Mexico’s mazatec healers offer hope for mental health

In Mexico, psychiatrists and psychologists are increasingly referring patients to traditional Mazatec healers who use psychedelic mushrooms in their ancestral practices.

Alejandrina Pedro Castañeda, a 60-year-old healer from Huautla de Jiménez in the Sierra Mazateca mountains, gathers medicinal mushrooms, of which Mexico has 53 species and Oaxaca state alone has 27, that have been used by the Mazatec community for millennia.

She learned the practice from her family, who would sing and pray while harvesting the mushrooms and then follow the fungi to find more. The Mazatec people traditionally use natural resources for healing, lacking access to chemical medicines or hospitals. In 1957, the world learned about Maria Sabina, a Mazatec healer, through a report in Life magazine, attracting celebrities interested in the power of psychedelic mushrooms.

However, in 1970, the United States classified psilocybin, the active substance in the mushrooms, as a controlled substance, and Mexico followed suit in 1984, restricting research. Psychiatrist Rebeca Espinosa and other Mexican researchers now advocate for allowing research into psilocybin’s therapeutic potential.

Recent studies in the United States have shown promising results for treating major depressive disorder and anxiety, with one 2021 study in the New England Journal of Medicine finding that 70% of patients treated with psilocybin responded to treatment, compared to 48% on the antidepressant escitalopram. Espinosa and others are pushing for new legislation in Mexico to recognize the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin while still considering it a public health risk.

Until then, some mental health professionals are directing patients to healers like Castañeda.