Large psilocybin dose briefly improved dementia in case study: What to know

A case study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience is making big waves in the dementia research community. The story involves an 80-year-old woman with advanced dementia who experienced significant improvements in symptoms following a large dose of psilocybin , the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

Despite decades of intense research, treatments for Alzheimer’s disease , the most common form of dementia, are disappointing. The most successful interventions can only treat symptoms and moderately slow progression.

Many of the drugs that have been trialled focus on reducing or removing the misfolded proteins that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Yet this approach has been broadly ineffective, so researchers have begun casting their nets wider.

Psychedelics, with their newfound popularity, are just one port of call. The current case report focuses on a woman in her 80s who had received a dementia diagnosis 10 years prior.

At the beginning of the recent intervention, her condition was quite advanced. She was incontinent, could only speak in single syllables, and could not dress herself.

Walking and eating both required assistance, and she was emotionally unresponsive.