Psilocybin
The mushroom extract psilocybin has been used traditionally as a part of religious and spiritual ceremonies, and is beginning to be recognized for its neuropsychiatric therapeutic potential.
Psilocybin falls into the hallucinogenic class of tryptamines with DMT, ayahuasca, and ibogaine. This serotonergic drug acts at the 5HT receptors in the brain which has effects on mood, cognition, and learning memory. Psilocybin is thought to have one of the strongest safety profiles.
Psilocybin is being researched for its therapeutic effect on:
- Alcohol dependence
- Stimulant dependence
- Cocaine addiction
- Nicotine addiction
- Cannabis dependence
- Anxiety disorders like PTSD, GAD, OCD
- Major depressive disorder and treatment resistant depression
In addition to having the potential to treat mood and anxiety disorders, psilocybin has also demonstrated analgesic effects as evidenced by numerous clinical studies on the treatment of cluster (“suicide”) headaches, intractable phantom-limb pain (PLP), and chronic pain. In some cases, psilocybin was comparable to or more efficacious than traditional medications such as opioids. [source]