A major new study has found that just a single dose of magic mushrooms could significantly ease depression.

Results found the psychedelic could help with symptoms that is resistant to other treatments.

Symptoms went into remission in four in 10 patients taking part in the first publicly-funded trial of the therapy.

One person described the treatment as “very emotional” at times, but said it helped them to understand their depression more.

The patient said: “It got very intense two or three times… one part that got very emotional for me I felt like I was in a ribcage of some sort and in that I saw my dad holding my sister and that image stays with me because those are two people I have lost.

“I felt like it was a way of them saying we are here and that was definitely a point of emotional release.

“I think afterwards I felt pretty tired and broken. It has taken me a while to reflect and I think it just helped me understand my depression more and just ‘feel’ my feelings – I think I am glad I did it.

“It was very difficult – very painful – but I think that was what I needed and it came at the right time.”

The trial, led by King’s College London and published in Nature Medicine, included 60 people with depression that had not responded to two prior treatments at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Half were given 25mg of psilocybin, while the other half were given a placebo.

Both groups received psychological support throughout the study.

More than four in 10 people (43%) taking psilocybin met the threshold for treatment response after three weeks, rising to 56% after six weeks.

This is compared to 3% of patients in the placebo group.

Meanwhile, psilocybin helped 40% of patients enter remission, meaning their symptoms of depression fell low enough to no longer meet clinical criteria, within three weeks compared to 3% in the placebo group.

Remission was sustained at six weeks, the trial found.

Professor James Rucker, of King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Here, we show that a randomised trial design of psilocybin compared to a true placebo was feasible in participants who had often failed many different types of treatment.

“People who were randomised to receive a dose of 25mg of psilocybin were much more likely to improve than those who were randomised to placebo up to six weeks of follow up.

“As is often the case in clinical depression, individual responses were very variable and some of the difference seen between groups will be due to non-drug factors.

“Publicly funded clinical trials are an important part of the jigsaw of evidence needed for a new intervention to find its place in the real world.

“Meanwhile, the wider evidence base for psilocybin therapy is growing rapidly, and looks increasingly promising.”

Recruitment for the trial started at a research facility before moving to a community mental health building.

Catherine Bird, senior clinical trials manager at the IoPPN, said the move shows “psilocybin, unlike many psychiatric drugs, can be administered safely outside a hospital ward” and requires a “calm, supported environment and trained staff rather than medical monitoring”.

Prof Rucker added: “This trial makes a strong case for larger publicly funded trials of psilocybin therapy in community settings, which are often more convenient and less anxiety-provoking for patients than hospital settings.”