A phase 2 clinical trial published in eClinicalMedicine and the US National Library of Medicine shows that psilocybin may be effective in treating severe depression.
The study, conducted by researchers from Imperial College London, University of California San Francisco, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and McGill University, involved 59 participants. Patients were randomly assigned to either two 25 mg doses of psilocybin combined with psychological support or a six-week course of escitalopram with matched psychological support. The primary outcome assessed changes in depressive symptoms using the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Report (QIDS-SR-16).
At the six-month follow-up, both treatments showed sustained improvements in depressive symptom severity, with no significant differences between the groups in primary outcomes (mean difference in QIDS-SR-16: 1.51, p = 0.311). However, secondary outcomes highlighted advantages in the psilocybin group, which showed greater improvements in social functioning, psychological connectedness, and meaning in life.
“Six-week intensive treatments with either psilocybin or escitalopram (with psychological support) for MDD were associated with long-term improvements in depressive symptom severity”, states the study. “The greater degree of improvement in the PT arm at follow-up on psychosocial functioning, meaning in life, and psychological connectedness suggests warrant future research.”
Researchers note, however, that there are limitations to the study, including “its suboptimal power to detect small but meaningful differences between treatments, missing data, the potential use of additional interventions during the follow-up period, and reliance on self-reported treatment assessments”, saying “These factors may affect the interpretation of the study findings and should be considered when evaluating the results.”
Another recent study, published by the American Journal of Psychiatry, found that a single dose of psilocybin may offer relief for patients with severe treatment-resistant depression.
