Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2772630

by Reedx • 6 years ago

50 16 6 years ago

Noxmiles• 6 years ago

the most important sentence from this paper for a TL;DR:

"This randomized clinical trial found that psilocybin-assisted therapy was efficacious in producing large, rapid, and sustained antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder."

SIGALRM• 6 years ago

I'm glad that there is clinical trials for this, but here I am silently waiting for Psilocybin to be legally available.

chrisweekly2• 6 years ago

Not sure where you live, but Oregon just legalized psilocybin. Given the path blazed (ahem) by marijuana, there's cause for optimism other states will follow.

loceng2• 6 years ago

Likewise MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is being fast tracked the FDA due to Maps.org work, due to it being non-addictive and arguably more safe than alcohol, it too could relatively soon be legal; I do have concerns the medical institutional complex may to try prevent it from becoming fully legal, as a form of gatekeeping.

in3d• 6 years ago

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24993519

Note that Ketamine already has quite a lot of evidence for effectiveness.

loceng2• 6 years ago

From my experience with entheogens like Ayahuasca and ketamine, the ketamine IV - I had done twice to see if it would help alleviate chronic pain - was the highest resolution experience, processing at a slow enough pace, where I came out of them believing that at least part of physical pain is energy that's stuck and builds up - whether having an energetic cause or source for the block or perhaps physical block such as nerve damage or pain signaling interfering with subtle energy flows. Within some Ayahuasca shamanic circles it's shared that entheogens open you up to energy, allowing it to flow more easily - positive and negative energy - and so it must be reducing the frictions that are possible between the mind-body interface, perhaps more specifically between consciousness, executive function and/or "free will" for the range of what's possible on our path, an interplay or friction/play balancing out with the universal energy that wants to/does surround us/is us/is in us/part of every vibration of the foundation we exist on; there are hierarchical ancient stories, narratives, patterns that gain their position in the hierarchy, strength of those patterns, based on the importance of those stories/patterns being perpetuated first through successful biological/reactionary mechanisms - reinforced through the quantity of replication of such species who have survived with whatever patterns their genetics lead their behaviours and intelligence toward. Too vague and disconnected from my other thoughts, out of place with the rest of conversation in this thread, but the mentioning of ketamine triggered it - so I'll post it for ridicule or scrutiny.

tokai• 6 years ago

I don't get how the article can claim "large, rapid, and sustained antidepressant effects" when their data is from a self-reported 1-month follow-up.

Jefro118• 6 years ago

I think they mean sustained consistently over that month.

09bjb• 6 years ago

I don't entirely disagree with you, but if we're comparing to SSRIs, anything beyond one day can be considered "sustained." The fact that there are lasting changes beyond the immediate pharmacological effects seems significant to me.

ajb• 6 years ago

What's the current thinking about these 'compared with delayed treatment' trials?

FailMore• 6 years ago

I personally do not believe that depression/anxiety can be changed purely through narcotics (natural and pharma).

From my experience, building a systematic understanding of my unconscious anxieties and consciously working to overcome them is what caused my mental health to improve.

I found the hardest part was the diagnosis of the anxieties, and that my dreams gave me the best clues (not used in the Fraudian/Jungian way).

I got a bit obsessed by it, and wrote a paper as I couldn't find anyone suggesting the same theory as me: https://psyarxiv.com/k6trz. It was discussed on HN here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19143590

Nbox9• 6 years ago

I think you are discounting the Assisted Therapy part of Psilocybin-Assited Therapy.

sjg007• 6 years ago

Mushrooms may operate in the mind in a similar way to dreams. We don’t know. For sure psychotherapy is a component of any treatment. I think that ketamine and mushrooms and even antidepressants can give you just enough of a break that you can get some perspective.

saiya-jin• 6 years ago

Clearly you've never tried psychedelical experience that the likes of mushrooms can bring. Its beyond profound, life-changing and for most folks easily one of / the most intense experience they ever had. Reportedly even 1 such experience permanently rewires parts of the brain, which could be part of effect discussed.

You have no clue how far from reality you can actually go and things we take for granted, like all of our senses and physical aspect of existence can be removed, completely. And you will still be there, naked in truer sense than you thought possible. Break down to atoms, core of your personality, and put yourself one by one back.

Been there and done that, literally. Not in 60' style having 100x the dose of acid or similar, just a regular dose of shrooms grown from spores bought in Amsterdam, but maximized the effect on the body and mind as much as I could research. Had properly spiritual experiences, as an agnostic (beautiful as they were, they just confirmed to me that hierarchical religions we all know these days have nothing with existence of real god(s), rather with our inner wiring and deep desires and fears - but as moral imperative it makes sense to be a good person overall). I am a better, more knowledgeable person thanks to this, kind of wisdom no school or ordinary life can teach you about yourself and humanity.

There was good research form czech guy Stanislav Grof with LSD on psychiatric patients, the results were much better than any medication mankind could create. Sadly all the bans in 60' from Nixon due to racial profiling of hippies/minorities resulted in effective blockage of any research for 40 years. It could have saved thousands of lives literally, probably much more.

I could go on for a long time. Man, don't underestimate these things.

0x445442• 6 years ago

Split sections with scroll bars on the far left AND far right of the page? Someone must have been on Psilocybin when they designed the site.

Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder

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