A small new study suggests that the hallucinogen psilocybin in “Magic Mushrooms” may function like a common antidepressant in the treatment of depression symptoms.
The study found that those who took psilocybin twice under the supervision of a psychiatrist showed a similar reduction. depression Symptoms — Based on Survey Scores — Compared to people who took a 6-week course of the antidepressant escitalopram. Also, a study published Wednesday (April 14) found that patients in the psilocybin group were more likely to report remission from the symptoms of depression than patients in the escitalopram group. New England Journal of Medicine..
“One of the most important aspects of this study is that people can clearly see the potential of properly provided psychedelic therapies compared to the more familiar and established treatments in the same study. The lead author of the study, Robin Carhartt Harris Imperial College London’s Psychedelics Research Center, Said in a statement.. “Psilocybin worked very favorably in this face-to-face confrontation. [trial].. “
The survey results are Psilocybin may help people with depression.. However, researchers warn that their research is small and that further research is needed to confirm the findings. They emphasize that there was no statistically significant difference in depression scores between the psilocybin and escitalopram groups. In short, psilocybin did not perform better than escitalopram. In addition, the study did not include a true placebo group (the group that received only dummy pills), so researchers cannot determine which treatment is more effective than placebo based on the results.
They also warn that depressed people should not self-treat psilocybin. This is because taking psilocybin in an unsupervised environment using unregulated doses can have adverse effects (and recreational use of psilocybin is illegal under US federal law, but one Departmental cities and Oregon have decriminalized drugs.)
“The situation is very important to these studies, and all volunteers were treated during and after the Psychedelics session,” said the study co-author, a clinical psychologist previously based at the Psychedelics Research Center. Rosalind Watts said in a statement. “Our team of therapists was at hand to provide full support through sometimes difficult emotional experiences.”
Some of the authors of the study reported receiving a consulting fee from COMPASS Pathways, the company that developed the synthetic version of psilocybin.
Relation: 11 Strange Facts About “Magic” Mushrooms
Psilocybin for depression
In the last 10 years, some small studies have been done Psilocybin can be profitable Treatment-resistant depression or Cancer-related psychological distress.. However, few studies have directly compared psilocybin with standard treatments for depression.
In a new study, 59 people with long-term moderate to severe depression were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group received 25 milligrams of psilocybin at the beginning of the study and a second 25 mg of psilocybin three weeks later. They also took placebopill once daily for 6 weeks during the study period.
The other group received 1 mg of psilocybin at the beginning of the study and a second dose of 1 mg 3 weeks later. And they took daily pills with escitalopram for 6 weeks during the study. A dose of 1 mg of psilocybin is believed to be too low to be effective, but “standardize expectations” so that both groups are taking psilocybin without knowing the dose. Was given for.
At the beginning and end of the study, patients conducted a study to assess the severity of the symptoms of depression. Survey scores range from 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating higher levels of depression. The average depression score at the beginning of the study was about 14-16 points, but by the end of the study, the scores of patients in the psilocybin group and those of escitalopram had dropped by a similar amount, about 6-8 points.
However, remission from depressive symptoms, defined as a 0-5 point depressive score, is more common in the urinal group, with 57% of people in this group experiencing remission and 28% of the escitalopram group. was.
I have questions left
The new results “provide intriguing evidence of the effectiveness of psilocybin in the treatment of major depressive disorders,” wrote Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman of the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Medicine, New York. editorial Accompanied by research. However, the study has limitations, and most people volunteered for the exam in response to a promotion of the study on psilocybin, Lieberman wrote. In theory, the participants could have been the selected population of people who preferred psilocybin over other treatments. In addition, the appropriate dose and frequency of psilocybin treatment for depression is still unknown, he said.
In addition, scientists are designing whether people need to have a “mystical experience” with psilocybin to get beneficial effects, or have a pharmacological effect similar to psilocybin, but change the mind. Effect, Lieberman wrote.
“We are still waiting for definitive evidence of the therapeutic effects of psychedelics and their ability to improve human condition,” said Lieberman.
Originally published in Live Science.
