Magic mushrooms link parts of the brain that are more segregated in persons with depression, laying the path for a new approach to treating the ailment than traditional drugs.

Psilocybin, a hallucinogenic substance found in fungus, was discovered to help “open up” and increase communication inside the brain for up to three weeks by Imperial College London researchers. According to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the consequence was a freeing impact not found with the standard antidepressant Lexapro.

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New therapeutic techniques are required since present first-line medications fail to fully recover one in every three patients. According to the World Health Organization, up to 5% of individuals worldwide suffer from depression, making it difficult to function in daily life.

“These findings are important because for the first time we find that psilocybin works differently from conventional antidepressants — making the brain more flexible and fluid, and less entrenched in the negative thinking patterns associated with depression,” said David Nutt, director of the Imperial Centre of Psychedelic Research and a senior author of the paper.

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The researchers compared brain scans of individuals before and after they got psilocybin-assisted treatment with a traditional antidepressant, escitalopram. The antidepressant was shown to have a milder, slower impact than the magic mushroom component.

According to Nutt, doctors may need to assess which strategy is best for particular individuals. He believes that in a few years, people will be able to choose between taking a tablet every day and experiencing a psychedelic experience.

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According to Nutt, the brains of people who suffer from depression often have circuits that become increasingly separated from one another, a situation that is connected to negative cognitive bias, rigid thought patterns, and concentration on oneself and the future. The study discovered that psilocybin helped parts of the brain connect better with one another, resulting in patients experiencing “emotional release,” optimism, and more psychological flexibility.

The findings are encouraging for future study into other mental diseases. Nutt’s group is presently researching the use of psychedelics in the treatment of anorexia and hopes to acquire money to test psilocybin as a therapy for addiction.