Hope ‘magic mushrooms’ could help treat Kiwis with severe depression

A class A hallucinogenic drug could one day help treat hundreds of thousands of Kiwis suffering from severe depression.

Researchers from the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago (Christchurch) plan to launch what they believe to be the country’s first trial of psilocybin (magic mushrooms) to treat severe depression.

Around 17% of Kiwis, approximately 850,000 people, have depression. About a third will get no relief from antidepressant medications and are defined as “treatment resistant”.

Psilocybin, which binds to serotonin receptors in the brain to improve mood, is expected to help this group, along with psychotherapy.

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Mental health nurse and psychotherapist Professor Marie Crowe said psilocybin would be administered in the trial alongside Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy – a type of intervention used in people with mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder.

The therapy focuses on how people’s moods impact their relationships and vice versa, since personal relationships are “closely connected with episodes of depression.” It also looks at the stabilization of circadian rhythms (the sleep/wake cycle), as disruptions to this cycle can trigger mood episodes.

Psilocybin is thought to amplify the effects of the therapy, Crowe said.

Similar research conducted abroad has shown promising results: A trial by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine found substantial antidepressant effects of psilocybin-assisted therapy, given with supportive therapy. lasted up to a year for some patients with major depressive disorder.

New Zealand researchers are also looking at the role ketamine and microdose LSD could play in the treatment of some mood disorders.

Crowe said that a review of people’s experiences with psilocybin use internationally found that a predominant theme was a sense of connection with themselves, others and their environment.

Taking psilocybin gave people “new perspectives on their lives,” he said.

The team would give participants two doses of psilocybin, in capsule form, one week apart, over a 10-week period.

After assessing appropriateness (such as having tried two antidepressants for an adequate period, without improving mood), people would undergo three weekly sessions of psychotherapy to prepare them for the dose.

The drug would be administered by a psychiatrist and a therapist would be present at all times.

The person would then have five more psychotherapy sessions to integrate their psilocybin experience.

Taking psilocybin in such a controlled and comfortable environment would reduce the possibility of a “bad trip” – usually linked to a person’s mood and environment, Crowe said.

The researchers have received regulatory and ethics approvals to import psilocybin into New Zealand; all they are waiting for is funding, she said.

Crowe said that while antidepressants work well for most, there’s a “large” group that don’t get any benefit, and to her knowledge, there haven’t been any major advances in antidepressants for many years.

New Zealand had a problem with access to psychotherapy, despite one of the main findings of the 2018 mental health review that talk therapies need to be more widely available.

“It’s very well known that we need more… and we need it accessible to everyone.”