High dose psilocybin shows similar antidepressant effects to escitalopram
High dose psilocybin shows similar antidepressant effects to escitalopram
High doses of psilocybin - the active ingredient in magic mushrooms - appears to have a similar effect on depressive symptoms as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drug escitalopram, suggests a systematic review and meta-analysis published in The BMJ today.
only high dose psilocybin performed better than placebo in escitalopram trials on the HAMD-17 scale, showing a small effect size (standardised mean difference 0.3), which is similar to that of current antidepressant drugs.
I mean. Ask people if they want to eat mushrooms once a month and have a pleasant experience, or take antidepressants everyday and get a whole host of life effecting side effects....
Not even getting into the price of both treatments...
It doesn't have to be more effective to be a valid treatment, there's a whole bunch of negatives that go with the other options
Anything with fewer side effects than SSRI would be welcome tbh.
Too bad we'll never get it. What's the incentive for pharma companies to develop a cheap and safe alternative to their poison?
This will never go beyond trials.
I suppose this depends on where one lives. For the US, I think psilocybin assisted therapy is available in Oregon, Colorado and a in couple of places in California. In Australia it is already legal since 2023.
Apart from that there are several countries in the world where psilocybin can be bought legally. I don't know for sure, but I would assume one could find there some physicians exercising this sort of therapy.
Can confirm. 🖖🏼
What's the incentive for pharma companies to develop a cheap and safe alternative to their poison?
The exclusive rights to get their product administered in hospitals, carried by pharmacies, etc.
The drug company Lykos funded studies into MDMA/ecstasy/Molly as PTSD treatment, and submitted an application for being the exclusive licensed provider of MDMA. Now, the studies were rejected, but mainly because of sloppy science. If they had the evidence showing it actually works, they would've gotten the exclusive right to mass produce it in the U.S.
That's worth a lot of money, even if it is a relatively cheap drug. And if there's exclusivity, they can set the price wherever they want, where the cheapness of the manufacturing is actually a plus for the manufacturer.
conspiracy model: marihuana has been banned in the US for a long time, not because of its negative health impacts, but because the ruling class has been afraid that people will be more relaxed, less anxious nervous and tense, and will relax instead of working hard.