The Stockholm-based Norrsken Foundation has announced a SEK36 million ($3.2 million) initiative to fund research on psychedelic substances and their potential to treat mental health disorders.

Funding for the Norrsken Mind Psychedelic Science Initiative includes SEK3 million ($268,000) each from the Huxley Foundation and Nordlander Zeidler Family Foundation in support of Swedish researchers investigating the treatment potential of psychedelics through fundraising, grant opportunities, facilitating international partnerships, and engaging with healthcare professionals and mental health stakeholders to facilitate knowledge sharing and research collaboration.

Initial grants totaling €587,000 ($626,000) have been awarded to the Stockholm-based Karolinska Institutet, which will investigate the cognitive and neurobiological changes associated with psilocybin-assisted therapy and offer insights into the neurobiology of major depressive disorder, and Umeå University in Umeå, Sweden, which will investigate MDMA-assisted psychotherapy as a treatment for depression in young adults.

“The most important factor in developing more effective mental health treatments is high-quality research, and that requires substantial capital,” said Norrsken Foundation co-CEO Funda Sezgi. “There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that psychedelic-assisted treatments can be used to treat a variety of mental health disorders.”

“Research on psychedelic-assisted treatments is one of the most promising lines of research in the field of psychiatry right now,” said Norrsken Mind managing director Emma Christersson. “We can help [researchers] investigate more effective treatment options, accelerate psychedelic research, and ensure that Sweden does not stay behind the rest of the world.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Gorodenkoff)