Mushrooms for Depression: Can Psilocybin Alleviate Depressive Symptoms?

By We Level Up FL Treatment Center | Editor Yamilla Francese | Clinically Reviewed By Lauren Barry, LMFT, MCAP, QS, Director of Quality Assurance | Editorial Policy | Research Policy | Last Updated: January 12, 2023

Types of Depression

• Persistent depressive disorder (also called dysthymia): is a depressed mood that lasts for at least two years. A person diagnosed with persistent depressive disorder may have episodes of major Depression along with periods of less severe symptoms, but symptoms must last for two years to be considered a persistent depressive disorder.
• Psychotic Depression: occurs when a person has severe depression plus some form of psychosis, such as having disturbing false fixed beliefs (delusions) or hearing or seeing upsetting things that others cannot hear or see (hallucinations). The psychotic symptoms typically have a depressive “theme,” such as delusions of guilt, poverty, or illness.
• Bipolar disorder: is different from Depression, but it is included in this list because someone with bipolar disorder experiences episodes of extremely low moods that meet the criteria for major Depression (called “Bipolar Depression”). But a person with bipolar disorder also experiences extreme high – euphoric or irritable – moods called “mania” or a less severe form called “hypomania.”
• Postpartum Depression: is much more serious than the “baby blues” (relatively mild depressive and anxiety symptoms that typically clear within two weeks after delivery) that many women experience after giving birth. Women with postpartum Depression experience full-blown major Depression during pregnancy or after delivery (postpartum depression). The feelings of extreme sadness, anxiety, and exhaustion that accompany postpartum depression may make it difficult for these new mothers to complete daily care activities for themselves and/or their babies.
• Seasonal affective disorder: is characterized by the onset of Depression during the winter months, when there is less natural sunlight. This Depression generally lifts during spring and summer. Winter Depression, typically accompanied by social withdrawal, increased sleep, and weight gain, predictably returns every year in seasonal affective disorder.
• SAD Seasonal Depression (Depressed SAD): A form of depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is triggered by the changing of the seasons; it starts and ends about at the same periods each year. If you have SAD like the majority of people do, your symptoms begin in the fall and last through the winter, draining your energy and making you cranky. Typically, these symptoms go away in the spring and summer. SAD less frequently results in depression in the spring or early summer and clears up in the fall or winter. SAD treatment options include medications, psychotherapy, and light therapy (phototherapy).

Depression & Anxiety Statistics

It’s critical to understand the distinction between anxiety and depression. Anxiety, in its most basic form, is an excessive feeling of worry, whereas depression, in its most basic form, is an excessive feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness. It is conceivable for someone to experience depression and anxiety simultaneously.

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Mushrooms and Depression: Psilocybin Treat Depression

Psilocybin Depression: Depression Magic Mushrooms

So how does a psilocybin treatment for depression operate? An individual will consume a small amount of psilocybin under a professional’s supervision in a cozy and secure setting.

Best psychedelic mushrooms for depression: The participant will work with the therapist to integrate their psychedelic session thereafter. The objective is to aid the individual in processing and giving meaning to what they have just gone through.

Recognizing that psychotherapy is a crucial step in this process is key. Working with a therapist aids the person in processing and making sense of their psychedelic experience in a way that could have long-term positive effects on mental health.

Best Mushroom for Depression: Mushroom Dosage For Depression

How much mushrooms to take for depression (psilocybin depression dose)? When it comes to psychedelics, microdosing is taking drugs in doses that are insufficient to have an adverse effect on daily life. Depending on the mushroom dose for depression, it could be taken three to five times each week.

Psychedelics For Depression And Anxiety

Psychedelics for depression: The use of psychedelics was linked to significant reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms as well as an improvement in emotional well-being. With increasing exposure to psychedelics, these benefits became more pronounced, with a ceiling effect. However, after a single lifetime use, improvements were seen.

Psychedelics And Depression

Psychedelic drugs for depression: antidepressant medication fails to help up to 30% of depressed patients. This may be due to biological variations between patients and the fact that pharmacological responses are frequently slow, with some patients giving up after a while. Therefore, there is a pressing need to increase the range of medications available to those who suffer from depression.

