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A recent paper offered a theory on how psilocybin works to treat depression. Before long, there were memes and accusations of unprofessionalism.
On April 11, Nature Medicine published a paper about what happened in the brains of people with depression who were treated with either an antidepressant called escitalopram or psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. The findings, the paper’s authors wrote, “suggest an antidepressant mechanism for psilocybin therapy,” or a potential way that psilocybin might reduce the symptoms of depression.
This is not the first study to offer promising evidence that psilocybin might be an effective treatment for depression. Exactly how it does so is still elusive, though there are theories. The authors of this paper—several of whom are well-known names in psychedelic research, like UCSF’s Robin Carhart-Harris, formerly of Imperial College London, and neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt—offered a suggestion, writing that psilocybin might lead to a decrease in “brain network modularity,” or an increase in different parts of the brain functionally connecting with each other.
Given the prominence of the journal, and the caliber of the authors, the study immediately garnered attention in the field, as well as media coverage. The BBC wrote that “Psilocybin, a drug found in magic mushrooms, appears to free up the brains of people with severe depression in a way that other antidepressants do not.” Articles reported that psilocybin “may help rewire the brain,” language that emulated the study’s press release.
Inside the Dispute Over a High-Profile Psychedelic Study
A recent paper offered a theory on how psilocybin works to treat depression. Before long, there were memes and accusations of unprofessionalism.
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