Scientists at Imperial College London say their study shows that the compound “opens up” communication between different parts of the brain and works therapeutically to relieve depression. They said it could potentially provide treatment for other psychiatric conditions characterized by stable thought patterns. The researchers said that psilocybin is one of the many psychedelics being investigated as a possible treatment for psychiatric disorders. Several studies have tried a synthetic form of the drug to treat patients with depression and anxiety, with promising results. The latest results, obtained from two combined studies, reveal that individuals who responded to psilocybin therapy showed increased brain connectivity not only during treatment but also up to three weeks later. This “opening up” phenomenon has been linked to self-reported improvements in their depression. However, similar changes in brain connectivity were not observed in those treated with a conventional antidepressant (called escitalopram), suggesting that psychedelic function works differently in the treatment of depression. The paper’s lead author, Professor Robin Carhart-Harris, former head of the Imperial Center for Psychiatric Research, now based at the University of California, San Francisco, said: associated with people improving, and was not observed with a conventional antidepressant. “In previous studies we had seen a similar effect on the brain when people were scanned while taking psychedelics, but here we see it weeks after treatment for depression, which indicates a ‘transfer’ of the drug’s acute action.” In the latest study, a team led by the Imperial’s Center for Psychedelic Research analyzed fMRI scans of nearly 60 participants with treatment-resistant depression, who performed two trials. In the first trial, all participants received psilocybin. In the second, participants were not informed if they had been given psilocybin or placebo that was shown to be escitalopram, an antidepressant SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor). In addition to medication, all participants also received speech therapy with registered mental health professionals and brain scans were performed before, and then a day or three weeks after, participants were treated with psilocybin. Both trials found improvements with psilocybin therapy, as measured by improved scores on clinical questionnaires. Scans performed before and after treatment showed that psilocybin therapy reduced connections in areas of the brain that are closely associated with depression and increased connections to other areas of the brain that were not well integrated and are more isolated in depressed patients. They found a correlation between this result and the improvement in symptoms in both trials – while the strength and duration of the result differed between participants, it was stronger in those who reported improvement in symptoms. Professor Carhart-Harris said: “We do not yet know how long the changes in brain activity observed with psilocybin therapy last and we need to do more research to understand this. “We know that some people relapse and their brain may soon return to the rigid patterns of activity we see in depression.” The authors warn that while their findings are encouraging, the experiments were performed under controlled, clinical conditions, using adjusted doses of laboratory-formulated psilocybin and including extensive pre-, during- and post-dose psychological support provided by mental health professionals. They said that patients with depression should not try to self-medicate with psilocybin, as taking magic mushrooms or psilocybin in the absence of these careful safeguards may not have a positive effect. Professor David Nutt, head of the Imperial Center for Psychedelic Research, said: “These findings are significant because we are seeing for the first time that psilocybin works differently from conventional antidepressants – making the brain more flexible and fluid and less entrenched in negative thinking. patterns related to depression. “This supports our initial predictions and confirms that psilocybin could be a real alternative to treating depression.” Professor Carhart-Harris added: “A fascinating consequence of our findings is that we have discovered a fundamental mechanism by which psychedelic therapy works not only for depression but also for other mental illnesses such as anorexia or addiction. “Now we have to test if this is the case and if it is, then we have found something important.” The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine.
