Psilocybin acts on receptors in the brain.
Psilocybin, the hallucinogen behind the trippy effects of"magic mushrooms," may help people with alcohol use disorder cut down on or stop drinking when they take the drug in conjunction with talk therapy.
Both treatment groups reduced their drinking during the 32-week trial, but the group given psilocybin improved more dramatically. The rate of heavy drinking in the psilocybin group dropped by about 83% compared with pretreatment levels, compared with a drop of about 51% in the placebo group. Eight months after receiving their first dose, 48% of the psilocybin group had stopped drinking altogether, compared with 24% of the placebo group.
Although relatively small, those early LSD trials hinted that the trip-inducing drug could help patients reduce their alcohol consumption and avoid the negative consequences of alcohol use more effectively than placebo pills or stimulants, such as ephedrine or amphetamine, could. However, political pressures soon brought such psychedelic research to a grinding halt, Nature News reported .
Once recruited, the participants were randomly sorted into two treatment groups — psilocybin or placebo — and in an attempt to reduce bias, both the participants and the trial organizers were unaware of these assignments. However, more than 90% of the participants and supervising therapists correctly guessed which medication had been administered, likely due to the drugs' dissimilar effects.
Trial participants experienced a range of emotions and perceptual experiences while on psilocybin — some pleasant, some painful. However, following the acute experience of their trip, many patients in the placebo group reaped significant benefits from taking the drug, in combination with undergoing therapy."It definitely impacted my life, and I'd say it saved my life," Kostas said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Man says he snapped while making dinner, killed woman and child with large knife: court docsTwo others are hospitalized after the stabbings in the home where marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms were found
Read more »
'Magic mushroom' psychedelic may help heavy drinkers quitThe compound in psychedelic mushrooms helped heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely in the most rigorous test of psilocybin for alcoholism
Read more »
'Magic mushroom' psychedelic may help heavy drinkers quitThe compound in psychedelic mushrooms helped heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely in the most rigorous test of psilocybin for alcoholism. More research is needed to see if the effect lasts and whether it works in a larger study. Many who took a dummy drug instead of psilocybin also succeeded in drinking less, likely because all study participants were highly motivated and received talk therapy.
Read more »
'Magic mushroom' psychedelic may help heavy drinkers quitA new study has show the compound in psychedelic mushrooms helped heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely in the most rigorous test of psilocybin for alcoholism. abc15
Read more »
Demi Lovato Recalls 'Experimenting' With Opioids at 12 After a Car AccidentDemi Lovato has been open about struggling with drugs and alcohol addiction since their first stint in treatment in 2010 — their honest quotes
Read more »