ussri.substack.com/p/a-depressed-shrink-tries-shrooms
1 correction found
A large survey of over 12,000 users found serious adverse events in less than 0.2% of cases, and most of those involved psychological distress rather than medical emergencies.
This misstates what the survey measured. The 0.2% figure was the share of 9,233 respondents who sought emergency medical treatment, not the rate of all “serious adverse events” among more than 12,000 users.
Full reasoning
The paper being alluded to is not a survey of “serious adverse events” in all mushroom users. It specifically studied emergency medical treatment (EMT) seeking after magic-mushroom use.
What the study actually reports:
- The Global Drug Survey had 12,534 past-year magic-mushroom users overall.
- But only 9,233 of them answered the EMT question used for the main analysis.
- Among those 9,233 respondents, 19 people (0.2%) reported seeking emergency medical treatment after mushroom use in the past year.
- The paper says the most common symptoms among those EMT cases were psychological (for example anxiety/panic and paranoia), but those were still EMT presentations — i.e. medical emergencies serious enough that respondents sought emergency care.
So the article compresses several different things into one incorrect sentence:
- It turns 12,534 past-year users into the analytic sample for the 0.2% figure, even though the 0.2% result came from 9,233 respondents.
- It changes “sought emergency medical treatment” into “serious adverse events”, which is a broader and different claim.
- It contrasts psychological distress with “medical emergencies,” even though the study was explicitly about episodes that did lead to emergency medical treatment.
That makes the sentence materially inaccurate about both the denominator and what outcome the study measured.
2 sources
- Adverse experiences resulting in emergency medical treatment seeking following the use of magic mushrooms
Results: Out of 9233 past year magic mushroom users, 19 (0.2%) reported having sought emergency medical treatment... The most common symptoms were psychological, namely anxiety/panic and paranoia/suspiciousness.
- Adverse experiences resulting in emergency medical treatment seeking following the use of magic mushrooms
This study investigated the 12-month prevalence and nature of magic mushroom-related adverse reactions resulting in emergency medical treatment seeking... Out of 9233 past year magic mushroom users, 19 (0.2%) reported having sought emergency medical treatment.