JAMA Original Investigation Article
Journal of the American Medical Association, September 5, 2023
A randomized, Phase 2 clinical trial at 11 research sites with 104 participants aged 21 to 65 with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder.
What’s Interesting about this article?
- A single 25 mg dose of synthetic psilocybin, with psychological support, resulted in a clinically significant and sustained reduction in depressive symptoms and functional disability.
- A placebo effect was excluded because controls received a vitamin capsule identical in appearance to the psilocybin pills.
- There were no serious adverse effects.
JournalDoc Comments:
- As pointed out in an accompanying editorial by Rachel Yehuda, PhD and Amy Lehrner, PhD, psychedelic therapy may represent “A New Paradigm of Care for Mental Health.”
- Most psychedelic compounds are illegal under federal law, therefore research with these compounds must be conducted under close supervision by trained individuals in accredited institutions.
- The psychedelic approach focuses on revealing the causes of depression through new insights during the induced visions or hallucinations, rather than suppression of symptoms through traditional antidepressants.
- As with most new treatments, we need to proceed slowly and carefully in evaluating the potential of psychedelics through additional experiments.
Disclaimer: Article of the Week selections by JournalDoc physicians are independent, unbiased and have no commercial conflict of interest. JournalDoc does not support or endorse the findings or opinions expressed in the article. Findings in the article may need to be supported by further research and/or the consensus of experts.