The key ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” psilocybin, has been under the spotlight in recent years. Few details are known about how psilocybin really relieves depression in the brain, despite numerous clinical trials demonstrating that it can do so quickly, especially for depression and anxiety linked to cancer.

Can Psychedelic Mushrooms Cause Depression?

Even while mushrooms have been touted as a possible depression treatment, for some people, the changes in brain chemistry might actually worsen or even start depression. The majority of the evidence for improved and worsening depression is anecdotal. People may feel horrible about themselves and their altered abilities as a result of changes to their judgment, learning, and memory, and this diminished self-esteem may be linked to an increase in depression.

Magic Mushrooms Depression: History of Magic Mushrooms For Depression

Mushrooms for depression and anxiety: While psilocybin and other psychedelics are increasingly being studied for their potential therapeutic applications, their use for religious and therapeutic purposes is not new. Psychedelic drugs have long been used in traditional medicine and spiritual ceremonies by many different cultures and religions.

The discovery of LSD in the 1940s sparked a significant deal of investigation into the potential benefits of psychedelic substances for mental health. Thousands of studies on the usage of LSD and psilocybin were undertaken from the 1940s through the 1960s, but this line of research was effectively stopped by the 1970 enactment of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Psilocybin was designated a Schedule I substance by the CSA, which meant it had a “high potential for abuse and dependency” in addition to “no recognized medical benefit.” This rendered all uses of the substance illegal. Researchers were given permission to look into psilocybin’s therapeutic potential in 2006. This study came to the conclusion that psilocybin is generally safe and might improve well-being.

Between 2009 and 2015, 8.5% of respondents to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) said they had used psilocybin at least once.

How To Microdose Mushrooms For Anxiety And Depression? Effects

The effects of psilocybin are comparable to those of LSD. Feelings of euphoria and relaxation may be experienced by individuals. The chemical affects brain circuits that use the neurotransmitter serotonin to function. Perceptions are transformed, and awareness is altered as a result of this action.

Following psilocybin use, individuals may experience the following effects:

• Distorted perceptions, including an altered sense of time or place
• Euphoria
• Hallucinations
• Highly spiritual or introspective experiences

After ingesting psilocybin, hallucinations are frequently reported as a side effect. According to research, this is caused by an increase in communication between various brain networks.

This is thought by some researchers to contribute to psilocybin’s antidepressant effects. It might aid individuals in breaking out from depressed tendencies by altering brain connections and creating new ones.

How Does Psilocybin Work for Depression? Research on Mushrooms To Treat Depression

Are psychedelic mushrooms good for depression? Clinical trials have produced encouraging results, and research into the use of psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression is still in progress. According to a 2016 study, psilocybin therapy was associated with a significant decrease in anxiety and depressive symptoms in cancer patients.

The medication was also connected to a variety of additional advantages in addition to these outcomes. Psilocybin users claimed to have more optimism and higher quality of life after treatment.

Psilocybin Depression Treatment: Mushroom Therapy For Depression

Treating depression with psilocybin: A subsequent study claimed that these results were similarly long-lasting. Five years following treatment, participants still showed a significant reduction in depression symptoms. Between 71 and 100 percent of the patients regarding their experiences with psilocybin-assisted treatment as some of the “most personally important and spiritually significant moments of their lives,” according to the study.

Do mushrooms help with depression? Two doses of psilocybin combined with supportive psychotherapy, according to a 2020 study published in JAMA Psychiatry and conducted by scientists at John Hopkins Medicine, produced immediate and strong antidepressant benefits. About 67% of subjects saw a 50% decrease in their symptoms. They also seem to have a lasting effect. 54% of the subjects who received psilocybin therapy were no longer depressed four weeks following treatment.

Medicinal Mushrooms for Depression: Risks of Mushroom Therapy For Depression Near Me

It is also important to recognize that while psilocybin is generally described as safe, it can also produce unwanted effects such as:

• Delusions
• Drowsiness
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Nervousness
• Panic
• Paranoia
• Psychosis

A “bad trip” is a psychedelic experience that can occasionally occur as a result of psilocybin use. A person may go through this experience with extreme worry and fear. Additionally, it may result in frightful paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations.

