--- title: "Taking Psilocybin Just Once Eases Treatment-Resistant Depression in Study" description: "A new, large study out of Oxford found that just a single synthetic mushroom \"trip\" can help ease depression symptoms for multiple months." date: "2022-11-04" modified: "2022-11-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/psilocybin-treatment-resistant-depression" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "Treatments" tags: - "depression" - "magic mushrooms" - "psilocybin" - "psychedelics" --- # Taking Psilocybin Just Once Eases Treatment-Resistant Depression in Study ![A new, large study out of Oxford found that just a single synthetic mushroom "trip" can help ease depression symptoms for multiple months.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* Building on the growing [body of work]() surrounding "magic mushrooms" that produce the psychoactive compound psilocybin, a new study suggests that just one dose of a synthetically-made version can help ease the worst symptoms of depression. Published [in the *New England Journal of Medicine*](), the findings from this randomized and double-blind clinical trial — which the study authors call "the largest of its kind" — are pretty, well, trippy. The synthetic psilocybin is called "COMP360" by its creator, Dr. Guy Goodwin, who serves as both as an Oxford University professor emeritus of psychiatry and as chief medical officer of COMPASS Pathways, which manufactures the compound, [*CNN* notes in a writeup]() of the study. "This drug can be extracted from magic mushrooms, but that is not the way our compound is generated," Goodwin told *CNN*. "It’s synthesized in a purely chemical process to produce a crystalline form." While COMP360 is not the same thing as eating stems or crushed up mushrooms inside a large DIY pill capsule, its effects appear to be **s**imilar — including the post-trip afterglow, which the researchers described as being highest the day after taking the 25 milligram dosage. Every participant in the 233-person study, which was conducted at 22 sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, had treatment-resistant depression, a diagnosis given when an individual doesn't respond to two or more types of antidepressant medication. All who were on antidepressants were advised to taper off of their medicine prior to the trial because these medications can counteract the benefits of psychedelics, though they were able to go back on them if necessary, *CNN* noted. Depression levels in the participants were measured just before their "trips" and then at various points in the days and weeks after. The results were striking: the researchers found that overall, 37 percent of the trial patients experienced an improvement in symptoms and 29 percent were even "in remission" three weeks after the study. "The maximum effect (was) seen the day after receiving the treatment," Dr. Anthony Cleare, a psychopharmacology professor at King's College London who was not involved in the study, told *CNN*. "This contrasts with standard antidepressants, which take several weeks to reach maximum effect." Something unfortunate seemed to happen around 12 weeks after the treatment, however: those who experienced an easing of their depression symptoms said it began to return. "The effects did start to wear off by three months, and we need to know how best to prevent the depression returning," Cleare said. As Dr. Ravi Das, an associate professor of educational psychology at University College London who was also not involved in the study told *CNN*, "this is not a spectacular response rate for a psychiatric treatment... and we would only expect this to worsen over a longer follow-up period." There's obviously much more research that needs to be done to determine the dosage and frequency of these sorts of treatments — which both boosters and detractors admitted in *CNN*'s interviews — to figure out how to fine-tune it as an alternative form of depression treatment and mitigate the classic psilocybin side effects, which include nausea and dizziness. Nevertheless, this large, first-of-its-kind study has huge implications for the power of psychedelic mental health treatment, and the backing of storied institutions like Oxford and the *NEJM* to boot. **More on psychedelics:** [*Elon Musk Has Reportedly Been Telling Friends About Benefits of Shrooms and MDMA*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()