Mushrooms are better than pills
Psilocybin has again shown significant benefits over antidepressants
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
Researchers from Imperial College London compared the effect of a component of "magic mushrooms" with the effect of the most common antidepressant escitalopram among patients with moderate and severe depression. Psilocybin was not only more effective and faster in action, but also caused significantly fewer side effects. The authors believe that this is compelling evidence for the approval of the substance as a new therapy for the treatment of mental disorders.
Psilocybin has been studied for several years as a potential remedy for severe cases of depression and regularly demonstrates high efficacy among volunteers. Now scientists from Imperial College London have evaluated its effect against escitalopram in 59 people. The degree of their disorder was classified from moderate to severe.
Article by Carhart-Harris et al. The Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression is published in the New England Journal of Medicine –VM.
Two sessions of psilocybin were compared with the effect of a six-week course of escitalopram. The first group was given 25 mg of psilocybin orally at the beginning of the experiment and another 25 mg three weeks later. Additionally, participants received placebo pills. The second group was given 10 mg of escitalopram per day for six weeks with an increase to 20 mg (the maximum daily dosage). Additionally, they were given 1 mg of psilocybin. Scientists called this dosage so low that it could hardly be classified as active, affecting the results.
Although initially the overall symptoms of depression decreased in both groups, in the psilocybin cohort the decrease occurred faster and was more significant.
To assess the symptoms of depression, scientists used the QIDS-SR-16 scale. Before the start of treatment, the average score in the range from 0 to 27 among psilocybin participants was about 14.5, and after six weeks of the experiment it decreased to about 8 points.
Depression scores decreased by at least 50% in 70% of psilocybin participants and only 48% of participants in the escitalopram group. Meanwhile, remission of symptoms in the sixth week of the experiment was about twice as high in the psilocybin group.
It is important to note that psilocybin acted faster and was better tolerated. Participants were less likely to report dry mouth, restlessness, drowsiness and other side effects than volunteers after escitalopram.
"These findings offer the most compelling evidence to support efforts to license therapy for the treatment of severe depression," the scientists concluded. It is especially important that such therapy takes place under the supervision of specialists in a hospital setting, they added.
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