Study: Psilocybin Therapy More Effective than Traditional Antidepressants

A study of 27 people found that psilocybin therapy was more effective than traditional antidepressant medications, “producing large, rapid, and sustained antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder.”

Alan Davis, an author of the study and a faculty member at both Johns Hopkins University and Ohio State University, described the effect as “more than four times greater” than usual antidepressant medications.

In the study, participants received two doses of psilocybin on different days along with about 11 hours of psychotherapy. The hallucinogen was administered in a supervised yet comfortable setting designed to put patients at ease, Davis told NPR.