Texas team pushes magic mushrooms for terminal patients

Magic mushrooms could be offered to women suffering with terminal cancer to help with anxiety and depression, doctors have said.

Psilocybe cubensis, known colloquially as magic mushrooms, could help tackle depression, a Texas research team believes. Picture: AFP.

Magic mushrooms could be offered to women suffering with terminal cancer to help with anxiety and depression, doctors have said.

A research team at the University of Texas has launched a study to examine how psychedelic drugs can help women to cope with their diagnosis and treatment. They said existing options, such as therapy or anti-depressants, could take too long to work and often were not a realistic option for patients who were very sick.

However, supervised doses of psilocybin – the active compound in magic mushrooms – could deliver “long-lasting” antidepressant effects after only one or two sessions.

Writing in the International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer, the doctors said their cancer patients faced “physical and psychological challenges”.

Up to a quarter of ovarian cancer patients report depression, anxiety and death anxiety, particularly those with young children or those suffering chronic side-effects of treatment.

Psilocybin has shown promise in clinical trials for people with treatment-resistant depression, addictions and other mental health conditions.

This year Australia said it would allow prescriptions for psilocybin for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatrists and mental health charities are calling for it to be legal for use in Britain.

THE TIMES