Psilocybin Paired With Psychotherapy May Help Patients With Major Depression

Psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, may be effective in treating major depressive disorder when paired with supportive psychotherapy, suggests astudy inJAMA Psychiatry. The study also found that the beneficial effects of psilocybin may last longer than those of ketamine.Alan K. Davis, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and colleagues studied 24 adults aged 21 to 75 years with major depressive disorder who received gelcaps of psilocybin at two sessions roughly a week and a half apart. All patients had eight hours of in-person visits with session facilitators to prepare for their first psilocybin session, two to three hours of follow-up meetings after the psilocybin sessions, and 11 hours of supportive psychotherapy over the course of the study. None of the patients were taking antidepressants during the study. During the psilocybin sessions, which lasted approximately one day each time, treatment facilitators were present and available to respond to the patients ’ physical and emotional needs.The patients were divided into two groups: One group, the immediate-treatment group, had their preparatory sessions and treatment immediately after they enrolled in the study; the other group, the delayed-treatment group, received the same preparation and treatment sessions eight weeks after enrollment.The researchers assessed the severity of the patients ’ depression with the GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (GRID-HAMD) at baseline, at week 5, and at week 8. T...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: depression GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale JAMA Psychiatry psilocybin psychotherapy Source Type: research