Psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms and truffles, has previously been found to improve the symptoms of depression, addiction, and anxiety. These conditions share similarities with anorexia and often coexist alongside the eating disorder. Due to this, several research groups are currently investigating the psychoactive compound’s potential to treat anorexia. 

Psilocybin Can Assist Anorexia Treatment

This new evidence does suggest that psilocybin could assist the treatment of Anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder characterized by severe food restriction and body dysmorphia. In a few small research trials sufferers who took the natural psychedelic found the severity of their eating disorder reduced. 

In one of these trials, Stephanie Peck, Ph.D, and her colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, gave 10 women with anorexia a 25-milligram dose of psilocybin. This dosage is enough to produce psychedelic effects. Trained psychologists guided the participants through the psilocybin session. They then discussed it with them the following day, and again a week later.

Each participant completed the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) both before and after the trial. The EDE is a common clinical assessment that measures eating disorder severity across multiple domains using a scale of 0-6.                                                      

90% ‘Felt More Optimistic About Life’

The researchers saw that, on average, the participants’ concerns about their weight improved by 24%. Concerns about body shape improved by 34% from the beginning of the trial to the month after. They also observed significant reductions in anxiety and preoccupation with eating and food. 90% of the participants reported that they felt more optimistic about their lives three months after the treatment. 70% said their overall quality of life had improved.

However, this specific study did not have a control group. This is because it was designed primarily to assess safety. This means that we cannot know from this trial alone whether the results are due to other factors such as therapy or the placebo effect, rather than the psilocybin itself. 

Two Other Studies Support These Findings

What gives this study weight is that the results align with preliminary data from two other trials. These were presented on the 22nd of June during the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver.

Kate Godfrey and her colleagues from Imperial College London administered three doses of psilocybin to 20 women over about a month-long period. The women were aged between 21 and 65, had anorexia diagnosis for at least 3 years, and were working with an eating disorder specialist at the UK National Health Service (NHS). 

The first administered psilocybin dose was 1 milligram, small enough to not cause any noticeable changes. This was to help the participants get used to, and acclimate to, the process and the therapists. The following two doses were 25 milligrams. As with the previous study, the participants were guided by therapists through the psilocybin session and discussed it the day after. 

The study found that, on average, the participants’ EDE score totals decreased by almost 30% from before the trial to two weeks after the final psilocybin session. Thus far, 14 of the participants have completed a three month follow up examination. Their EDE scores from the time point are nearly 45% lower, on average, than before the trial. 

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Significant Improvements

The second study presented at the conference was by Natalie Gukasyan, MD, at Columbia University, New York. She and her colleagues administered 18 participants with anorexia up to four doses of psilocybin, along with weekly therapy sessions. While the results of this study are not ready until later this year, she reported that they had found significant improvements. 

There is great need for new treatment options for anorexia, as Yoel Golbert at Sheba Medical Center in Israel explained;

“Existing [anorexia] treatments just don’t do the job, at least not for an immense amount of the patient population…[These findings] show there is a significant, and I think, robust rationale to continue exploring psychedelic drugs [as treatment for] eating disorders.”

Photo by TienDat Nguyen on Unsplash

Carrying out larger studies will be crucial in really understanding whether psychedelics like psilocybin can treat anorexia, as well as how they can be integrated into eating disorder treatment plans. These often involve numerous healthcare professionals, from therapists, to psychiatrists, to nutritionists. Based on the severity of the individual condition, some people are admitted to in-patient treatment programs, while others are not.  “This is a really complicated illness, and we don’t have a great understanding of what the ideal wraparound care is,” says Natalie Gukasyan. 

The Participants Share Their Perspective

The testimony of the trials’ participants gives a fascinating insight into the potential of the treatment. In a UCSD news release, one woman, a 32-year-old attorney said;

It was “the most important experience of my life…This drug altered how I felt about my body almost independently. It was like a gift, altering my perception for me in a way that I’m not sure I could have done on my own.”

Another participant, aged 24 said “I was nervous… [I]n college I knew people who took ‘shrooms and had bad trips, and that really freaked me out. I always said I would never take hallucinogens for that reason.”

However she later called the psilocybin session “one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever had.” She explained that psilocybin had encouraged her to review various good and bad life events, and that “this one experience tied all those good and bad experiences together and put them through a more meaningful lens.”

Four participants had decreases in their EDE scores substantial enough to qualify them as being in remission from an eating disorder. 

Psilocybin Treatment Has The Potential to Save Many Lives

Although it is still early days, these initial studies’ importance and potential cannot be overstated. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric condition, and finding an effective treatment is vital for both saving and improving many lives. These studies show there could be a light at the end of the tunnel.