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On a rather formative spring day in May 1953, Aldous Huxley gulped down some water and, with it, 0.4 grams of dissolved mescalin under the watch of his wife and "the investigator.”
Seeing as this English author’s best-known novel “Brave New World” described a uniformly psychologically conditioned society and greatly influenced dystopian sci-fi, maybe it’s not so surprising he was such a willing guinea pig to experiment with that peyote-cactus-derived hallucinogen.
Research on psychedelics’ medicinal benefits has graduated from unlicensed adventures in living rooms to controlled, clinical studies and research highlighting applications for mental health issues like substance use disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, in the 70-some years since. Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico even legalized therapy using psilocybin — the active, hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms, also known as ‘shrooms. However, federal-level restrictions, lack of research funding and exorbitant licensing and treatment costs stymie the treatment’s practical rollout.
More than three in five Americans support “legalizing regulated therapeutic access to psychedelics,” according to a 2023 University of California Berkeley survey. Despite this, the Food and Drug Administration didn’t formally review a psychedelic compound for federal regulation until 2024, and even then, they rejected the proposed therapy for PTSD, assisted by MDMA — also known as ecstasy or molly.
The FDA may soon provide a balm for this wound to the burgeoning field, though.
The biotechnology company Compass Pathways revealed in a November 2025 report they expect a potential FDA-approval decision on their psilocybin treatment for severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder by the end of the year. After “positive discussions” with the FDA, Compass announced the acceleration of their treatment launch plan to match a new, expected reviewal timeline. This expedited process also speaks to the success of its approval.
Given this pending approval, let’s make sure we’ve got our facts straight.
The term “psychedelic” and “hallucinogen” are often used interchangeably to refer to drugs that alter a person’s perception — their awareness of their surroundings — and cognition — their thoughts and feelings. Such drugs can cause “mystical experiences,” something scientists still have trouble defining. This category generally includes hallucinogenic compounds that are both man-made — LSD and sometimes MDMA and ketamine — and naturally occurring in plants and fungi — mescaline from the peyote cactus and psilocybin from certain mushroom species.
While researchers are well-versed in the psychological and physical effects of psilocybin, they’re still figuring out how the compound achieves them. One 2024 study spearheaded by psychiatry instructor Joshua Siegel, MD, PhD suggests psilocybin temporarily presses mute on specific areas in your brain that are responsible for introspection, or your capacity to think about your thoughts, emotions and behaviors, like daydreaming or remembering.
“The idea is that you’re taking this system that’s fundamental to the brain’s ability to think about the self in relation to the world, and you’re totally desynchronizing it temporarily,” Siegel told Tamara Schneider for WashU Medicine. “In the short term, this creates a psychedelic experience. The longer-term consequence is that it makes the brain more flexible and potentially more able to come into a healthier state.”
As with many psychedelics, the concern about psilocybin is the possibility of a “bad trip,” wherein users’ experiences are soured by adverse reactions like anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia or disturbing visions, often linked to the loss of a sense of self. However, researchers have argued this “ego dissolutions,” similar to the mechanism Siegel mentioned, could be a contributor to psilocybin’s therapeautic benefit. This is why the FDA requires clinical trials before approving new drugs: to ascertain their safety and the balance of benefit to risk. In the context of a treatment program with dosage controlled and use closely monitored, the results represent psilocybin as a kind of mental health Hail Mary.
For instance, Johns Hopkins studies have shown psilocybin-assisted therapy can help longtime smokers quit and people with alcohol use disorders reduce or abstain from drinking. It has also eased cancer patients’ existential anxiety and relieved symptoms in people with major depression for at least a year.
Now, Compass Pathways intends to lobby for what their internal research has also shown. Their February 2026 report detailed recent trials of their psilocybin treatment for TRD that demonstrated “a generally well-tolerated and safe profile with no unexpected safety findings” and represents the “first classic psychedelic to consistently achieve a highly statistically significant result and clinically meaningful effect.” The ‘shrooms and the trial participants are doing well.
Researchers and biotech companies are working toward psilocybin-assisted and similar psychedelic therapies not to find a “magic” pill. They’re committed to developing a Hail Mary for the 4 million Americans whose major depressive disorder has not been helped by two or more courses of approved medications — classified as treatment-resistant depression — or the 60% or more of people with PTSD who don’t recover within a year.
“All I am suggesting is that the mescalin experience is what Catholic theologians call ‘a gratuitous grace,’ not necessary to salvation but potentially helpful and to be accepted thankfully, if made available,” Huxley wrote in “The Doors of Perception,” the 1954 novel chronicling his psychedelic experience.
All I’m suggesting is availability: that the FDA bring therapeutic psychedelic compounds like psilocybin into their regulatory fold so that funding, research and treatment alike are allowed to flourish, clearing the path for people struggling with difficult-to-treat mental health conditions like PTSD and TRD to get the help science has been searching for.
Odessa Lyon (she/her) is a senior studying biology and English, pursuing a minor in European studies.
