In late August, a JAMA Psychiatry article detailed the results of the largest-ever clinical trial of a drug called psilocybin.
It’s a psychedelic found in so-called “magic mushrooms.”
The study found that a combination of psilocybin and talk therapy reduced drinking by 80% after eight months of therapy.
To talk about this, Dr. Christopher Pittenger, a Yale School of Medicine professor and director of the Yale OCD Research Clinic, joined "All Things Considered." He says he’s not only encouraged by the study, but also by the interest Connecticut legislators have shown in one day making psilocybin therapy available to people it could help.
Dr. Pittenger cautions that the therapy is still being tested, so no health professional can offer it right now. However, he does note that universities are regularly looking for willing subjects to take part in clinical trials.
If you would like to explore becoming part of a university psilocybin clinical trial, Dr. Pittenger suggests you regularly search for psilocybin trials on the website clinicaltrials.gov.
