A 78-year-old finds lasting mental health relief from psilocybin, a compound in magic mushrooms. Photo / 123RF
Psilocybin, the active ingredient in ‘shrooms’, could alleviate depression – and the benefits may be even greater amongst the elderly.
When David Christie paid a visit to his son and daughter-in-law in Sussex two years ago, he had a far more exciting trip than usual.
The 78-year-old had begun to suffer from periods of low mood. These would come and go, but his family began to worry. “I was depressed, and my son had read into it and decided to do something about it,” he says.
That something was magic mushrooms, and the outcome proved transformative for his mental health.
“The [acute] effects lasted for about a week, I felt much more cheerful and optimistic,” he says.
Crucially, while he still has down days, Christie has had no serious or long-lasting periods of depression.
Magic mushrooms are a Class A drug. But a growing body of evidence suggests that psilocybin – the main hallucinogenic compound – could be a promising treatment for depression, anorexia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among other mental health conditions.
It has also been suggested that the benefits of psilocybin therapy could be greater for pensioners than younger people. A recent meta-analysis of previous studies published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that the drug worked better for older people – among patients taking psilocybin for depression, the benefits were more pronounced for every year older a patient was. Though a further review of the data is still pending.
Professor Guy Goodwin, emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, says that while there is not sufficient evidence to suggest psilocybin therapy is more useful for older people in particular, it could be especially suitable for them for other reasons. “It’s certainly a safe drug and therefore it might be a good idea for the elderly,” he says. “[It] doesn’t impair blood pressure, doesn’t produce falls, and doesn’t require continuing treatment with a sedative drug.”
Christie’s own experience with psychedelics unfolded in the darkened downstairs bedroom of a bearded man named Bill.
He gulped down a concoction made from powdered magic mushrooms mixed with cranberry juice, lay down on a bed, and waited to see what would happen. “You need some sweetener to get it down or it’s disgusting stuff,” he says.
It didn’t occur to him to be nervous. “I’ve done some investigating now and know it can make you feel worse instead of better – I wasn’t aware of that,” he says. “I was relaxed right from the start.” At the time, he felt safe with Bill, who had been vetted by his son and “reminded me of Father Christmas”.
What followed was “a totally joyous experience with wonderful lights and myriad colours… The sound was amazing, as was the continuous stream of rivers of colour, constantly changing and reforming.” For Christie, the effects lasted for around four hours – a period in which he would wake up and come to, then slip back under again, several times.
He is not the only retiree to have experimented with the drug. “I took magic mushrooms at 64 and the fog I’ve lived under my whole life lifted,” one breathlessly told the Telegraph in 2022. Having suffered from depression since his 20s, he found psilocybin therapy as part of a clinical trial “revelatory” and said it opened up “a new way of living”.
Psilocybin activates the serotonin system in the brain. One theory suggests the compound “rewires” the grey matter of those affected by mental health disorders, releasing patients from rigid and unhelpful thought patterns and functioning as a kind of neural reset button. Another is that the drug triggers some kind of biological change. What is clear is that its evangelists say it has long-lasting and life-changing effects.
Christie is a convert, although it is important to distinguish between taking “shrooms” – possession of which is illegal – and controlled doses of psilocybin administered in an official clinical trial.
“I felt totally safe and loved,” he says. As a “card-carrying Christian,” Christie had a strong sense of the divine. In the final hour of his trip, he saw a hand appear and rest on his chest. He experienced “a feeling of love and connection with [God],” he says. “Everything quietened down and I was just left there in this sensational feeling of being in the palm of His hand.”
As he came down from his high, Christie was exhausted. He went back to his son’s house, slept for 10 hours, and explained what had happened over breakfast. The experience left him feeling “elated and secure”.
It goes without saying that experts would not recommend self-medicating. But research into psilocybin therapy appears promising – some studies have found that it could offer more effective treatment than antidepressants.
However, it is currently also a Schedule 1 drug classed as having no therapeutic value, which makes it difficult and expensive to conduct further testing. This is something that psychiatrists and mental health charities have campaigned to change.
In the UK, politicians from across the house of parliament, from Crispin Blunt MP to former shadow minister for women and equalities Charlotte Nichols MP, have expressed support for its decriminalisation “There is clear real-world evidence that psilocybin therapy can get people to a point where they no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for [PTSD],” Nichols – who has a diagnosis of PTSD herself – told the Telegraph last month. “I think this is something that I would very much like to see available on the NHS.”
Professor Goodwin has been conducting clinical trials into psilocybin as chief medical officer of a biotechnology company called Compass Pathways. In the UK, phase 2 trials for treatment-resistant depression showed that a single 25mg dose of psilocybin, alongside psychological support through talking therapy, significantly reduced depressive symptoms in almost a third of patients (although “adverse effects” were also reported).
The trial, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that a fifth of the 233 participants given a 25mg dose of the drug reported continued benefits for up to 12 weeks. Goodwin is now conducting a much larger phase 3 trial. A recent trial also showed that psilocybin therapy is safe and could be effective in treating PTSD.
Christie’s experience had a lasting impact. Even recalling it makes him “feel wonderful”. His wife of 53 years “wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole,” he says, but she’s happy to let him experiment. That’s why he plans to go back for another trip this summer.
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