What Dose of Psilocybin Eases Anxiety, Depression?
One dose of psilocybin—sufficient to induce changes in perception and mystical-like experiences—significantly decreased anxiety and depression for up to 6 months in patients with life-threatening cancer.
Roland Griffiths, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, presented his findings earlier this month in a poster at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology annual meeting.
Trials from the 1960s and 1970s suggest hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD can ease anxiety and depression in patients with cancer. In 2011, a pilot study involving 12 patients with cancer suggested a moderate dose of psilocybin, the major hallucinogenic compound in “magic” mushrooms, decreased anxiety and depression.
In the new randomized, double-blind study, Dr. Griffiths and colleagues investigated the effects of one very low dose of psilocybin (1 or 3 mg/70 kg) in 25 participants compared with one moderate to high dose (22 or 30 mg/70 kg) in 26 participants. All participants had been diagnosed with life-threatening cancer and had symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Patients who received a high dose of psilocybin, researchers found, showed significantly lower anxiety and depression at follow-up 5 weeks later compared with patients who received a low dose of the drug.
“The participants attributed significantly greater positive changes in attitudes about life/self, positive social effects, and positive behavior changes to the [mystical-like] experience,” Dr. Griffiths wrote, “and a higher percentage reported the experience to be among the five most personally meaningful of their lives (54% vs. 16%).”
When researchers checked back with the patients 6 months later, they found the decreases in anxiety and depression persisted.
“A single moderate-high dose of psilocybin, when administered under supportive conditions to carefully screened and prepared participants, can produce substantial and enduring decreases in anxiety and depression in patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis,” Dr. Griffiths concluded.
—Jolynn Tumolo
References
