Apparently so, according to data from a new clinical trial conducted by London-based pharmaceutical company COMPASS Pathways.
The mid-stage study involved 233 patients with so-called treatment-resistant depression who have failed to benefit from at least two antidepressants.
Each participant received a single 25 milligram, 10 milligram or a 1 milligram dose of a synthetic formulation of the compound psilocybin.
Psilocybin is the main psychoactive ingredient found in magic mushrooms.
After three weeks, researchers found that patients who received the highest dose had significantly reduced symptoms of depression…versus those given the lower dose.
Guy Goodwin, Chief medical officer at COMPASS, says the trial is the largest of its kind. "The treatment we're trying to employ is psilocybin comp 360. That's a crystalline synthetic form of psilocybin, which we give as a single administration to patients with psychological support. And we have followed them up after this treatment for up to 12 weeks."
So how does the drug actually work? While existing antidepressants typically take weeks to kick in, a dose of psilocybin quickly transports patients into a "waking dream-like" state that lasts between four to six hours.
Consultant psychiatrist at Kings College London, James Rucker, explains "It's like a sort of amplifier of mental processes. There are some characteristic effects like mis-perceptions so things can start to look strange, your sense of time can slow up or speed up or slow down. And the idea with psilocybin therapy is to go to the dark places in your mind where you might find a little gem of insight about why you might be feeling the way you're feeling."
The study showed that about 20% of patients in the highest dose group – 25mg – saw a sustained response after three months, versus roughly 10% in the 1mg control group.
Rucker says these findings are a step in the right direction, given patients suffering from depression currently have limited treatment options.
Other experts caution that while the trial's findings are positive, they are not spectacular. Ravi Das, associate professor at the University College London Institute of Mental Health points out that there were uneven number of severely depressed patients in each group; with significantly fewer severely depressed people in the apparent "effective" high dose group.
And although patients were only enrolled if they were not considered to be at a clinically significant risk of suicide, three participants in the high dose group demonstrated suicidal behavior within 12 weeks of treatment.
But Goodwin says by studying depression, suicidality is going to be a feature of the illness course.
"This is the springboard for going to phase three, which requires bigger studies, studies that really are definitive and which will also give us a clearer view of how we treat people in the long term."
Psychoactive ingredients, whether derived from cannabis, LSD or magic mushrooms, have long captivated mental health researchers.
Psilocybin is classified as having no medicinal value in most regions.
Navigating the complex legal hurdles to access these compounds has slowed the pace of research but with motivated scientists and a growing burden of poorly treated mental health conditions, the field of psychedelic research has exploded.
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