{"id":223858,"date":"2025-10-19T05:11:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T05:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/223858\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T05:11:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T05:11:32","slug":"new-clinical-trial-in-ontario-uses-magic-mushrooms-to-treat-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/223858\/","title":{"rendered":"New clinical trial in Ontario uses magic mushrooms to treat anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>A new clinical trial at Kingston Health Sciences Centre could mark a turning point in how <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/anxiety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">anxiety<\/a> is treated in Canada.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760811489_47_70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>For the first time in Canada, researchers are studying the effects of micro-dose <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/psilocybin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">psilocybin<\/a>, the active ingredient found in magic mushrooms, on people living with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are significant unmet needs among people living with generalized anxiety disorder, and they are seeking effective, well-tolerated treatments,\u201d said Dr. Claudio Soares, principal investigator and attending physician in KHSC\u2019s Mental Health and Addiction program.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/healthiq.jpg\" alt=\"Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n<p>Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Psilocybin is being tested for its potential to reduce anxiety without causing hallucinations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot everybody has access to treatment, but also not everybody can tolerate medications for anxiety,\u201d said Soares.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey might have sexual dysfunction or weight gain. So we\u2019re always looking for novel alternatives, novel treatments, and psilocybin has emerged as one of the options to treat anxiety disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The study will run over eight weeks and involve up to 60 participants taking either psilocybin or a placebo daily at home.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11484097\/avian-flu-ostriches\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760850692_196_05792adae81e85b07f2e0cb9495f84816d6670dfb75494a29a70bf50410ed20d_7989c7.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tThird arrest made in connection with B.C ostrich farm\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11484264\/trump-protests-global\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760850692_20_fc2cd33d0f4374dc675bb7df955f4374646be16b4424804b8d381dc6a7b982f9_a28f01.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tTrump in the crosshairs: \u2018No Kings Day\u2019 rallies draw hundreds of thousands\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Researchers say the initial results are encouraging, with some participants noticing reduced anxiety within the first week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis study represents a major shift, a new way of targeting anxiety by engaging the brain in novel ways, but without the sedation or emotional numbing caused by many of the current medications used to treat anxiety,\u201d said Soares.<\/p>\n<p>With more than 1.6 million Canadians affected by GAD, researchers are hopeful the trial will offer a safer and more accessible treatment alternative.<\/p>\n<p>If successful, larger-scale studies could follow, bringing new hope to those living with anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Health<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size A new clinical trial at Kingston Health Sciences Centre could&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1232,45,49,48,84,107206],"class_list":["post-223858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-anxiety","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-magic-mushrooms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}