The psychedelic escape from depression
The durability of treatment could… be challenged by commercial pressure to reduce the psychiatric component of psilocybin therapy, so that the drug can be given to as many people as possible.
Charles Raison, a psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who is currently overseeing a phase II clinical trial of psilocybin, is concerned about how to anticipate and shield patients from the mood crash that takes place when the effects of psilocybin recede. “How often are these things going to have to be re-dosed?” he asks. “Are they going to become chronic treatments, and what’s the implication of that?” He contrasts this with conventional antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which require daily administration and trial-and-error matching of patient and drug – and where halting treatment too abruptly can lead to a brutal relapse.
Original Article (Nature):
The psychedelic escape from depression
Artwork Fair Use: Toriqun Nuril Anwar
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