Adults with major depressive disorder could get up to a month’s worth of relief from psilocybin-based psychedelic therapy, according to previous Johns Hopkins Medicine research. Some patients’ antidepressant effects from psilocybin-aided therapy and supportive psychotherapy may last for at least a year, according to researchers in a follow-up study.

As a result of this research, the Journal of Psychopharmacology published a report on it on Friday, February 15, 2022.

“Our findings add to evidence that this is a promising therapeutic approach that can lead to significant and durable improvements in depression,” says Natalie Gukasyan, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

People should not try this on their own, however, because “the results we see are in the research setting and require quite a lot of preparation,” she says. “People should not attempt to try it on their own,” she continues.

There has been a resurgence in research on classic psychedelics over the last two decades, including psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

Psilocybin, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, can alter a person’s perception of their surroundings, as well as their own thoughts and feelings and feelings. A variety of mental health issues and addictions have been shown to benefit from treatment with psilocybin.

The researchers recruited 27 people with a long-term history of depression, most of whom had been experiencing depressive symptoms for at least two years prior to recruitment. It was a 40-year-old average, with 19 of the participants being women and 25 of them being white (one African American and one Asian). Among the participants, 88% had previously been treated with standard antidepressant medications, and 58% had used antidepressants during their most recent depressive episodes.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive the intervention either immediately after screening, or after an eight-week waiting period, in one of two groups. All participants received six to eight hours of preparatory meetings with two treatment facilitators at the time of treatment.

Psilocybin was administered to participants at the Behavioral Biology Research Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center approximately two weeks apart between August 2017 and April 2019. One day and one week after each session, as well as at one, three, six, and 12 months later, 24 participants completed both psilocybin sessions and all follow-up assessments.

In both groups, treatment with psilocybin resulted in significant reductions in depression, which lasted for one, three, six and 12 months. The GRID-Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a standard depression assessment tool, was used to measure depressive symptoms before and after treatment. A score of 24 or more indicates severe depression, 17–23 moderate depression, 8–16 mild depression, and 7 or less indicates no depression.

From 22.8 at pretreatment to 8.7 after one week, 8.9 after four weeks, 9.3 after three months and 7.7 after 12 months of treatment for the majority of participants.

At 12 months, 75 percent of participants had responded to treatment and 58 percent had gone into remission, which was consistent throughout the follow-up period.

Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., the Oliver Lee McCabe III, Ph.D., Professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, says that psilocybin not only produces significant and immediate effects, but it also has a long duration, which suggests that it may be a uniquely useful new treatment for depression.

While standard antidepressants must be taken for long periods of time, psilocybin can alleviate the symptoms of depression with just one or two treatments.”

More research is needed to determine whether psilocybin’s efficacy can last much longer than a year, according to the researchers. Psilocybin for major depressive disorder is being tested in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at Johns Hopkins and other locations across the country.