Patients’ Accounts of Increased “Connectedness” and “Acceptance” After Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression
Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 19, 2017 Rosalind Watts, Camilla Day, Jacob Krzanowski et al. 582 citations
In an open-label trial, 20 patients with treatment-resistant depression described their experiences six months after psilocybin treatment. They reported two main shifts: from feeling disconnected from themselves, others, and the world to feeling connected, and from avoiding emotions to accepting them. Patients contrasted psilocybin with conventional treatments like medications and short-term talking therapies, which they said reinforced disconnection and avoidance, whereas psilocybin encouraged connection and acceptance. The findings suggest psilocybin may work through a novel mechanism opposite to standard antidepressants and some therapies.