UNDATED (AP)- The compound in psychedelic mushrooms helped heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely in the most rigorous test of psilocybin for alcoholism. The study was published Wednesday (Aug. 24, 2022) in JAMA Psychiatry. More research is needed to see if the effect lasts. The study involved 93 patients who took either psilocybin or a dummy medicine. They received two such sessions, one month apart. All patients also received 12 sessions of talk therapy and were followed for eight months. The patients taking psilocybin reduced their heavy drinking compared to the other group. And almost half stopped drinking entirely compared to 24% of the control group.
Mary Beth Orr holds an embroidery panel from her “stitch journal” as she poses for a photo in her home, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022 in Burien, Wash., south of Seattle. Orr used to have five or six drinks every evening and more on weekends before she enrolled in a study in 2018 to see if the compound in psychedelic mushrooms could help heavy drinkers cut back or quit entirely. She stopped drinking entirely for two years, and now has an occasional glass of wine, and credits psilocybin for her progress.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren.
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