'Magic Mushrooms' Effective for Severe Depression Batya Swift Yasgur, MA, LSW Medscape, October 20, 2017 https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/887384   Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms,” is a promising intervention for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and appears to offer a rapid, sustained effect, new research shows. Investigators led by David Nutt, MD, PhD, professor of neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, collected pre- and posttreatment fMRI data on the use of psilocybin in 19 patients with severe major depression who had failed to respond to conventional treatments. The patients experience dramatic improvements in depressive symptoms 1 day following treatment; close to half met criteria for full response at [...]