Credit: Imperial College London / Thomas Angus Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, may be at least as effective as a leading antidepressant medication in a therapeutic setting. This is the finding of a study carried out by researchers at the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. In the most rigorous trial to date assessing the therapeutic potential of a 'psychedelic' compound, researchers compared two sessions of psilocybin therapy with a six-week course of a leading antidepressant (a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor called escitalopram) in 59 people with moderate-to-severe depression. The results, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that while depression scores were reduced in both groups, the reductions occurred more quickly in the psilocybin group and were greater in magnitude.