In 1970, the United States government passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). As part of this law, psilocybin was classified as a Schedule 1 drug.
According to Uncle Sam, this means that psilocybin has no medical use and is not safe even “under medical supervision.”
But this isn’t actually true.
In fact, during the 1950s and ‘60s, clinical researchers performed several studies on LSD, psilocybin, and other psychedelic substances. They discovered a wide range of potential medical treatments well before the USA passed the CSA.
But once Tricky Dick Nixon began his War on Drugs, all the promising research had to stop.
Fortunately, things are beginning to change.
Several cities and even the state of Oregon have decriminalized psilocybin. Institutions like John Hopkins and New York University are once again performing clinical studies on psilocybin and other psychedelic substances.
While the research is still emerging, what we know so far from these studies is that psilocybin has the potential to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and many other mental and physical medical conditions.
Can Psilocybin Treat Anxiety and Depression in Cancer Patients?
Since 2011, there have been at least four studies performed using psilocybin on patients with advanced-stage cancer. All suggest that psilocybin helps treat depression, anxiety, and other existential distress that people with cancer often suffer.
Most importantly, these studies show that a single dose used in a psychotherapeutic setting may be enough to treat anxiety and depression effectively for months or even years — making psilocybin a potentially more powerful antidepressant than anything Big Pharma is selling.
The First Psilocybin Depression Study for Advanced-Stage Cancer Patients
In 2011, researchers led by Charles S Grob published a pilot study designed “To explore the safety and efficacy of psilocybin in patients with advanced-stage cancer and reactive anxiety.”
The study consisted of two experimental treatment sessions. In one session, the patient received a small amount of psilocybin or a niacin placebo. If they received niacin in the first session, they received psilocybin in the second session and vice versa.
During the psilocybin treatment sessions, each person received a dose of 0.2 mg/kg. This means a person weighing 70 kg (around 150 pounds) would have been given a 0.14-gram dose of psilocybin during the experimental treatment.
The researchers concluded that patients experienced “sustained improvement” in their mood 6 months after the treatment. They encouraged future research into the effects of psilocybin on treating existential distress within patients with advanced-stage cancer.
Testing Higher Doses of Psilocybin to Treat Depression and Anxiety
A 2016 study from researchers at New York University was structured very similarly to the pilot study above. There were only a few minor differences:
Despite these differences, the studies were conducted similarly with participants receiving niacin in one session and psilocybin in the other. The results of this study confirmed what the pilot study suggested:
“[Psilocybin] produced rapid and sustained anxiolytic and antidepressant effects (for at least 7 weeks but potentially as long as 8 months), decreased cancer-related existential distress, increased spiritual wellbeing and quality of life, and was associated with improved attitudes towards death [for patients with advanced-stage cancer].”
Psilocybin Confirmed to Treat Depression & Anxiety in Advanced-Stage Cancer Patients
Also in 2016, researchers at John Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bayview Medical Center released a similar study. However, instead of niacin, a low dose of psilocybin was meant to act as an inactive placebo.
Initially the low dose was 3 mg/70 kg (or ~0.043 mg/kg). However, the dose was lowered to 1 mg/70 kg (~0.014mg/kg) after the first twelve participants.
At this point, the researchers realized that 3 mg/70 kg may be too close to the threshold at which “significant psilocybin effects” are experienced. Thus, lowering the dose by two-thirds ensured that low dose psilocybin might act as a better placebo against the high dose.
Additionally, the first two high dose participants received 30 mg/70 kg (~0.43 mg/kg) of psilocybin. One vomited the dose up, and the other quit the study.
This prompted the researchers to drop the dose to 22 mg/70 kg (~0.31 mg/kg), which is near the amount of psilocybin given to participants in the New York University study.
While dose were changed during the study, researchers concluded:
“The data show that psilocybin produced large and significant decreases in clinician-rated and self-rated measures of depression, anxiety or mood disturbance, and increases in measures of quality of life, life meaning, death acceptance, and optimism.”
Like the New York University study, these results were shown to last long at least six months after a single high dose psilocybin psychotherapy session.
One Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy Session Improves Mood For Years
In 2020, researchers from the 2016 New York University study led a long-term follow-up (LTFU) study and determined that the positive effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may last for years after a single session.
The study was divided into two followup sessions with the first occurring a mean 3.2 years after the initial psilocybin dose and the other a mean 4.5 years later.
As the authors of the study note:
At the second LTFU, participants overwhelmingly…attributed subjective experiences of positive changes to the psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy experience, reporting improved well-being or life satisfaction, and rating it among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives.
While more research is required to confirm these results, these four studies suggest that psilocybin taken in a psychotherapeutic session with a trained medical professional can reduce depression and anxiety within patients suffering advanced-stage cancer.
These effects are experienced immediately and may last for months or even years after one session.
Can Psilocybin Treat Long-Term Treatment-Resistant Depression in Non-Cancer Patients
While the studies above illustrate that psilocybin has the potential to treat existential distress in patients with advanced-stage cancer, there is still the question about whether psilocybin can also treat depression and anxiety in non-cancer patients.
Based on the results from several recent studies, the answer appears to be yes.
Psilocybin May Work When Antidepressants Fail
In 2016, a number of universities, colleges, and hospitals in London led a joint study into the effects of psilocybin on patients with moderate or severe depression that couldn’t be treated with therapy or antidepressants alone.
The researchers selected 12 participants, each suffering moderate to severe treatment-resistant depression, and divided the study into two experimental sessions spaced a week apart.
During the first session, each participant was given 10 mg of psilocybin. A higher dose (25 mg) was administered during the second session seven days later.
Seven days after the second dose, 8 out of the 12 participants reported no depression. At the three month follow up, 7 were still reporting no depression. 42% (5 of the 12) are now considered to be in remission.
This study suggests that psilocybin may be a better treatment method for depression than antidepressants in some cases, though more research is certainly needed before we can say for sure.
Psilocybin and Amygdalia
In 2017, another joint study out of London showed similar results as the study above. In this case, after a high dose of psilocybin, all 19 participants “showed some decrease in depressive symptoms” one week after their initial session while 18 continued showing decreased depression symptoms after 5 weeks.
This study was unique because it didn’t just confirm what all the other studies already said. It also measured blood-flow and brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The researchers discovered that one day after treatment, there was decreased blood flow to the amygdala and decreased resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in the parahippocampal cortex. Both of these correlated to decreased depressive symptoms one day and 5 weeks after the psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy session.
In other words, under the right conditions, psilocybin may help to alter human brain activity that leads to depression or other forms of existential distress. If these results are validated by other studies, this could explain why one session with psilocybin appears to be so successful at alleviating these negative feelings and states of being.
A Final Look at Psilocybin: Beyond Depression, Addiction, and Anxiety
There have been several other studies about psilocybin and depression, including a psilocybin depression study published in February 2022, which confirmed that psilocybin does appear to lead to decreased depression at least one year after psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.
However, as the LTFU to the 2016 New York University study showed, these effects may last up to 4.5 years. As others confirmed, this may make psilocybin a much more effective and inexpensive option for treating depression, anxiety, and a variety of other medical conditions when compared to traditional antidepressant treatments and therapies.
Of course, there’s still a lot more research to be accomplished.
Fortunately, many of the archaic restrictions of the late 20th century are being repealed while the down-right lies told by the government are beginning to be understood as falsehoods. We are now waking up to the truth:
Psilocybin and psychedelic substances, when taken in a psychotherapeutic session maybe some of the most effective treatments for mental disorders and illnesses at our disposal.