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In one of the biggest studies ever run to examine the relationship between psychedelics and mental health therapy, researchers from NYU have found that psilocybin—more commonly known as magic mushrooms—is incredibly effective at treating alcohol use disorder.
The study—which was published on August 24 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry and is the first of its kind to involve a placebo-controlled trial—recruited 93 participants with alcohol dependence. The volunteers who received two doses of psilocybin combined with psychotherapy saw an 83 percent reduction in heavy drinking days within eight months of treatment. Meanwhile, those who received an antihistamine placebo paired with psychotherapy only saw a 51 percent reduction.
Most encouragingly, 48 percent of volunteers who received the magic mushroom treatment stopped drinking entirely after the eight months, whereas just 24 percent of the placebo group stopped drinking altogether.
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