Last Updated on May 15, 2026 by Jaspreet Kaur
Depression is a problem that affects a lot of people. It can make people feel sad and tired all the time. They might lose interest in things they used to like. Even simple things can feel really hard to do. Doctors often give people medicine for depression. It can take a long time to start working. Sometimes it does not work at all. The medicine can also have side effects.
Now some researchers at the Karolinska Institutet found out that psilocybin might help people with depression. Psilocybin is a kind of medicine that comes from magic mushrooms. They did a study and found out that people who took psilocybin started to feel better in just a few days.
This is a deal because it means that psilocybin could be a new way to treat depression. It might be faster than the medicines we use now.
Study Design
The researchers studied 35 people who had depression. They were all between 20 and 65 years old. The researchers split them into two groups. One group got a dose of psilocybin. The other group got a treatment that was like a vitamin. Both groups got help from therapists before, during and after the treatment.
The people in the study wore masks and listened to music. They were supposed to think about their feelings during the treatment. The researchers used a test to see how the people were feeling. They did this test after 8 days, 15 days, 42 days and after one year.
Rapid Results
The results were really surprising. The people who got psilocybin started to feel better in 8 days. They got a lot better than the people who got the treatment. This was a difference.
The people who got psilocybin also said they were feeling better. They said this started to happen a couple of days after the treatment. They kept feeling better for more than three months.
After six weeks a lot of the people who got psilocybin were not depressed anymore. A few people in the other group were not depressed.
Safety Concerns
Even though psilocybin seems to work it is not completely safe. Some people got really anxious and scared. They needed to see a doctor. The researchers said that psilocybin should only be used in a medical setting with a doctor and therapist.
Another problem is that people can guess if they got the treatment or not. This can affect the results of the study.
Future Research
The researchers want to do studies to see how psilocybin works. They want to know if it can help people with depression in the future. They also want to know if it can help prevent depression from coming
They will use tests, like PET scans to see how psilocybin affects the brain. They think that psilocybin might help the brain work better. This could be a way to treat depression.
The researchers are hopeful that psilocybin could be a tool to help people with depression.. They need to do more research before it can be used as a medicine.