The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update
August 1, 2021
Adding MDMA to manualized therapy for PTSD significantly improves symptoms and reduces functional impairment compared to placebo, based on a Phase 3 trial. No increase in adverse events, including suicidality, was observed with MDMA use. Results were published online May 10 in Nature Medicine.
The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update
July 5, 2021
A 6-week clinical trial compared the psychedelic psilocybin with the antidepressant escitalopram in patients with moderate to severe depression and found no significant difference in antidepressant effects between the two treatments. Some secondary outcome measures favored psilocybin, but those analyses were not adjusted for multiple comparisons. The findings suggest that psilocybin did not demonstrate superior antidepressant efficacy over escitalopram in this patient population.
The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update
January 7, 2021
Patients with major depressive disorder who received two administrations of the psychedelic psilocybin as part of a psychotherapy regimen experienced rapid and lasting improvement in depression symptoms, according to a randomized open-label trial. These findings extend previous research suggesting antidepressant effects for psilocybin in patients with cancer and treatment-resistant depression. Results were published online November 4, 2020, in JAMA Psychiatry.
The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update
September 1, 2018
A randomized trial found that military veterans and public safety officers with chronic PTSD experienced a reduction in symptoms when the psychedelic drug MDMA was given in conjunction with psychotherapy. Doses of 75 mg and 125 mg, each administered in two experimental sessions spaced 3 to 5 weeks apart, were more effective than a control dose of 30 mg.
The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update
August 1, 2016
Intravenous ketamine given twice a week or three times a week produced sustained antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant depression, compared with placebo. Because both dosing frequencies showed similar results, a twice-weekly regimen may be a suitable initial repeated-dose approach for this population.