Magic Mushrooms, Psychotherapy Cut Heavy Drinking: U.S. Study

Adding psychedelics to psychotherapy helped treat adults' heavy drinking problem more than psychotherapy alone, a study published Wednesday says, Judy Packer-Tursman reported for United Press International (UPI).

Photo Insert: The investigators said that although classic psychedelic medications have shown promise in treating alcohol use disorder, the efficacy of psilocybin is just being studied now.

Giving high-dose psilocybin -- the psychedelic, mind-altering compound found in magic mushrooms -- twice to patients with alcohol use disorder, combined with psychotherapy, helped reduce the number of heavy drinking days more than a placebo medication and therapy.

And eight months after their first dose, 48% of the study's participants who received psilocybin stopped drinking completely. That's the gist of research findings published in JAMA Psychiatry.

These results provide support for further study of psilocybin-assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder, according to the research team led by Dr. Michael P. Bogenschutz, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Bogenschutz also is director of the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine, where he has studied psilocybin for the past decade.

The investigators said that although classic psychedelic medications have shown promise in treating alcohol use disorder, the efficacy of psilocybin is just being studied now.

During a press conference in New York on Wednesday, Bogenschutz described alcohol use disorder as a very serious, undertreated problem -- and said the effectiveness of current medications and psychotherapies, unlike psilocybin, tends to be minimal and don't work for many patients.

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