Magic mushrooms have an active ingredient known as psilocybin that may have a 'reset' or 'reboot' effect on the brains of the people suffering from depression and it can help them to overcome it, revealed a recent study.
After just two psilocybin experiences, the study participants felt an improvement and described it as a sense of their brains 'rebooting'. Most of the participants felt immediate relief from their depression. However, researchers warn people not to go on eating magic mushrooms thinking it to be an easy cure for the mental health issue.
According to Daily Mail, Imperial College London's head of psychedelic research, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris recruited around 20 participants whose depression had been unresponsive to antidepressants and asked them to try the psilocybin treatment twice.
After the treatment when the participants were interviewed, Dr Carhart-Harris said: "Without being prompted or asked, several of them described the feeling of having their brains 'rebooted'."
He added that one person compared 'their brain to a hard drive and said it was like a defragmentation process. Things seemed to be working more efficiently afterwards.
Dr Carhart-Harris described the psilocybin's effect on the default network like 'taking a system and temporarily scrambling it, then allowing it to reform.'
The best part is, unlike conventional antidepressants, benefits of the treatment began almost immediately.
Research shows that psilocybin and other psychedelics can be used for treating alcoholism and addictions, but psychedelics are illegal in most countries and are quite far from being approved for clinical use.
He compared using psilocybin with physical exercise saying: "If you want to get really fit, you might have to go for a bit of pain in order to get really fit. Maybe the same thing is true for mental health."
