Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor Robin Carhart-Harris

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences

Visiting Professor
 
 
 
//

Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7992r.carhart-harris

 
 
//

Assistant

 

Miss Bruna Cunha +44 (0)20 7594 7992

 
//

Location

 

Burlington DanesHammersmith Campus

//

Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Carhart-Harris:2016:10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30065-7,
author = {Carhart-Harris, RL and Bolstridge, M and Rucker, J and Day, CM and Erritzoe, D and Kaelen, M and Bloomfield, M and Rickard, JA and Forbes, B and Feilding, A and Taylor, D and Pilling, S and Curran, VH and Nutt, DJ},
doi = {10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30065-7},
journal = {The Lancet Psychiatry},
pages = {619--627},
title = {Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30065-7},
volume = {3},
year = {2016}
}
Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - BACKGROUND: Psilocybin is a serotonin receptor agonist that occurs naturally in some mushroom species. Recent studies have assessed the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for various conditions, including end-of-life anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and smoking and alcohol dependence, with promising preliminary results. Here, we aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of psilocybin in patients with unipolar treatment-resistant depression. METHODS: In this open-label feasibility trial, 12 patients (six men, six women) with moderate-to-severe, unipolar, treatment-resistant major depression received two oral doses of psilocybin (10 mg and 25 mg, 7 days apart) in a supportive setting. There was no control group. Psychological support was provided before, during, and after each session. The primary outcome measure for feasibility was patient-reported intensity of psilocybin's effects. Patients were monitored for adverse reactions during the dosing sessions and subsequent clinic and remote follow-up. Depressive symptoms were assessed with standard assessments from 1 week to 3 months after treatment, with the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms (QIDS) serving as the primary efficacy outcome. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN14426797. FINDINGS: Psilocybin's acute psychedelic effects typically became detectable 30-60 min after dosing, peaked 2-3 h after dosing, and subsided to negligible levels at least 6 h after dosing. Mean self-rated intensity (on a 0-1 scale) was 0·51 (SD 0·36) for the low-dose session and 0·75 (SD 0·27) for the high-dose session. Psilocybin was well tolerated by all of the patients, and no serious or unexpected adverse events occurred. The adverse reactions we noted were transient anxiety during drug onset (all patients), transient confusion or thought disorder (nine patients), mild and transient nausea (four patients), and transient headache (four patients). Relative to
AU  - Carhart-Harris,RL
AU  - Bolstridge,M
AU  - Rucker,J
AU  - Day,CM
AU  - Erritzoe,D
AU  - Kaelen,M
AU  - Bloomfield,M
AU  - Rickard,JA
AU  - Forbes,B
AU  - Feilding,A
AU  - Taylor,D
AU  - Pilling,S
AU  - Curran,VH
AU  - Nutt,DJ
DO  - 10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30065-7
EP  - 627
PY  - 2016///
SN  - 2215-0366
SP  - 619
TI  - Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study
T2  - The Lancet Psychiatry
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30065-7
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/33092
VL  - 3
ER  -
Download