John Hopkins Study on Psilocybin and its Impact on Major Depression Relief
Methods: This randomized study recruited individuals with long-term history of moderate to severe depression, most of whom experienced persisting symptoms for approximately two years before enrolling in the research. Participants were randomly selected into one of two groups in which they all received 2 doses of psilocybin, 2 weeks apart with psychotherapy. Group one received treatment immediately and group two after an eight-week waiting period. Psilocybin was administered in a comfortable room under the supervision of two facilitators. Patients returned for follow-ups where depression severity was assessed, 1 day and 1 week following both sessions, and then at month 1, 3, 6, and 12 following the second session.
Participants: Partakers were 67% female with a mean age of 40. 92% of participants identified as Caucasian while one participant identified as Black and another as Asian.
Treatment History: 88% of the participants had previously been treated with standard antidepressant medications, and 58% reported using antidepressants in their current depressive episodes. Participants had to taper off any antidepressants prior to the study with the help of their personal physician to ensure safe exposure to this experimental treatment.
Treatment Groups: 13 participants received psilocybin preparation and treatment immediately, and 11 participants received the same preparation and treatment after an eight-week delay.
Results:
Outcome: 24 participants finished both psilocybin sessions and completed all long-term follow-up assessments. The researchers reported that psilocybin treatment in both groups produced large decreases in depression, and that depression severity remained low up to 12 months after treatment.
Detailed Data: Depressive symptoms were measured before and after treatment using the GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a standard depression assessment tool, in which a score of 24 or more indicates severe depression, 17-23 moderate depression, 8-16 mild depression and 7 or less no depression. For most participants, scores for the overall treatment decreased from 22.8 at pretreatment to 8.7 at one week, 8.9 at one month, 9.3 at three months, 7 at six months and 7.7 at 12 months post treatment.
Conclusion: “Psilocybin not only produces significant and immediate effects, it also has a long duration, which suggests that it may be a uniquely useful new treatment for depression,” says Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., Professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “Compared to standard antidepressants, which must be taken for long stretches of time, psilocybin has the potential to enduringly relieve the symptoms of depression with one or two treatments.” Researchers emphasize that more research is needed to explore the range of efficacy when using psilocybin as a treatment for depression.
