AUTHOR: Anne Harding
PUBLICATION NAME: CNN Health
DATE OF PUBLICATION: September 6, 2010
SUMMARY: The study suggested that a "guided "trip" on the hallucinogenic drug, psilocybin" could help those terminally ill cancer patients. In the study, twelve patients were given a small dose of the psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. On the other side of this study, the patients were given placebo pills, but those did little help relieve the patients. After one to three months, patients found that they felt less anxious. In six months, the patients' average score on a scale to measure depression had reduced by thirty percent according to a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Even in follow-up interviews, the patients said that their experiment with the 'magic mushroom' ingredient gave them a different outlook on their illness and helped them come closer to their friends and family.Also, besides the slight in crease of blood pressure and heart rate, there were no negative side affects of the study. It did not increase any anxiety nor did it add any other psychological problems.
Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, says that these studies were important because it showed people can use these compounds in a safe way to handle the symptoms of anxiety. "They're not substances that should be used recreationally or casually, but nonetheless it appears that we can conduct research with these compounds safely," Griffiths also said. Griffiths was not a part of the actual experiment, but he was one of the professors that researched the topic.
LINKS TO STUDY: http://www.health.com/health/
ARTICLE: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/06/magic.mushrooms.ease.anxiety/index.html
SUBMITTED BY: Meera Narayanan
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