Recent findings reveal that the advantages of psilocybin therapy in combination with psychotherapy may last for up to a year for most patients with severe depression. In a follow-up study of subjects who received psilocybin-psychotherapy sessions, it was found that the participants experienced relief from depressive symptoms in the long term. The study is was reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.
Studies conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine in the past demonstrated a quick short-term relieve of psilocybin therapeutic treatment on adults with major depressive disorder. Nevertheless, the current further study explains the lasting antidepressant effects that can be achieved with psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy when done with supportive psychotherapy. “Besides, our results are in line with the accumulated evidence that this treatment approach has the potential to produce substantial and long-lasting improvements in depression,” according to Natalie Gukasyan, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Going on, she stresses the note of caution and draws attention to the fact that the findings are within the research domain, requiring rigorous She advises not to try these treatments on one’s own. “It is a criminal act of possession under state and federal laws to have psycholbin,” said San Diego drug possession attorney, Tom Rist.
Over the past two decades, there has been a revival of interest in studying traditional psychedelics that include psilocybin—a compound found in “magic mushrooms.” According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, psilocybin can produce perceptual alterations, which are changes in a person’s perception of their environment and internal experiences. Research performed under laboratory conditions has shown the potential of psilocybin treatment in the treatment of different mental health disorders and addiction behaviors.
This study recruited 27 long-term depressed subjects where most participants reported symptoms of depression for about two years prior to enrollment. More than half of these participants accepted that they used antidepressant drugs during their continued depressive episodes and 88 % had been on standard antidepressants treatments in the past. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups with one receiving a combined therapy of psilocybin and psychotherapy immediately and the other under the same regimen but eight weeks later.
The results of the study showed a considerable decrease in depression in both groups associated with the use of psilocybin with a sustained low severity of depression noticed at one, three, six, and 12 months after treatment. Depression levels were evaluated before and after treatment with the GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale which is a well known tool of depression assessment. Admission of 24 and above shows severe depression, which are 17–23 indicating moderate depression, 8–16 show mild depression and 7 and below is no depression. Pre-treatment scores were 22.8 and treatment scores were 8.7 at one week, 8.9 at four weeks, 9.3 at three months, 7 at six months and 7.7 at 12monuths, on average for the majority of participants.
Professor Roland Griffiths from the departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research said, “There are effects that are significant and rapid, and then there are these long-lasting effects—it’s not like a medicine where you take it, and it takes a month to have an effect, and then you
The researchers emphasize the need for more research to determine if the benefit of psilocybin treatment persists significantly beyond the 12-month point.