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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey there,

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. Depression treatment is better

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Speaker 1: now than ever before, thanks to a variety of prescription

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Speaker 1: drug options and improved therapy techniques, but in some cases

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Speaker 1: these proven therapies fall short. However, magic mushrooms just might

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Speaker 1: be the key to giving those with depressions some much

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Speaker 1: needed relief, according to a recent study by researchers at

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Speaker 1: Imperial College London published in the journal Scientific Reports. The

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Speaker 1: albeit small study looked at the effects of psilocybin on

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Speaker 1: nineteen patients for whom conventional depression therapies failed. Psilocybin is

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Speaker 1: the psychoactive compound that is naturally present in two hundred

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Speaker 1: types of magic mushrooms. The researchers described the results as

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Speaker 1: rapid and sustained. In fact, within weeks, the patients reported

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Speaker 1: fewer depression symptoms, with several of them describing a brain reset.

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Speaker 1: This reportedly lasts for up to five weeks post treatment.

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Speaker 1: Other studies have shown positive effects from using LSD and

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Speaker 1: m d M a, the act of ingredient in ecstasy,

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Speaker 1: to treat some mental illnesses, but this is the first

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Speaker 1: study to look at the effect of psilocybin on depression.

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Speaker 1: Dr Robin Carhart Harris, head of psychedelic research at Imperial

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Speaker 1: and leader of the study, said in a press release

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Speaker 1: we have shown for the first time clear changes in

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Speaker 1: brain activity and depressed people treated the psilocybin after failing

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Speaker 1: to respond to conventional treatments. Several of our patients described

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Speaker 1: feeling reset after the treatment and often used computer analogies.

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Speaker 1: For example, one set he felt like his brain had

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Speaker 1: been defragged like a computer hard drive, and another set

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Speaker 1: he felt rebooted. Psilocybin maybe giving these individuals the temporary

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Speaker 1: kickstart they need to break out of their depressive states,

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Speaker 1: and these imaging results do tentatively support a reset analogy.

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Speaker 1: Similar brain effects to these have been seen with electric

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Speaker 1: convulsive therapy, which by the way, is not as scary

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Speaker 1: as it looks in movies and can be a real

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Speaker 1: help to those for whom other therapies don't work. In

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Speaker 1: the study, participants were given two doses of psilocybin a

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Speaker 1: week apart. Functional MRI s done after each dose showed

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Speaker 1: reduced blood flow in certain areas of the brain, particularly

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Speaker 1: the amygdala, which is credited with processing fear, stress and

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Speaker 1: emotional responses. Greater stability in a different brain network was

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Speaker 1: also revealed. The tests appear to show that people undergo

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Speaker 1: a temporary disintegration of brain networks during a trip, but

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Speaker 1: reintegration follows soon after. Psilocybin has been used for medicinal

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Speaker 1: purposes for centuries and became a popular recreational drug beginning

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties. Researchers warned that people should not

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Speaker 1: attempt to self medicate, as the experimental treatment was conducted

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Speaker 1: in tandem with other therapy. They also note these small

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Speaker 1: size of the study group and the absence of a

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Speaker 1: control group as cautions before making applications to the general population. However,

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Speaker 1: the study author's right accumulating evidence suggests that psilocybin with

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Speaker 1: accompanying psychological support can be used safely to treat a

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Speaker 1: range of psychiatric conditions, including end of life anxiety and depression,

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Speaker 1: alcohol and tobacco addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, and, most recently

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Speaker 1: from our group, treatment resistant major to ossion. They planned

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Speaker 1: test psilocybin against a major antidepressant in another trial. Despite

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Speaker 1: these positive results, psilocybin can also cause some pretty crazy

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Speaker 1: side effects, like panic attacks, paranoia, strange reactions and outbursts. Also,

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Speaker 1: eating the wrong mushroom to get high may result in poisoning,

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Speaker 1: so seriously, don't undertake this treatment on your own. Today's

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Speaker 1: episode was written by Alia Hoyt and produced by Tristan McNeil.

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Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other psychedelic topics,

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Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com