It’s vital to only use psilocybin for depression under the guidance of a mental health professional because, while it’s impossible to halt a poor trip, being in a soothing setting with a supporting person might be beneficial.

People who have already gone through manic or psychotic episodes may also be in danger from psilocybin. Because of this, those who suffer from illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder shouldn’t undertake psilocybin-assisted therapy.

Mushroom Depression: Potential of Psilocybin in Therapy

There may come a moment in the future when people can go to a doctor or mental health expert to obtain psilocybin-assisted treatment for their depression, even though it is unlikely that they will be able to pick up a prescription for the drug at their neighborhood drugstore.

Psychedelic Treatment For Depression

Psychedelic treatment for depression near me: Previous research by scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine demonstrated that adults with major depressive disorder experienced major symptom relief after psilocybin therapy for up to a month. The strong antidepressant effects of psilocybin-assisted therapy, when combined with supportive psychotherapy, may endure at least a year for certain patients, according to a follow-up analysis of those individuals.

On February 15, 2022, a report on the new study was released in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Psychedelic Treatments For Depression (Psychedelics Depression)

Psychedelic therapy depression: according to Natalie Gukasyan, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, “our findings add to evidence that, under carefully controlled conditions, this is a promising therapeutic approach that can lead to significant and durable improvements in depression.” But she issues a warning: “People should not attempt to try it on their own. The results we see are in a study setting and require quite a lot of preparation and structured supervision from professional clinicians and therapists.”

Psychedelics for treating depression: research into traditional psychedelics, the pharmacological family of substances that includes psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms, has increased during the past 20 years. Psilocybin can cause perceptual changes, affecting a person’s awareness of their surroundings as well as of their thoughts and feelings, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Psilocybin therapy has shown promise in research settings for treating a variety of addictions and mental health conditions.

Are Psychedelic Mushrooms Good For Depression? Psychedelics Depression Treatment

Psychedelic depression treatment: 27 people with a lengthy history of depression were enrolled in this study, the majority of them had been exhibiting depressive symptoms for two years prior to enrollment. Participants’ average age was 40, 19 of them were female, and 25 of them identified as white, one as African American, and one as Asian. Eighty-eight percent of participants reported having received standard antidepressant treatment in the past, and 58% said they were currently using antidepressants to treat their depressive episodes.

Following the screening, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups, either of which received the intervention right away or eight weeks later. All participants had six to eight hours of preparation meetings with two treatment facilitators prior to the start of treatment.

Following preparation, individuals were administered two doses of psilocybin at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s Behavioral Biology Research Center, spaced roughly two weeks apart from one another between August 2017 and April 2019. 24 participants completed all psilocybin sessions as well as all assessment visits one day and one week after each session, as well as one, three, six, and twelve months after the second session.

We Level Up Dual Diagnosis Treatment

How to get over depression? The exact definition of dual diagnosis (also referred to as co-occurring disorders) can differ between institutions. However, it is generally described as the specific treatment of someone who has been diagnosed with a substance use disorder and a mental health disorder at the same time. Treating dual-diagnosis clients is a critical aspect of our inpatient treatment experience because co-occurring disorders are strongly correlated with instances of substance abuse.

Creating a treatment plan that addresses the physical aspects of withdrawal, the psychological connection with drug use, and managing underlying mental health disorders is part of setting clients up for success.  A thorough mental health analysis identifies possibilities for treatment.  Meeting with mental health counselors and medical care providers means access to behavioral therapy and medication treatment. At our dual diagnosis treatment center, We Level Up can implement the highest quality of care. 

We recognize the fragile complexities of how mental and substance abuse disorders can influence others and sometimes result in a vicious cycle of addiction or in an alcohol depression cycle.  That’s why we offer specialized treatment in dual-diagnosis cases to provide the most excellent chance of true healing and long-lasting recovery. There is no set alcohol depression recovery time, each person has their own time.

It can be challenging to accept that you may be living with a mental illness, but once it is properly diagnosed and treated, treating the presenting case of substance abuse can be magnitudes easier. Only a properly trained medical professional can diagnose these underlying conditions.  If you believe you are suffering from a disorder alongside addiction, we urge you to seek a qualified treatment center to begin your journey to recovery. Call We Level Up today.