Just 1 dose of magic mushroom compound eases depression for at least 5 years in most patients,...

Half a decade after receiving a psychedelic treatment for depression, two-thirds of patients in a new study remained in remission.
Psilocybin, the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, can alleviate depression for at least five years after a single dose, a new study finds.

The research, presented June 18 at the Psychedelic Science 2025 conference in Denver, focused on patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), which is often called clinical depression. The serious mood disorder causes a persistent feeling of sadness and a loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyable. The most common treatments for MDD include talk therapy and medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and both can take a long time to show any benefits.

When early studies hinted at psilocybin's potential as an antidepressant, a team of researchers undertook the first-ever randomized clinical trial to explore the use of the psychedelic for treating severe depression. The trial included 24 patients, half of whom received psilocybin at the very start of the trial and half of whom received the same dose eight weeks later—the "waitlist" group. Each patient also received 11 hours of psychotherapy.