{"id":358565,"date":"2026-04-01T12:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358565\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T12:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:40:16","slug":"psychedelic-therapy-reduces-mental-illness-symptoms-emj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358565\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychedelic Therapy Reduces Mental Illness Symptoms \u2013 EMJ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A SINGLE cycle of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with LSD or psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, significantly improves symptoms of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/neurology\/news\/depression-and-gut-health-as-signs-of-progressive-supranuclear-palsy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">depression<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/neurology\/news\/brief-virtual-therapy-may-ease-anxiety-in-pregnancy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">anxiety<\/a>, a large-scale 2026 Swiss cohort study has found.<\/p>\n<p>The fully active dose session was well tolerated by participants.<\/p>\n<p>Psychedelics and Mental Illness in Controlled Trials<\/p>\n<p>Serotonergic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/general-healthcare\/news\/the-promise-of-psychedelics-for-hard-to-treat-ocd\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">psychedelics<\/a>, like LSD and psilocybin, have shown promising antidepressant effects in controlled trials.<\/p>\n<p>For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/general-healthcare\/news\/dmt-rapidly-reduces-major-depression-symptoms\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DMT has recently shown efficacy in significantly reducing symptoms of major depressive disorder<\/a> following a single short-acting psychedelic intervention.<\/p>\n<p>However, real-world data from routine clinical care is limited, researchers reported.<\/p>\n<p>Real-World Application of Psychedelic Therapy<\/p>\n<p>The compassionate-use real-world study assessed routine data from 115 adults with treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, or a combination of the two.<\/p>\n<p>Participants received a first cycle of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with 100 \u00b5g LSD or 25 mg psilocybin at a Swiss university hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured by self-reporting at one month prior to treatment and 1\u20133 months after therapy.<\/p>\n<p>Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Substantially Improved<\/p>\n<p>Depressive and anxiety symptoms decreased substantially over time.<\/p>\n<p>Analyses of cognitive emotion regulation, from before and after treatment, revealed that participants experienced reduced self-blame, rumination, and catastrophising.<\/p>\n<p>They also reported increased positive refocusing and reappraisal.<\/p>\n<p>Perceived intensity differed between those assigned LSD and participants who took psilocybin, but the safety profiles and clinical outcomes of the respective psychedelics were consistent.<\/p>\n<p>There were no serious complications or treatment discontinuations and adverse events were mild, researchers reported.<\/p>\n<p>Psychedelics Show Promise for Psychiatric Care<\/p>\n<p>The success of the study supports the feasibility and effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy\u00a0 with LSD or psilocybin in specialised routine care for patients with treatment-resistant depression and anxiety, researchers reported.<\/p>\n<p>They warned, however, that future studies are warranted to confirm effectiveness, clarify the mechanisms behind the findings, and inform safe implementation in clinical settings.<\/p>\n<p>Reference<\/p>\n<p>Aboulafia-Brakha T et al. Real-world effectiveness and safety of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: Outcomes from a large-scale compassionate use cohort in Switzerland. Psychiatry Res. 2026;DOI:10.1016\/j.psychres.2026.<\/p>\n<p>Featured image: betka82 on Adobe Stock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A SINGLE cycle of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with LSD or psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, significantly improves symptoms&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-358565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}