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Vail Health launches study investigating how to expand antidepressant effects of psilocybin

All OPTIMIZE study participants receive psilocybin, which has been proven to positively impact patients with depression

Psilocybin, the active psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, has been proven to impact patients with depression positively. Vail Health’s OPTIMIZE study, which will administer doses of psilocybin to all 140 participants, aims to investigate how to predict and enhance this effect.

“In our (psilocybin) studies, only half the people that get a high dose are really feeling completely fine six weeks later,” said Charles Raison, director of Vail Health’s Behavioral Health Innovation Center. “We want to try to see, can we get 70 percent of people there, 80 percent of people?”

The OPTIMIZE study examines the impact of noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation on patients with depression who have received a strong dose of psilocybin.

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