Study finds sustained benefit for people using Oregon psilocybin services
OHSU-led research is the largest study of psychedelics outside clinical trials
People participating in an Oregon Health & Science University-led study of state-regulated psilocybin services reported relief from symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder — with almost two-thirds declaring the experience to be among the most meaningful of their life.
The findings, published today in the journal JAMA Network Open, represent the first multisite study of the legalized psilocybin market approved by Oregon voters in 2020.
“Safety was very similar to what we’ve seen with psychedelics in clinical settings,” said lead author Todd Korthuis, M.D., professor of medicine (general internal medicine and geriatrics) in the OHSU School of Medicine. “That’s important because there was a big question around whether or not safety in carefully controlled psilocybin clinical trials would translate into real-world use.”
Oregon voters approved a non-medical wellness model, making state-licensed access to mind-altering “magic mushrooms” available for people aged 21 and older starting in 2023.
Senior co-author Adrianne R. Wilson-Poe, Ph.D., a scientist at the Legacy Research Institute and, with Korthuis, co-director of the Oregon Psychedelic Evaluation Nexis, noted that participants reported lasting benefits with few adverse events.
“This paper is going to be cited for decades,” she said. “This is the first large-scale study to monitor the safety and mental health symptoms of real people in the real world.”
The study enlisted 346 people who joined licensed facilitators for a single session using psilocybin between November 2024 and June 2026. Participants reported their state of mind at baseline, one week, one month and three months after single psilocybin sessions at 24 licensed service centers in Oregon.
Participants reported their experience through a web-based portal, with 90% continuing to do so through three months. Key findings:
- At one month, 91.5% felt they benefited and 64.9% ranked the experience among the 10 most meaningful of their life.
- At three months, participants reported decreased moderate-to-severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. They also reported improved mental wellbeing and life satisfaction.
- Few reported their experience as harmful, although four who used psilocybin for the first time experienced adverse behavioral reactions that required medical attention. No participants reported a serious event related to their physical health.
The findings will be presented today as part of a Psychedelic Innovation Summit in Portland co-hosted by OHSU and the Healing Advocacy Fund.
“These early results reveal psilocybin’s potential to improve health in people accessing these services here in Oregon,” said OHSU President Shereef Elnahal, M.D., M.B.A., who previously served as undersecretary of health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “The study also provides important insight for policymakers considering programs that permit psychedelics for the treatment of mental health conditions, including PTSD and substance use disorders affecting America’s military Veterans.”
High safety profile
Korthuis noted that psilocybin isn’t appropriate for people with psychosis, bipolar disorder or who are pregnant. However, he was struck by the low incidence of adverse events among participants in the study. Only seven participants reported the experience as harmful three months after their use of psilocybin.
“This may be a reflection of clients who were healthier overall than clinical trial participants,” Korthuis said. “The results demonstrate it’s safe for people receiving state-regulated psilocybin experiences.”
In contrast to previous clinical studies examining safety and effectiveness in treating moderate to severe depression, only about half of the Oregon study participants reported symptoms of moderate to severe depression beforehand. Even so, most participants reported improvements in their mental health, wellness and life satisfaction following their psilocybin session.
“Just because something isn’t a medical model doesn’t mean you can’t have mental health benefits,” Korthuis said. “Still, people serious mental health or medical conditions should talk with their healthcare providers before seeking services.”
Previous research, including imaging of the brain, indicates physiological changes that may help people to reset how they process information and view themselves, he said. More than 20,000 people have accessed Oregon licensed psilocybin services to date, seeking improved general health and wellness along with the potential of changing their perspective, according to data tracked by the Oregon Health Authority.
A $3.3 million, five-year federal grant awarded earlier this year will enable OHSU researchers to specifically examine psilocybin’s effect on people seeking state psilocybin services to reduce use of illicit substances.
Wilson-Poe said the survey platform developed through this research initiative approved by OHSU’s Institutional Review Board can be easily adapted to measure outcomes from other forms of psychedelics even beyond Oregon — especially as other states consider policies to expand access. OPEN has already expanded to Colorado, the second state to approve regulated psilocybin services.
“It can give us an apples-to-apples comparison,” she said.
In Oregon, a major barrier to access is the cost, which ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars for a session involving a state-licensed facilitator. In addition, several counties have opted not to permit psilocybin service centers at least in part due to concerns about the safety of psychedelics, whether they’re used medicinally or recreationally.
“Those counties may find this data reassuring, as may policymakers considering similar measures in other states,” Korthuis said.
