CLEVELAND (WJW) — One year after the Cleveland Clinic announced a clinical trial of the psychedelic drug LSD in treatment of anxiety disorders, it’s preparing for a new study on treating depression with psilocybin , the psychoactive ingredient in so-called “magic” mushrooms.
More than 50 sites have joined in the trial to research the drug’s impact on patients diagnosed with depression that hasn’t been resolved by other treatments, according to a news release from the clinic.
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Patients are expected to receive capsules containing either psilocybin or a placebo, then be monitored for at least six hours by a therapist, according to the release. Researchers will follow up with participants over the following year.
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring compound created by more than 200 species of fungi. It can affect serotonin in the brain, affecting mood, cognition and perception, according to the release.
“We do know that people develop powerful insights under [psychedelics], and they and they might see a connection to something that happened in their life and their psychiatric condition or their substance use disorder and that can be pivotal for them to change the direction of how their going to deal with it,” Dr. Brian Barnett, of the Cleveland Clinic’s Treatment Resistant Depression Clinic, told FOX 8 News in September .