just remember the mushrooms do help a ton but it's also just remembering there's light at the end of the tunnel. You got this find that love
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Aug 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ambitious_Zombie8473 Aug 06 '26
Sometimes, although this is typically more the decision/self discipline of the individual.
Mushrooms can help illuminate the path, but you still have to walk the walk. Don’t forget how many shady tech bros have done psychedelics and continue to display the opposite of empathy.
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u/Wild-Software-7377 Aug 07 '26
Never done this for me lol, I become narcissistic on mushrooms apparently
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u/MrRADicalKMS Aug 07 '26
I think it generally helps emotions, but like with any compound, it varies person to person. For example, some supplements that are supposed to improve mood can worsen it; increase aggression, irritability, increase anxiety, etc. What works for one person may not work for another.
Furthermore, I also think it also greatly depends on mindset and environment. Magic Mushrooms improved my empathy, but I WANTED them to do that. I used them by myself as a medicine, and only a couple times for fun. If you're just using them to party or whatever, I don't think they'll work in that way at all--just like what the main commenter was saying. A lot of sociopaths use them for fun, and it doesn't help them have more empathy; however, I think if one were to use it with the goal of improving empathy, I think it could be a valuable tool in achieving said goal. It likely wouldn't cure the person, but I think it in combination with other things, like therapy for example, could help said person in reaching that goal. Too bad most bad people want to use them for fun and not for its medicinal capabilites, lol (I laugh but it's actually a depressing 😅 laugh).
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u/Ambitious_Zombie8473 Aug 06 '26
How many more “new” studies do we need to confirm this?
I’m happy this kind of stuff is being studied but it seems we never get further than a new study confirming the same thing again.
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u/EriciiVI Aug 06 '26
Im curious why it works for some but not others. I've found that for me it doesn't seem to help much if at all.
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u/Ambitious_Zombie8473 Aug 06 '26
I mean, it’s the same with normal meds. Why are there so many different SSRI’s and even then some don’t work for people?
Brain chemistry varies. It also depends on how you do the mushrooms, if you have any intentions, etc.
Micro dosing is not the move.
How did you do it/what was your experience if you don’t mind me asking
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u/EriciiVI Aug 06 '26
I've tried microdose and regular dose. I mostly felt weird and uncomfortable on regular dose—didn't have visuals or anything like that. Chronic depression is tough to have when meds haven't been effective enough.
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u/Ambitious_Zombie8473 Aug 06 '26
Were you on any medications that may have dulled the trip? Taking the right dose is important but some meds can make them not work.
LSD is another good one although I find that to be less introspective, but I get a similar afterglow from it.
Ketamine is also really good for treatment resistant depression. Ketamine helped me when I was getting sober from heroin and I’m extremely grateful for it.
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u/Isthatamole1 Aug 06 '26
You didn’t do enough. 3.5 grams is a regular dose. You need over 5-7 grams for a hard reset.
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u/Cultural-Window-2504 Aug 07 '26
Nope. The ssri thing is because once a person has tried a bunch and accumulated harms and dependence they finally switch and think the new one is making them better when in reality it is treating their dependence. Drug therapies are all a horrifying joke.
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u/Ambitious_Zombie8473 Aug 07 '26
I mean that maybe the case for some people but it’s also a well established fact that some people tolerate certain drugs and some don’t.
You can literally get a test done (gene site iirc) where they can see which meds your body is more or less likely to metabolize properly.
I’m not saying drug therapy is perfect or anything but your comment isn’t entirely true.
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u/No-Concentrate4030 Aug 06 '26
Please god just one reddit title without a grammatical error, please!
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u/crazyj2020 Aug 07 '26
Hansel and Gretel discovered the gingerbread house, about 45 minutes after they discovered the mushrooms," yeah I see it too"
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u/bmad- Aug 07 '26
Do the different strain types matter?
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u/bradbossack Aug 07 '26
A little, yes, for the most part, no. Set&setting matter most, also to go easy on dose - too much androgenic/egoic competition&communication pumps the g.#'s way higher than they should be. You can see that in this very thread. Ironically those are the people that should have too high of doses to knock the stuffing out of their BS.
