An interest in using psychedelics, including MDMA and psilocybin contained in magic mushrooms, for medical purposes isn’t new these days. The number of successful clinical trials on hallucinogenic drugs grows year after year, and treating depression remains one of the most common applications of these substances. Scientists suggest that treating depression with hallucinogens provides fewer side effects than antidepressants. That sounds promising, isn’t it? Let’s determine what works better: shrooms or antidepressants in the article.
Do psychedelic mushrooms work for depression?
When comparing psychedelics to antidepressants for depression treatment, we can rely on data from recent studies. For instance, according to a study in 2016 conducted by London researchers, a single dose of psilocybin helped participants cope with moderate to severe depression, ensuring lasting effects. So, are antidepressants the same as psychedelics?
Scientists within the mentioned study concluded that psilocybin offered antidepressant effects for a couple of months when they occur in the first week after treatment. However, as an investigation didn’t involve the control group of participants who hadn’t taken the drug to compare the results, it is challenging to know for sure that psilocybin was efficient for depression.
Could psilocybin be as effective as antidepressants?
According to researchers, psilocybin has the potential to make our brain more flexible, but this chemical works not in the same way as antidepressants. This psychedelic substance will likely open the brain in a person suffering from depressive states and reduce negative thinking patterns. The brain activity might be pretty harsh in depression, but psychedelic mushrooms can change these patterns of brain functionality more effectively than traditional psychotherapy. Therefore, scientists believe psilocybin could become an efficient alternative to healing depression.
Can psychedelics replace antidepressants?
Regarding psychedelics vs. antidepressants, the psychedelic drug could perform as good as common antidepressants in relieving typical depression symptoms, according to a recent 6-week trial. A study led by Robin Carhart-Harris is one of the current studies comparing psychedelics to antidepressants for depression treatment. Participants with moderate to severe depression were divided into two groups – the first received psilocybin, and the second took escitalopram, a kind of antidepressant. Researchers concluded that psilocybin showed more promising results than the antidepressant, improving participants’ wellness and promoting their ability to show emotions and social adaptation. This way, it is possible that psychedelics will replace antidepressants soon when researchers gain more data from clinical trials.
Why psychedelics are better than antidepressants?
The truth is that concern around shrooms and antidepressants is quite widespread in modern science. Psychedelics combined with psychotherapy can potentially treat depression in patients efficiently. Moreover, magic mushrooms could have even more rapid results for healing depressive states, being helpful with only single ingestion! The effects of this hallucinogenic drug were compared with standard antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. However, the illegality of psychedelics in numerous states can prevent their prevalence in the medical field.