#134: 🍄 Psilocybin Shows Promise for Parkinson's Disease
Breakthrough Study Marks First Psychedelic Trial in Neurodegenerative Disease
Hey friends,
This week I am at the Life Summit Berlin!
Today is Day 2 and I will share my thoughts about the whole conference in the coming week on my LinkedIn.
My highlight from yesterday was Anne Phillipi’s talk on Psychedelics and Longevity. She discussed how trauma ages us at an accelerated rate and how psychedelics can help heal trauma, and therefore slow aging.
Life Summit Berlin has really been a gathering of all my longevity connections. I keep turning around and seeing another person I know.
Overall this month in Berlin has been a lot of fun reconnecting with my network and friends here. However, tomorrow I head back to sunny Lisbon. ☀️
💬 In this note:
🍄 Psilocybin Shows Promise for Parkinson's Disease
📚 Onyx Storm
⚡️ Awe is the Opposite of Fight or Flight
🍄 Psilocybin Shows Promise for Parkinson's Disease
Psilocybin, a natural compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, has been making headlines for its potential in treating depression and anxiety.
For the first time, UCSF researchers wanted to explore uncharted territory and they asked the question “Could psilocybin help Parkinson's patients who experience debilitating mood dysfunction alongside their motor symptoms?”
The results were published on April 9, 2025 in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
Parkinson's disease affects about 1 million Americans, causing progressive neurodegeneration that we typically think of in terms of its signature motor symptoms - the tremors, the shuffling gait, the rigid movements.
Additionally, depression and anxiety aren't just side effects of Parkinson’s disease, they are some of the most prevalent symptoms.
Mood symptoms in Parkinson's are actually a stronger predictor of patients' quality of life than their motor symptoms.
And guess what - Anxiety and depression often show up several years before the first tremor appears, in patients who have never had any psychiatric problems before.
While medications like levodopa can help with the shaking and movement issues, we currently have zero approved therapies that can actually slow down or reverse the disease itself.
And here's where it gets really frustrating: standard antidepressants often just don't work. At all.
This suggests that the mood changes aren't just a reaction to having Parkinson’s Disease. They might actually be part of the neurodegenerative disease process itself, happening at the cellular level as the brain changes.
The number of clinical trials investigating new approaches for these mood symptoms is shockingly low. Until now.
The Study Design
The UCSF team, led by Dr. Ellen Bradley from the Translational Psychedelic Research Program, conducted a pilot safety study with 12 participants (seven men and five women) with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease.
The protocol was carefully designed:
Participants received a 10 mg dose of psilocybin, followed two weeks later by a higher dose of 25 mg
Eight psychotherapy sessions were completed before and after the psilocybin treatments
Researchers evaluated changes in mood, cognition, and motor functions
This was primarily a safety study, designed to test whether patients could tolerate the drug without serious side effects or worsening symptoms.
The Results
Not only did participants tolerate psilocybin well, but they experienced clinically significant improvements across multiple domains that lasted for weeks after treatment.
Patients showed meaningful improvements in mood that were still significant three months after treatment
They had improved cognition and mental function that persisted beyond the acute effects.
The most surprising result was that patients showed improvements in motor function and their physical Parkinson’s symptoms.
While nearly all participants experienced some adverse events during treatment, such as anxiety, nausea, and elevated blood pressure, these were not serious enough to require medical intervention.
Potential Mechanisms
The researchers proposed several explanations for these multi-system improvements shown by psilocybin.
The beneficial impact on mood could lead to better cognitive and motor functions. When people feel better, they socialize more and become more active, both key elements of Parkinson's treatment.
Psilocybin might provide relief from multiple symptoms by reducing inflammation and promoting neuroplasticity, the growth and reconnection of brain cells involved in mood, cognition, and movement regulation.
As Dr. Joshua Woolley, the study's senior author and director of the TrPR Program, noted: "These results raise the exciting possibility that psilocybin may help the brain repair itself."
What's Next
The promising results have led to an expanded randomized controlled trial at UCSF, with a second site at Yale University. This larger study aims to enroll 100 participants and will incorporate:
Noninvasive brain stimulation
Neuroimaging
Advanced tools to understand how psilocybin impacts inflammation and neuroplasticity
The work is being funded by an anonymous donor and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
The Bigger Picture
What excites me most about this research is its potential to change how we think about neurodegenerative diseases.
As Dr. Joshua Woolley explained, "The vast majority of brain diseases still lack interventions that change the course of illness. We can often treat the symptoms, but we don't alter the trajectory or prevent decline. Now, that's beginning to change."
This study represents more than just another treatment option, it's a paradigm shift toward therapies that might actually repair neurons and neuronal connections rather than just managing symptoms.
While we're still in the very early stages of this research, the fact that a single treatment could impact mood, cognition, and motor function simultaneously suggests we might be looking at a fundamentally different approach to neurodegenerative disease.
The best part?
This potential to repair the brain could come from a natural source, the psychedelic mushroom. 🍄
📚 Book of the Week
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Rating: ★★★★☆
The third installment in Rebecca Yarros' wildly popular Empyrean series arrived with massive expectations, and sold 2.7 million copies in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years according to the New York Times.
But did it live up to the hype?
The good: Yarros continues to excel at worldbuilding and character relationships. The exploration of new islands and cultures beyond the familiar war college setting adds depth to the world, and the friendship dynamics remain the series' strongest element.
The challenging: Reading "Onyx Storm" felt like anticipating a sneeze that never happened, and I often found myself dragging through some of the chapters with little-to-no reward.
Many readers, myself included, struggled with focus and clarity throughout the 500+ pages.
This series is heavy on politics, and I'm so lost now on who is who and what each and every kingdom/country/island/whatever wants.
The verdict: While die-hard fans will devour every page (and that cliffhanger ending!), this feels like a middle book struggling under the weight of an expanded five-book arc.
Originally "Fourth Wing" was planned as a trilogy, but as she was writing "Iron Flame," Yarros and her editor decided to make it five books because of the story timeline and that decision shows in the pacing.
If you're invested in Violet and Xaden's story, you'll push through.
But newcomers might want to wait for the series to conclude before diving in.
⚡️ Check This Out
Dr. Dacher Keltner, a world-renowned emotion scientist, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, and the scientific advisor to the Pixar movie Inside Out! tells Qualia Collective Insights Podcast that when you feel awe, the Default Mode Network in your brain is deactivated.
Default Mode Network (DMN) is a group of brain regions that are more active when the brain is not engaged in a task, such as during rest or when mind-wandering.
In his episode, The Science of Awe: Why Wonder Boosts Happiness, Health, and Connection With Dacher Keltner he says that what your brain experiences when it feels awe is the opposite of the ‘fight or flight’ physiology.
By quieting the brain's internal chatter and activating our parasympathetic nervous system, awe essentially gives our minds a reset button. I
t's a reminder that seeking wonder isn't just about feeling good in the moment; it's about creating the optimal brain state for connection, healing, and well-being.
Keltner also dives into the intersection of awe with psychedelic experiences in the episode. Listen to the full episode to get the deets!
When was the last time you felt awe?
Drop it in the comments!
See you next week friends!
But….before you go…the best thing you can do to support my writing is to restack my post on Substack! It would mean the world to me.
Thank you x1000000
xo
Nina
Edited by Wright Time Publishing