The effectiveness of psychoactive substances to treat various mental health conditions, from depression and anxiety to addiction, has seen growing interest in recent years. Studies into their use in a clinical and therapeutic context have not only gained energy but become more mainstream, and there are some promising results appearing. This is very welcome, in an age when mental illness is finally, if still slowly, becoming a topic of open and honest conversation, alongside growing concerns about the over-use of medication heavy in negative side-effects, especially for adolescents.
When it comes to psychedelics, various studies have been undertaken into the anti-depressant properties of psilocybin – the psychoactive substance found in magic mushrooms – but few that have compared it directly to established treatments. However, a study from Imperial College, published today, has done just that. The study was small, the findings inconclusive, but interesting enough to encourage further research. What was most compelling was that psilocybin appeared to make participants not just less sad, but also more happy, something the usual pills failed to do.
In this study 59 participants were given either psilocybin or escitalopram, a selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), which works on the brain in a way similar to most standard anti-depressant medications, such as Prozac. All of them saw comparable reductions in their depressive symptoms. But where the psychedelic drug out-performed the anti-depressant was on more positive measures, including work, social functioning, mental well-being and the ability to feel simply happy again.
According to a leading psychiatrist from the University of Oxford, Professor Guy Goodwin, the study “is under-powered and does not prove that psilocybin is a better treatment than standard treatment with escitalopram for major depression. However, it offers tantalising clues that it may be”.
Where those tantalising clues will lead remains to be seen, but the more good that can come from the clinical use of substances that can also cause such harm used recreationally, the better, in our books.
If you’d like to hear more from one of the scientists behind this research, listen to this Drugscience podcast in which Professor David Nutt and Dr Robin Carhart-Harris discuss the work of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College and the results of this recent study.
