Yvonne Redmond: Taking a trip into mental health treatment

Could Ireland become a centre for psychedelics? A trial in Dublin may see magic mushrooms, or psilocybin, play a role in the future of mental health services

A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of magic mushrooms, part of a global effort to prove the compound’s efficacy in treating mental illness and establish its viability as an alternative to antidepressants, has been taking place in Tallaght, Dublin.

IN A tiny room, in a small medical centre, in a south Dublin suburb, a group of Irish people is becoming part of psychedelic history.

Soft furnishings, quiet, lilting music, and muted, calming colours welcome patients across the Tallaght threshold, where they are greeted by trained instructors, to guide them on an undertaking that promises the possibility of lives changed forever, in undefined ways, unique to each individual.