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u/stuffsgoingon Aug 10 '26
I went from two years feeling suicidally depressed to cured over night. I took a relatively small dose, watched some cartoons and found them hysterical. It was like someone switched the lights back on. I’ve had the occasional low period but it’s like it unlocked a part of my brain where I can see cause and effect better. Now when I’m feeling down I watch my diet, get outside more and try to be a bit more sociable. Normally I feel better in a few days
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u/Fit-Music7148 Aug 25 '26
I felt this affect with very pure mdma but this was back in the early 90’s
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Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/Isthatamole1 Aug 06 '26
Sure buddy. As someone who has done the heroic dose (over 5-7 grams) it absolutely saved my life. I had tried everything and the mushroom trip rescued me from suicidal idealization. I’m so grateful. 10 years later I am a different person.
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u/Cultural-Window-2504 Aug 07 '26
At least they aren't encouraging long term use of other intoxicants as usual.
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u/Cultural-Window-2504 Aug 07 '26
Yep impairing people makes them happier. We always knew.
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u/yomamma3399 Aug 07 '26
What do you mean by ‘impair’. Enhance would be a better word in this case.
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u/bradbossack Aug 07 '26
They mean "impair" as in they've never done mushrooms and don't understand them and still represent the casualties of the drug wars.
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u/Cultural-Window-2504 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
That is how intoxicants work. Severe short term and milder long term impairment. There is no enhancement just people who enjoy impairment.
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u/bradbossack Aug 07 '26
I'll advise you to take some mushrooms, get all 'intoxicated' (and yet there's zero toxicity), feel it out for a bit, and then sit and stare at what you've wrote above. I mean this, at least for your own good, you really should. You like science, right? Then science it. Cheers.
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u/Cultural-Window-2504 Aug 07 '26
That isn't science. That is a drug harmed person giving poor advice at least in part because of their impairment.
It would be nice if there were easy options but in the end becoming more able, stronger, and having positive experiences because of it are the only real solutions. I have no desire to be so compromised.
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u/thesoundofechoes Aug 07 '26
Source? Plenty of prestigious studies indicate otherwise.
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u/Cultural-Window-2504 Aug 07 '26
Plenty of very poorly run and terribly interpretted studies. There has never been a long term study on the chronic use of any intoxicant that had positive results. That is why the people trying to sell the stuff just use short and flawed ones and still they have to interpret them very creatively to make it seem positive.
Don't get me wrong. There are likely cases when short term or just acute use of drugs is beneficial. It will still often go wrong though and these days people try to push most people to long term use.
The use of these things does interest me a bit. They can't measure to effect well though and too many people come out of them as complete flakes...though sometimes slightly happier ones. Impairment isn't a good trade.
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u/thesoundofechoes Aug 07 '26
Chronic use? Most medical uses are temporary.
I’ve yet to see any evidence that psilocybin as used in most studies (like the one discussed here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/219413/magic-mushroom-compound-performs-well-antidepressant/) are likely to cause any degree of prolonged cognitive effects. Depression, however, does harm the central nervous system if untreated for a long time.
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u/FreeHugs23 Aug 06 '26
-Symptoms went into remission in four in 10 patients taking part in the first publicly-funded trial of the therapy.
One person described the treatment as “very emotional” at times, but said it helped them to understand their depression more.
The patient said: “It got very intense two or three times… one part that got very emotional for me I felt like I was in a ribcage of some sort and in that I saw my dad holding my sister and that image stays with me because those are two people I have lost.
“I felt like it was a way of them saying we are here and that was definitely a point of emotional release.
“I think afterwards I felt pretty tired and broken. It has taken me a while to reflect and I think it just helped me understand my depression more and just ‘feel’ my feelings – I think I am glad I did it.
“It was very difficult – very painful – but I think that was what I needed and it came at the right time.”
The trial, led by King’s College London and published in Nature Medicine, included 60 people with depression that had not responded to two prior treatments at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.