New study finds psilocybin greatly and quickly relieves depression

Authored by psychnewsdaily.com and submitted by fotogneric

A new study of 24 adults with major depression finds that two doses of the psychedelic substance psilocybin, given with supportive psychotherapy, produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms. Most of the participants showed improvement, and half achieved remission at the four-week follow-up.

Psilocybin is a compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms.” It produces visual and auditory hallucinations, and profound changes in consciousness, over a period of several hours.

The findings appeared on November 4 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Effect of psilocybin 4x stronger than traditional antidepressants

“The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market,” said co-author Alan Davis of Johns Hopkins University.

As the paper explains, “the effect sizes reported in this study were approximately 2.5 times greater than the effect sizes found in psychotherapy, and more than 4 times greater than the effect sizes found in psychopharmacological depression treatment studies.”

“Because most other depression treatments take weeks or months to work and may have undesirable effects, this could be a game changer if these findings hold up” in future clinical trials,” Davis said.

And compared to traditional antidepressants, the side effects of psilocybin are more limited. These include mild-to-moderate headaches, and “challenging emotions” during the sessions. Antidepressant medications, on the other hand, have more far-reaching side effects. These include suicidal ideation, decrease in sexual drive, and weight gain.

Furthermore, the effectiveness of psilocybin therapy appears after only one or two administrations. This represents another

advantage over commonly used antidepressants, which typically require daily administration.

For the new study, the researchers recruited 24 people with a long-term history of depression. Most of the participants had experienced symptoms for about two years before enrolling in the study.

The participants underwent two five-hour psilocybin sessions, under the supervision of the researchers.

The average age of participants was 39. Sixteen were women. Twenty-two identified as white, one identified as Asian, and one identified as African American.

Participants had to taper off any antidepressants prior to the study. They did so with the help of their personal physician, to ensure safe exposure to this experimental treatment.

Treatment consisted of two psilocybin doses given by two monitors who provided guidance and reassurance. The doses were given two weeks apart, between August 2017 and April 2019. Each treatment session lasted about five hours. The participants lay on a couch wearing eyeshades and headphones that played music, in the presence of the monitors.

A very large reduction in depressive symptoms

All participants completed the GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale upon enrollment. They also did this same assessment at one and four weeks following completion of their treatment.

A score of 24 or more indicates severe depression. A score of 17-23 means moderate depression, 8-16 mild depression, and 7 or less no depression.

At enrollment, participants had an average depression scale rating of 23. But at one week and four weeks after treatment, they had an average depression scale score of 8.

After treatment, most participants showed a substantial decrease in their symptoms. Likewise, almost half were in remission from depression at the four-week follow-up.

For the entire group of 24 participants, 67% showed a more than 50% reduction in depression symptoms at the one-week follow-up, and 71% at the four-week follow-up. Overall, four weeks post-treatment, 54% of participants were considered in remission, meaning they no longer qualified as being depressed.

Compared to ketamine, another psychoactive substance that has recently been found to alleviate depression, psilocybin has several advantages. The antidepressant effects of psilocybin seem to last longer. Psilocybin also has a lower potential for addiction and adverse events than ketamine.

The researchers say they will follow the participants for a year after the study to see how long the antidepressant effects of the psilocybin treatment last. They will report these new findings in a later publication.

In 2016, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers first reported that treatment with psilocybin under psychologically supported conditions significantly relieved existential anxiety and depression in people with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 17 million people in the U.S., and 300 million people worldwide, have experienced major depression.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Tim Ferriss supported the funding campaign for this study. “I believe this study to be a critically important proof of concept for the medical approval of psilocybin for treatment of depression, a condition I have personally struggled with for decades,” he said.

“How do we explain the incredible magnitude and durability of effects? Treatment research with moderate to high doses of psychedelics may uncover entirely new paradigms for understanding and improving mood and mind,” Ferriss said.

Study: “Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial“

Authors: Alan K. Davis, Frederick S. Barrett, Darrick G. May, Mary P. Cosimano, Nathan D. Sepeda, Matthew W. Johnson,

Patrick H. Finan, and Roland R. Griffiths

Photo: by James Bak via Unsplash

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Brosmium93 on November 4th, 2020 at 18:44 UTC »

At this point I'm just hoping for a double-blind controlled study. We had enough surveys at this point. We need to take this to the next step!

threebillion6 on November 4th, 2020 at 17:36 UTC »

Oregon just passed medical research for this. For use in cancer patients and help with depression. I hope this takes off. We really need something without side effects like; shitting your pants, forgetfulness, and death.

Edit: I know it's not just research. They've been doing the research. I meant like, research to use in practice. But yeah, Ive been following this. I'm just really stoked we're finally being more progressive. LSD and shrooms have no business being schedule 1 drugs.

croninsiglos on November 4th, 2020 at 16:11 UTC »

Old studies also show similar results.