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		</div><p>A man who volunteered to take the magic mushroom ingredient psilocybin as an experimental treatment for depression has described how the drug helped him “stay connected” with his dead mother.</p>
<p>Kirk Rutter, 45, from London, said he was “truly heartbroken” by the loss of his mother and became deeply depressed after her death in October 2011.</p>
<p>Antidepressants did not help, so he agreed to join 11 other patients taking part in a UK pilot trial investigating the potential therapeutic effects of psilocybin.</p>
<p>The treatment involved swallowing a high dose capsule containing enough of the Class A drug to induce a psychedelic “high”.</p>
<p>Kirk said: “I was very nervous about taking part, as I had no prior experience of psilocybin. However the team explained the research, and guided me through the process. By the time it came to taking the compound I felt very relaxed, thanks to the friendly staff, room layout and calming music.</p>
<p>“The study involved taking two doses of psilocybin, and both times I experienced something called ‘psychedelic turbulence’. This is the transition period to the psychedelic state, and caused me to feel cold and anxious. However this soon passed, and I had a mostly pleasant – and sometimes beautiful – experience.</p>
<p>“There were certainly some challenging moments during the sessions. For instance, when I experienced being in hospital with my mother, when she was very ill. And during the high dose session I visualised my grief as an ulcer that I was preventing from healing so that I could stay connected to my mother.</p>
<p>“However by going through memories, and feeling the love in our relationship, I saw that letting go of the grief was not letting go of her memory.</p>
<p>“Following on from the sessions I felt lighter and more optimistic than I had in quite some time. However it certainly wasn’t a ‘quick fix’, and I needed to work at staying positive.</p>
<p>“Since then I have approached life and friendships with a fresher viewpoint. For instance I try not to get irritated by little things, and rather than getting annoyed by petty issues I try to embrace the core, loving part of a friendship. For the last few months I’ve started to feel less positive but I’m still doing great.&#8221;</p>
<p>All the patients recruited for the trial were suffering from moderate to severe treatment-resistant depression that had not responded to two different antidepressant drugs.</p>
<p>The study, which was not randomly controlled, found that after three months, five of the patients remained depression-free. Two others continued to show an improvement in their symptoms.</p>
<p>Psilocybin is a Class A drug, possession of which can result in a maximum prison sentence of seven years. It is also listed as a “Schedule One” controlled drug, meaning that it cannot be prescribed by doctors.</p>
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