Psilocybin and a standard antidepressant, with no clear winner
What they did
Fifty-nine adults with moderate to severe depression were randomly assigned to either two 25mg doses of psilocybin or six weeks of daily escitalopram, a widely prescribed antidepressant.
What they found
Both groups improved. The difference between them on the main depression score was not statistically significant, though 70 percent of the psilocybin group responded compared with 48 percent on escitalopram.
Worth knowing
This trial did not show psilocybin beating escitalopram. It failed to show a difference on its primary measure, and the response rates people quote are secondary outcomes that the study was not powered to test.
Carhart-Harris et al. Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression. New England Journal of Medicine, 2021.
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depressionOnly the highest dose eased treatment-resistant depressiondepressionIn ordinary depression, psilocybin beat placebo by twelve pointsmeta-analysisPsilocybin survived the placebo correction, but the effect shrank to smallEvery trial in this section used a single large dose, given in a clinic, with trained people in the room for the whole session. That is a different activity from anything sold on this site. More on why that distinction matters.
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