Study - Psychedelic psilocybin could be similar to standard SSRI antidepressants and offer positive long term effects for depression. Those given psilocybin also reported greater improvements in social functioning and psychological ‘connectedness', and no loss of sex drive.
Effect of psilocybin versus escitalopram on depression symptom severity in patients with moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder: observational 6-month follow-up of a phase 2, double-blind, randomised, controlled trial
Six-week intensive treatments with either psilocybin or escitalopram (with psychological support) for MDD were associated with long-term improvements in depressive symptom severity. The greater degree of improvement in the PT arm at follow-up on psychosocial functioning, meaning in life, and psychological connectedness suggests warrant future research. However, these results are descriptive and should be interpreted with caution. Key limitations of the study include its suboptimal power to detect small but meaningful differences between treatments, missing data, the potential use of additional interventions during the follow-up period, and reliance on self-reported treatment assessments.
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