Chris Moore, writing for MERRY JANE:
In the original 2016 study, researchers gave a single dose of psilocybin to 29 people suffering from life-threatening forms of cancer. Each of these patients was previously diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression as a direct result of their illness. Six months after taking this single dose, between 60 and 80 percent of patients reported a significant reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Years later, the original research team followed up with patients from the original study to see if the positivity generated from the psilocybin experience was still in effect. Out of the surviving 16 patients, 15 agreed to take additional psychological assessments between 3.2 and 4.5 years after the initial study.
“Reductions in anxiety, depression, hopelessness, demoralization, and death-anxiety were sustained at the first and second follow-ups,” the authors wrote in the follow-up study, published in the Journal of Pharmacology. At the second follow-up, 4.5 years after the original study, 60 to 80 percent of patients still showed signs of decreased anxiety and depression. “Participants overwhelmingly (71-100%) attributed positive life changes to the psilocybin-assisted therapy experience and rated it among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives.”
What a remarkable result. To think that a person who suffers from anxiety or depression could eat a few magic mushrooms (or in this case, take a psilocybin pill) alongside a trained psychotherapist and experience significant mental health improvements for the next 4.5 years is simply amazing. The pharmaceutical industry is almost certainly taking note of this news and will do its damnedest to find a way to capitalize on psychedelics like psilocybin.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that although this follow-up study reported excellent results, it focused on a very small group of subjects: only 15 people agreed to participate. But these data do confirm something that myself and others around the world have found to be true anecdotally—psychedelics, taken with the proper set and setting in mind and with a focus on preparation and integration, can be incredibly healing medicines.