Just over an hour after swallowing a plain white capsule, Lindy Bok pulls off her eyeshade and sits up in bed. "Excuse my French, but f*** me," she exclaims to the two therapists sitting either side of her in the darkened room. "It's so intense."
The capsule contained 25 milligrams of synthetic psilocybin, the compound naturally found in "magic mushrooms". Lindy is one of 35 participants in Australia's first psychedelic-assisted therapy trial, which is winding up at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne after three and a half years. It was initiated to investigate how psilocybin, combined with psychotherapy, might alleviate the anguish often experienced by the terminally ill.
