Psilocybin for the Treatment of Depression: A Promising New Pharmacotherapy Approach.
Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Alan K Davis
Current topics in behavioral neurosciences January 1, 2022 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1007/7854_2021_282 via PubMed
Summary
Psilocybin therapy shows promise in treating depression, particularly major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression, with large effect sizes reported in early-phase trials. The chapter reviews findings from three small clinical trials that utilized neuroimaging to explore psilocybin's effects on brain activity. Insights into the therapy's dynamic impact and future research directions are also discussed.
Study at a glance
| Population | patients with major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Psilocybin therapy demonstrates large effect sizes in treating depression based on evidence from early-phase clinical trials. |
Abstract
Depression is highly prevalent and represents the leading cause of global disability and primary contributor to overall global burden of disease. Several lines of evidence from early-phase experimental trials suggest that serotonergic psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, with therapeutic support show great promise in the treatment of depression with large effect sizes. Neuroimaging data have also revealed the dynamic effects of psilocybin on functional activity within and between neural regions. This chapter reviews the methods and findings from three small human laboratory clinical trials examining the effects of psilocybin therapy for patients with major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. Insights from functional magnetic resonance imaging and qualitative analyses are also presented, as well as a discussion of study limitations and future directions for the research.