Health and Medicine

‘Could Magic Mushrooms Be a Treatment for Eating Disorders?’

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By Megan Zhang, New Yorker

— Jen Ortiz, deputy editor, the Cut

​​While talk of the “healing powers” of psilocybin mushrooms may seem dated, for patients suffering from a common and dangerously treatment-resistant mental-health condition — eating disorders — some new scientific findings could be the news they’ve long awaited. In this report for the Cut, writer Megan Zhang spoke to a number of researchers and practitioners and found that, even as one source cautioned it’s too early to celebrate, “based on the neurobiology of anorexia, and how we know psychedelics work, there seems to be a reason to believe that this could work.” This is welcome news to Sophia, who, at 16 and with her parents’ permission, first tripped in hopes of finding release from disordered eating. Looking back, her mother credits psilocybin mushrooms with saving Sophia’s life. “I’m not scared to eat anymore,” Sophia tells Megan. And that’s “made my life more exciting. It’s not all about food anymore.”
Could Mushrooms Be the Drug to Finally Cure Eating Disorders? For young patients, lasting treatment can feel elusive. Psychedelics could change that.
Photo-Illustration: The Cut; Photo: Getty
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