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The "spiritual" effects of psilocybin from so-called sacred
mushrooms last for more than a year and may offer a way to help
patients with fatal diseases or addictions, U.S. researchers reported .
The researchers also said their findings show there are safe ways to test psychoactive on willing volunteers, if guidelines are followed. drugs
In 2006, Roland
Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and
colleagues gave psilocybin to 36 volunteers and asked them how it felt.
Most reported having a "mystical" or "spiritual" experience and rated it positively.
More than a year
later, most still said the experience increased their sense of
well-being or life satisfaction, Griffiths and colleagues report in the
Journal of Psychopharmacology.
"This is a truly
remarkable finding," Griffiths said in a statement. "Rarely in
psychological research do we see such persistently positive reports
from a single event in the laboratory."
The findings may
offer a way to help treat extremely anxious and depressed patients, or
people with addictions, said Griffiths, whose work was funded by the
U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"This gives
credence to the claims that the mystical-type experiences some people
have during hallucinogen sessions may help patients suffering from cancer-related anxiety or depression and may serve as a potential treatment for drug dependence," Griffiths said.
Sacred/adj. /:
holy, worthy of reverence; sanctified
Psychoactive/
adj. /:
drug and etc. that causes mind not to be in the control
Mystical/adj. /:
pertaining to or derived from mysticism
Suffer/v. /:
feel pain, experience loss or harm
Abuse/n. /:
misuse; maltreatment
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