Psilocybin. Photo: supplied / Imperial College London / Thomas Angus
Researchers are warning that mushrooms might not be a magic treatment for depression.
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring hallucinogenic compound found in so-called magic mushrooms.
Earlier this year, Medsafe gave a New Zealand psychiatrist permission to give it to people with depression when other treatments didn't work.
However, Dr Ben Beaglehole from Otago University says there is not yet enough good research on psilocybin to know whether it works well and is safe.
"I think the excitement will generate expectations and other psychiatrists will be interested in offering the treatment, but in my view, it probably better sits with research groups and certainly doesn't seem to be more than a niche treatment for people with depression because of the difficulties of providing the treatment course."
He says psilocybin as a depression treatment is time-consuming, expensive, and the compound is not readily available.
"I think treatment-resistant depression is an awful thing for patients. I think doctors would love it if we had better treatments to provide people with treatment-resistant depression. So it's understandable that people are looking for answers and there's excitement about new treatments. In my view, the evidence for psilocybin treatment of depression is still in its infancy and at this stage it probably is better situated with the research community."
Beaglehole has been researching the use of ketamine as a depression treatment. He says it works differently to conventional anti-depressions, producing positive benefits earlier. However he says some of the same limitations to the psilocybin literature apply to ketamine including how much of the benefits relate to placebo effects vrs how much relates to the drug.
He says ketamine is better suited to a wider roll-out for people resistant to other depression treatments.
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