Summary: A meta-analysis suggests that higher dosages of psilocybin does alleviate depression symptoms in a similar way to the SSRI medication methylphenidate. Psilocybin outperformed mock in clinical trials despite the small result size, though review style deficiencies may have caused overestimation of outcomes.
The results indicate that psilocybin, especially in high doses, may provide a new street for treating depression, close to existing drugs.
Essential Information
- High-dose mushroom showed similar results on melancholy as escitalopram.
- Placebo actions were lower in kaleidoscopic testing, affecting overall results.
- Increased bright techniques are needed in the study to accurately determine psychedelics.
Origin: BMJ
According to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in today’s BMJ, high doses of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, appear to have a similar effect on depressive symptoms as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor ( SSRI ) drug escitalopram.
The results indicate that patients receiving large doses of psilocybin in antidepressant trials had greater responses than those receiving sham, even though the impact size was small.
The researchers claim that study design flaws may have overestimated the potency of psychedelics, but that higher dose psilocybin “appeared to have the ability to handle depressed symptoms.”
Psychedelic therapy has shown promise for lowering melancholy signs. However, only one randomised controlled trial has so far directly compared a psychedelic drug ( psilocybin ) with an antidepressant drug (escitalopram ) for patients with major depressive disorder.
In addition, psychedelic substances ‘ personal effects can impair blindness, leading to an exaggeration of therapy effects compared to a placebo. It’s hard to isolate the immediate effects of psychedelics because they are frequently combined with emotional support.
In an effort to address these issues, the researchers looked through medical databases for randomised controlled trials that examined the effects of psychedelics or monotherapy in adults with severe depressive symptoms.
To be eligible, psychedelic treatment ( including MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, or ayahuasca ) had to be given orally with no additional use of antidepressants, while escitalopram trials had to compare at least two different oral doses ( maximum 20 mg/day ) with placebo. Additionally, studies were included that immediately compared escitalopram and kaleidoscopic therapy.  ,
Overall, 811 people (average age 42, 54 % women ) were included in 15 psychedelic trials and 1, 968 people (average age 39, 63 % women ) were included in five escitalopram trials.
Effect size was expressed as standardised mean difference ( 0.2-0.5 indicates a small effect, 0.5-0.8 a moderate effect, and 0.8 or more a large effect ).
In kaleidoscopic trials, the researchers discovered that sham responses were less than in methylphenidate trials. In consequence, only high dose psilocybin performed better than placebo in escitalopram trials on the HAMD-17 scale, which showed a small effect size ( standardised mean difference 0.3 ), which is comparable to that of current antidepressant drugs.
None of the interventions was associated with a higher rate of severe adverse events ( including death, admission to hospital, or suicide attempt ) or discontinuation than placebo.
The writers acknowledge a number of review limitations, including the fact that only the severe effects of the interventions were evaluated and that the long-term effects of psychedelics and monotherapy are undefined. According to them, the trial size of the kaleidoscopic trials was small, and the effects of taking large doses of psilocybin may have been somewhat overestimated in comparison to other medications.
Unfortunately, they conclude:” Serotonin psychedelics, especially higher dose psilocybin, appeared to have the ability to handle depressive symptoms. Our analysis suggested that the higher dose difference, which had a small effect size, was comparable to that of the present antidepressants.
They add that “scientific advances in blinding techniques and standardized psychotherapies can help researchers better estimation the efficacy of stimulants for depressive symptoms and other medical conditions.”
About this study in pharmacotherapy
Author: BMJ Media Relations
Source: BMJ
Contact: BMJ Media Relations – BMJ
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will be presented in Journal
