Psilocybin Therapy Shows Early Promise for Anorexia Recovery

Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, may help kick-start recovery in people with anorexia nervosa, according to early clinical results published last month and reported by Scientific American on August 5.

The Pilot Study

Researchers led by Jennifer Danby and Robin Carhart-Harris at Imperial College London conducted a pilot trial with 21 women who had lived with anorexia nervosa for an average of 11 years. Participants received three oral doses of psilocybin — one milligram first, then two 25-milligram doses two weeks apart — alongside intensive talk therapy. The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that psilocybin rapidly reduced anorexia symptoms and increased motivation to change.

The Results

After three months, half of the participants had scores on a measure of eating disorder symptoms comparable to those of someone without a diagnosis. The improved motivation to recover lasted up to a year after the trial ended. There was no nutritional intervention or focus on weight gain, and the researchers did not see a meaningful change in body mass index. The work builds on a 2023 Nature Medicine study in which four out of 10 anorexia patients saw significant drops in eating disorder scores after a single dose.

The Mechanism

Researchers liken psilocybin therapy to "shaking a snow globe" — disrupting rigid thought patterns and creating a window of neuroplasticity. People with anorexia often have inflexible, fear-driven thinking, and animal and human studies suggest psychedelics can increase cognitive flexibility and emotional connectedness. Carhart-Harris, now at the University of California, San Francisco, predicted the FDA could approve psilocybin for depression or eating disorders within five years.

The Caveats

The pilot had no control group, so it is hard to know how much of the improvement came from the drug versus the therapeutic setting. One participant attempted suicide twice during the study, though researchers said the events were unrelated to the trial. Experts emphasized that psilocybin therapy should not happen without specialized support.

Why It Matters

Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, and conventional treatments fail about half of patients. Any positive signal in such a difficult condition is significant — even if larger, controlled trials are still needed.