The debate about whether the NHS should use magic mushrooms to treat depression

The debate about whether the NHS should use magic mushrooms to treat depression2 January 2026ShareSaveAdd as preferred on GooglePallab GhoshScience CorrespondentBBCListen to Pallab read this articleLarissa Hope believes psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, helped her through a difficult mental health condition.Back when she was 17 and starting out as an actress, she was cast in the TV drama Skins, but the new-found fame brought out a previously buried trauma. She didn't find antidepressants effective - but that small dose of psilocybin, which she took under clinical supervision, marked a turning point."When I experienced it, I burst out crying," she says today. "It was the first time in my life I had ever felt a sense of belonging and safety in my body I kept saying, 'I'm home, I'm home'."Now, almost 20 years on, Larissa maintains that it was this, along with therapy, helped her confront suicidal feelings.Not everyone feels the same. Jules Evans, a university researcher, had a very different experience when he first took LSD, albeit for recreational purposes, back when he was 18. The trip sent him into what he describes as a "deluded" state."I believed that everyone was talking about me, criticising me, judging me. I thought, I've permanently damaged myself; I've permanently lost my mind. "It was the most terrifying experience of my life."A scan comparison shows a hyperactive brain of a psychedelic user next to someone who hasn't taken psychedelicsToday he is director of the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project, which helps people experiencing difficulties after taking psychedelics. He says he felt socially anxious and suffered from panic attacks years after his own experience and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).But these two starkly different experiences are at the heart of a dilemma currently facing doctors, regulators and politicia...