Psilocybin-assisted group psychotherapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction for frontline healthcare provider COVID-19-related depression and burnout: A randomized controlled trial
PLoS Medicine September 19, 2025 Benjamin R. Lewis, John Hendrick, Kevin Byrne et al. 5 citations
Adding a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin to an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program led to a significantly larger reduction in depressive symptoms among frontline healthcare workers than MBSR alone, with no serious adverse events. In a small randomized trial of 25 physicians and nurses with depression and burnout related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the combination group showed a 4.6-point greater drop on the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms at two weeks post-intervention. This advantage diminished by six months. Secondary measures of burnout, demoralization, and connectedness also favored the psilocybin group but did not survive statistical correction. Larger trials are needed to confirm durability and generalizability.