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Larissa Hope truly believes that psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, helped in her recovery from depression.
Back when she was 17 and starting out as an actress, she was cast in the TV drama Skins, but the new-found fame brought out a previously buried trauma. She didn't find antidepressants effective - but that small dose of psilocybin, which she took under clinical supervision, marked a turning point.
"When I experienced it, I burst out crying," she says today. "It was the first time in my life I had ever felt a sense of belonging and safety in my body I kept saying, 'I'm home, I'm home'."
Now, almost 20 years on, Larissa maintains that it was this, along with therapy, helped her confront suicidal feelings.
