New YouGov polling commissioned by clinical trials startup Lindus Health has found that 36% of 18-24 year olds and 30% of 25-49 year olds are interested in trialing psilocybin – the active compound found in magic mushrooms – to treat mental health conditions.
The research also revealed that respondents would be interested in testing other currently illegal substances, such as ketamine, MDMA, and DMT, for treating mental health conditions.
Millions of people in the UK continue to suffer long-term or ongoing mental health conditions regularly. According to mental health charity Mind, 1 in 6 people will experience a common mental health problem in any given week in England.
Aside from psilocybin, those aged between 18-24 were most interested in trialing ketamine (27%) and for 25-49 year olds the next highest was MDMA (26%).
Interestingly, Psilocybin came out on top for all age groups – including 54-60 year olds (17%) and those aged above 65+ (10%).
Psilocybin is being trialed as a treatment for a range of mental health disorders, such as PTSD, anxiety and depression. Current treatment for mental health disorders includes talking therapies, counselling and antidepressants – though, according to the NHS, it is still not known exactly how they work.
Commenting on the polling, Michael Young, CEO of Lindus Health said:
“We are arguably in the middle of a mental health crisis, with a quarter of people experiencing a condition every year, and our current approaches are seemingly not cutting through. These new findings suggest that people of all ages feel the same, with about a third of those under 50 being open to trialling the use of psychedelics in treatment.
“There are already well-developed, successful trials ongoing to investigate the benefits that compounds like psilocybin can do to help those suffering serious mental health conditions, and we expect to see further trials open up as people across the UK – and around the world – become more comfortable at taking new, innovative approaches to managing mental health.”
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About Lindus Health
Lindus Health is a London-based start-up, launched in 2021, that runs clinical trials three times faster than the old-fashioned industry standard – bringing ground-breaking treatments to patients more quickly. Clinical trials are the biggest bottleneck to advances in healthcare and by removing this constraint we aim to improve health for everyone. Lindus does this by using its pioneering industry-first platform that can manage a trial from start to finish.
Lindus Health has to date delivered more than 80 trials across the UK, US and Europe to tackle a range of conditions including diabetes, asthma, acne, social anxiety, major depressive disorder, hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome and insomnia.
The company was named after James Lind, who pioneered the first clinical trial and treatment for scurvy, and co-founded by Michael Young, a former No 10 Special Adviser on Life Sciences, and Meri Beckwith, a former Venture Capitalist focused on biotech. The company has raised $6m from investors including Firstminute Capital, Peter Thiel, Presight Capital, Seedcamp, Hambro Perks, Amino Collective and Calm/Storm.