In addition to Korthuis and Wilson-Poe, co-authors include Ryan Cook, Ph.D., Devin Gregoire, M.S., Kelli Pertl, M.P.H., Dennis McCarty, Ph.D., Ximena A. Levander, M.D., and Kim A. Hoffman, Ph.D., of OHSU; Christopher S. Stauffer, M.D., of OHSU and the VA Portland Health Care System; Jason B. Luoma, Ph.D., of the Portland Institute for Psychedelic Science; and Don Des Jarlais, Ph.D., of New York University.
The research was supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, grant award 75S20123P00003; the OHSU Foundation; the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, grant awards R01DA060253, K12DA061526 and K01DA055130; and the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute of OHSU through grant award UL1TR002369 through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the NIH. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Journal
JAMA Network Open
Method of Research
Survey
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
SafetyandMentalHealthOutcomesofOregonState-Regulated PsilocybinServices
Article Publication Date
19-Aug-2026
World’s largest psychedelic brain study finds hidden order in the chaos
A landmark five-year study by Monash University has found psychedelics reorganise brain patterns, giving clinicians powerful new insights into their therapeutic potential.
Published in leading scientific journal Nature, the research is the world’s largest single-site brain-imaging study of the acute effects of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms.
Researchers used brain imaging to understand what happened in the brains of 62 healthy adults using psilocybin during rest, meditation and while they were listening to music and watching a movie.
Lead author Dr Devon Stoliker, a Turner Impact Research Fellow at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in the Monash School of Psychological Sciences, said previous research had shown that psychedelics disrupt the usual organisation of brain networks.
“We uncovered hidden order within that disruption,” Dr Stoliker said.
“Under psilocybin, brain networks that help us process our inner world and the world around us became less distinct, but reorganised into patterns that reflected what people were experiencing.
“This was strongest in people who had more positive psychedelic experiences and felt less separate from the world around them.”
Senior author and Principal Investigator Professor Adeel Razi, from the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in the Monash School of Psychological Sciences, said the changes in brain pattern organisation also changed with participants’ surroundings and focus.
“The patterns changed depending on whether participants were resting, listening to music, meditating or watching a movie,” Professor Razi said.
“This shows that context is not just background to the psychedelic experience.
“What a person is doing and focusing on shapes how their brain responds.
“For treatment, that reinforces why the environment and what a person does and experiences during the psychedelic session matter.”
This study was carried out at Monash Biomedical Imaging, co-located with the BrainPark where the psilocybin therapy sessions were performed.
The study combined advanced brain-imaging analyses by co-author Dr Leonardo Novelli with AI analyses by co-author Dr Moein Khajehnejad.
Dr Stoliker said researchers can now use what they learned in this trial to work towards developing therapies that help patients achieve greater clarity, psychological flexibility and new perspectives.
“People who showed stronger reorganisation also reported greater positive psychological changes the following day,” Dr Stoliker said.
“Until now, brain-imaging studies have mainly told us what happens on average across a group.
“Using artificial intelligence, we could measure this reorganisation in each person.”
Professor Razi said this ability to measure individual responses could have important implications for treatment.
“If translated to patients, this could eventually help clinicians understand how someone is responding and predict who is most likely to benefit,” Professor Razi said.
Australia is the first country in the world to legalise psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression and MDMA for PTSD.
The United States and other nations are now exploring similar pathways.
“Australia is a trailblazer in this growing area of science, with a distinct global advantage in scaling these therapies responsibly,” Professor Razi said.
“As these countries look to us for direction, research from Monash will provide critical evidence to guide safe and effective implementation.”
Read the research paper: http://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10910-z
Journal
Nature
Method of Research
Observational study
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Psychedelics Align Brain Activity with Context
Article Publication Date
19-Aug-2026
COI Statement
F.S.B. is advisor and shareholder at Mindstate Design Labs, and is a scientific advisor for Wavepaths, Ltd and Lilly USA, LLC. O.S. was previously a co-founder of Eudelics AB, but cur- rently has no financial relationship with the com- pany, and is a co-founder of embla.ai AB. K.H.P. is an employee of Boehringer-Ingelheim GmBH & Co KG and serves as Chief Scientist of the Board of Directors of the Heffter Research Institute and is a scientific advisor to the Mind Foundation. R.L.C.-H. is a scientific advisor to TRYP thera- peutics, Osmind, Mindstate Design Labs, Otsuka and Red Light Holland. No other authors declared competing interests.
No comments:
Post a Comment