Magic mushrooms 'reboot' brain in depressed people – study

Patients unresponsive to conventional treatments benefit when treated with natural psychoactive compound, but researchers warn against self medication

Magic mushrooms may effectively "reset" the activity of key brain circuits known to play a role in depression, the latest study to highlight the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics suggests.

Psychedelics have shown promising results in the treatment of depression and addictions in a number of clinical trials over the last decade. Imperial College London researchers used psilocybin - the psychoactive compound that occurs naturally in magic mushrooms - to treat a small number of patients with depression, monitoring their brain function, before and after.