Assessing potential of psilocybin for depressive disorders

ABSTRACT

Introduction

There has been increasing interest in the role psilocybin may play in the treatment of depressive disorders. Several clinical trials have shown psilocybin to have efficacy in reducing symptoms of depression.

Areascovered

We discuss the current understanding of psilocybin's therapeutic mechanism of action and review existing clinical data investigating psilocybin as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of depression.

Expert opinion

There is still much unknown regarding the risks of psilocybin treatment. When weighing the known risks and benefits of psilocybin treatment against those found in existing standards of care, among patients with depression, patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) may be the most suitable candidates for psilocybin treatment at this time.

KEYWORDS:

• Major depressive disorder
• psilocybin, psychedelics
• psychedelic-assisted therapy
• treatment-resistant depression
• depression in chronic illness

Article highlights

• One third of all patients with depression fail to respond to existing antidepressant therapies.

• Psilocybin coupled with psychotherapy offers a unique mechanism of action which combines biological and cognitive therapies to treat depression.

• While early evidence is promising, care should be taken to avoid clinical use ahead of full scientific and regulatory evaluation and approval.

Declaration of interest

MW Johnson serves as consultant to AJNA Labs, AWAKN Life Sciences, Beckley Psychedelic Ltd., Clarion Clinics, Mind Medicine, Negev Capital, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, and Reunion Neurosciences. ST Aaronson serves as a consultant to Compass Pathways, LivaNova, Neuronetics, Genomind and Sage Therapeutics. He receives research funding from Compass Pathways.

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13543784.2023.2273493

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.