How LSD and Mushrooms Could Help Treat Anxiety, Addiction, and Depression

This 2016 Vox video traces the earliest wave of modern clinical research into psilocybin (found in psilocybin mushrooms) and LSD as potential aids for anxiety, addiction, and depression. It follows Alena, a participant in a Johns Hopkins smoking-cessation trial who says she has not smoked since her one supervised psilocybin session, and surveys what researchers found, and still do not know, about the effect. Vox frames the findings as promising but preliminary, a caveat this summary keeps throughout.

One session, then no more cigarettes

Alena had smoked for 37 years before enrolling in a controlled psilocybin trial for smokers. She describes the session as "the most peaceful, joyous, incredible, life-changing experience" of her life, with frightening moments alongside an underlying sense of safety, and a research assistant held her hand through it. Vox reports she has not had a cigarette since. This is one account inside a small study, not a demonstrated treatment.

What the early trials found

Vox reporter German Lopez reviewed dozens of studies for the video and found the clearest signal in treating addiction, OCD, anxiety, and, in some cases, depression. The video is direct that this research remains preliminary and small-sample, partly because LSD and psilocybin are Schedule I drugs in the US, which adds regulatory friction and makes funding harder. In a small pilot study of 15 smokers, 80 percent were reportedly still abstinent six months after a psilocybin session. In a pilot study of 12 patients with advanced cancer and end-of-life anxiety, those who took psilocybin generally showed lower depression scores afterward. A separate, smaller study suggested psilocybin could help some people with alcohol dependence cut back on drinking days.

A brain that talks to itself differently

The video shows an LSD brain-connectivity scan and reports researchers observed a higher degree of communication between brain regions, not confined to the visual cortex. They suggest this may help explain visual hallucinations and, potentially, why the drugs affect mood and behavior. The researchers describe conditions like anxiety, addiction, and depression as the brain becoming "entrenched" in automated, hard-to-change patterns. See Psilocybin and LSD Change How the Brain Talks to Itself for more.

What researchers say may be happening

Albert Garcia-Romeu, the Johns Hopkins researcher who worked on Alena's smoking study, tells Vox that participants often have profound experiences that lead to new insight into their behavior and a reconnection with their values and priorities. The video notes the mechanism is not fully mapped; the working idea it presents is that a subjectively meaningful, sometimes mystical, experience correlates with lasting change, not the drug's pharmacology alone.

How long benefits last, and the risks involved

One open question the video raises directly is durability. A review of LSD-assisted psychotherapy for alcoholism found no statistically significant benefit after 12 months, and a more recent psilocybin and depression study found benefits had significantly diminished after just three months. Vox also names real risks: reactions are hard to predict, people can endanger themselves, and those predisposed to psychotic conditions are described as being at particular risk of a traumatic experience on the drug. See Psychedelic Safety and Harm Reduction for context.

Why this research is only happening now

Because psychedelics are old and unpatentable, Vox notes, pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to fund trials, leaving funding to governments and private donors. Substantial research existed in the 1950s and 60s, but backlash to recreational use in that era, tied to events like Woodstock, dried up funding and stalled the field for decades. Johns Hopkins researcher Matthew Johnson tells Vox these are "among the most debilitating and costly disorders known to humankind," and that for people existing treatments do not help, psychedelics might be worth further study.

Key takeaways

• ●Alena says she quit smoking after 37 years following one supervised psilocybin session, an account inside a small trial, not proof of efficacy.
• ●Vox reporter German Lopez reviewed dozens of studies and found the strongest signal for addiction, OCD, anxiety, and in some cases depression.
• ●In a small pilot study of 15 smokers, 80 percent were reportedly abstinent six months after a psilocybin treatment.
• ●Twelve patients with advanced cancer and end-of-life anxiety generally showed lower depression scores after taking psilocybin, per a pilot study Vox cites.
• ●A separate small study suggested psilocybin could help some people with alcohol dependence reduce drinking days.
• ●LSD brain scans reportedly show increased inter-region connectivity, which researchers suggest may relate to both visual effects and mood outcomes, though the mechanism is not fully understood.
• ●Durability is an open question: benefits from LSD-assisted alcoholism therapy and a psilocybin depression study both diminished within 12 and 3 months, respectively, in the studies cited.
• ●LSD and psilocybin are Schedule I and cannot be patented, so funding relies mainly on governments and private donors; real risks, including for people predisposed to psychotic conditions, remain part of the picture.