{"id":"doi:10.1007/s00213-017-4771-x","kind":"article","title":"Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: six-month follow-up","authors":["Robin Lester Carhart-Harris","Mark Bolstridge","Camilla Day","James Rucker","Rhianna Watts","David Erritzøe","Mendel Kaelen","Bruna Giribaldi","Michael Bloomfield","Stephen Pilling","J. A. Rickard","Benjamin Forbes","Amanda Feilding","David M. Taylor","H. Valerie Curran","David Nutt"],"author_count":16,"year":2017,"published":"2017-11-08","venue":"Psychopharmacology","cited_by":970,"doi":"10.1007/s00213-017-4771-x","arxiv_id":null,"nct_id":null,"source_url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4771-x","archive_url":"https://space-kitty.com/papers/doi:10.1007/s00213-017-4771-x","updated":null,"pmid":"29119217","pmcid":"PMC5813086","openalex_id":"W2767530231","pdf_url":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00213-017-4771-x.pdf","abstract":"RATIONALE: Recent clinical trials are reporting marked improvements in mental health outcomes with psychedelic drug-assisted psychotherapy. OBJECTIVES: Here, we report on safety and efficacy outcomes for up to 6 months in an open-label trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. METHODS: Twenty patients (six females) with (mostly) severe, unipolar, treatment-resistant major depression received two oral doses of psilocybin (10 and 25 mg, 7 days apart) in a supportive setting. Depressive symptoms were assessed from 1 week to 6 months post-treatment, with the self-rated QIDS-SR16 as the primary outcome measure. RESULTS: Treatment was generally well tolerated. Relative to baseline, marked reductions in depressive symptoms were observed for the first 5 weeks post-treatment (Cohen's d = 2.2 at week 1 and 2.3 at week 5, both p < 0.001); nine and four patients met the criteria for response and remission at week 5. Results remained positive at 3 and 6 months (Cohen's d = 1.5 and 1.4, respectively, both p < 0.001). No patients sought conventional antidepressant treatment within 5 weeks of psilocybin. Reductions in depressive symptoms at 5 weeks were predicted by the quality of the acute psychedelic experience. CONCLUSIONS: Although limited conclusions can be drawn about treatment efficacy from open-label trials, tolerability was good, effect sizes large and symptom improvements appeared rapidly after just two psilocybin treatment sessions and remained significant 6 months post-treatment in a treatment-resistant cohort. Psilocybin represents a promising paradigm for unresponsive depression that warrants further research in double-blind randomised control trials.","abstract_license":"CC-BY (publisher license, via OpenAlex)","license":"cc-by","is_open_access":true,"retracted":false,"peer_reviewed":null,"categories":["Psychedelics and Drug Studies"],"details":null,"provenance":"openalex+europepmc","attribution":"Abstract of \"Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: six-month follow-up\" by Robin Lester Carhart-Harris, Mark Bolstridge, Camilla Day et al., https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4771-x, used under its Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY); markup removed, otherwise unmodified.","topics":[{"slug":"psychiatric-therapeutics","name":"Novel Psychiatric Therapeutics","domain_slug":"neuroscience"}],"cited_in_dossiers":[]}