Psilocybin is a serotonin receptor agonist that occurs naturally in some mushroom species. Recent studies have assessed the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for various conditions, including end-of-life anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and smoking and alcohol dependence, with promising preliminary results. Here, we aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy.
There has been made an experiment with 12 individuals all had moderate to severe treatment-resistant depression. These patients had previously been treated with anywhere from 2 to 11 different types of drugs for their depression.
Each patient received 2 oral doses of psilocybin (10 and 25 mg) separated by 7 days with psychological support present (e.g. "Psychiatrists adopted a non-directive, supportive approach, allowing the patient to experience a mostly uninterrupted inner “journey”. Check-ins (ie, asking the patient how they are feeling) occurred at the same timepoints as the physiological recordings. Tranquilising medications (oral lorazepam and risperidone) were available if necessary. The phenomenology of the acute experience, including accounts of the nature of the therapeutic support provided before, during, and after the experience, and considerations related to the music selection and other aspects of the clinical setting, will be discussed in separate publications.".
There were no adverse side effects aside from the expected reports of "transient anxiety, transient nausea, headache, confusion," etc).
8/12 met criteria for remission at 1 week post-treatment and 7 of the 12 patients depressive symptoms were reduced after 3 months, with 5 of those in remission.
Given the low sample size of the study, it is hard to make conclusions concerning the efficacy and effect size of the treatment. The study's positive results warrant further investigation and larger, placebo-controlled studies for psilocybin as a possible treatment of depression.
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