A single dose of psilocybin, combined with therapy sessions, significantly improved depression symptoms within days and lasted for months, according to a first study published by the Swedish Medical Association.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm Brain Stimulation Clinic conducted a phase 2 randomized clinical trial with 35 participants with moderate-to-severe depression who received a 25-milligram dose of psilocybin or placebo niacin.
For the study, published last week in JAMA Psychiatry, patients also underwent five psychotherapy sessions to complete either the psychedelic experience or a placebo.
The psilocybin cohort showed, on average, clinically observable improvements at day 8 compared to the placebo group.
“This finding means that psilocybin may be an alternative to standard treatments when symptom relief is important,” the paper says.
“A single dose of psilocybin was associated with rapid antidepressant effects.”
By the sixth week of the trial, 53 percent of the psilocybin cohort was considered to be in remission from depression, while only 6 percent of the placebo group said so.
However, the researchers found that the overall effect faded after a year.
“Our results suggest that psilocybin may provide rapid and clinically meaningful improvements in depression and may serve as an alternative to standard treatment when symptom reduction is important.” analyze Author Hampus Yngwe said in a press release.
“However, the long-term effects are uncertain. Repeated treatments may be needed to prevent relapse,” he said. “This needs to be investigated in larger studies.”
“Our findings indicate that psilocybin may be a valuable addition to current treatments due to its rapid onset and relatively long-lasting effects, although the duration may not be as long as previous uncontrolled studies suggest. Therefore, repeated dosing or maintenance therapy may be needed to prevent relapse.”
Johan Lundberg, professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute, add “It is important to emphasize that the treatment is not without risk and that some patients need additional support.”
This is the first randomized, double-blind study in Sweden investigating psilocybin for depression. The researchers received funding from the Swedish Research Council and Norrsken Mind.
However, this is hardly the only research to suggest that a single dose of psychedelic therapy can have lasting effects in the treatment of a variety of mental health conditions.
For example, another study recently published by the American Medical Association (AMA) found this A dose of psilocybin, an integrated psychotherapy, appears to be a “safe and effective” treatment option. for people with cocaine use disorders (CUD).
That study was published about two months after the AMA released another study that found this A single dose of psilocybin combined with therapy “significantly increased long-term abstinence.” compared to nicotine patches from cigarettes. This indicates that psychedelics “have potential in the treatment of tobacco use disorder,” the researchers said.
As psychedelic policy reform progresses in the United States legislature and Congress, Americans have shown increasing interest in exploring the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin. To that point, a RAND Corporation study recently found that nearly 10 million American adults microdosed psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, LSD, or MDMA. in 2025
A scientific review published by the AMA last year Psilocybin use has “surged” in the US in recent years amid the decriminalization movement and given the “promising results of clinical trials” regarding its therapeutic potential. But the document also noted that current federal laws present a “significant barrier” to researchers better understanding the true impacts of the psychedelic substance.
Meanwhile, another study last year found that psilocybin assisted psychotherapy “It showed significant reductions in alcohol consumption and high rates of smoking cessation” and has the potential to reduce opioid addiction.
On the other hand, in 2024, two more investigations – including the contributions of a top federal drug official.studied psychedelics and alcohol use disorder (AUD)..
One found that a single dose of psilocybin was “safe and effective in reducing alcohol consumption in AUD patients,” and the other concluded that classic psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD “have demonstrated potential to treat drug addiction, particularly AUD.”
That year, the National Institute of Health also announced the same It would put $2.4 million toward studies on the use of psychedelics to treat methamphetamine use disorders.– The funding comes as federal health officials report a sharp increase in deaths from methamphetamine and other psychostimulants in recent years, with fatal overdoses from the substances increasing nearly fivefold between 2015 and 2022.
In 2023, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) announced that a $1.5 million in funding rounds to further study psychedelics and addiction.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has Steps have recently been taken to explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as ibogainewhich has been touted as a potentially life-saving treatment option for people with serious mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder.
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Other studies have also suggested that psychedelics could hopefully unlock new avenues for treating addiction. A first study carried out in 2023 shed some new light. Psychedelic-assisted therapy works for people with alcohol use disorder.
In 2024, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), He identified the treatment of alcohol use disorder as one of the possible benefits of psilocybinalthough the substance remains a Schedule I controlled substance under US law.
The agency highlighted a 2022 study that “suggests that psilocybin may be helpful for alcohol use disorders.” The study found that people in psilocybin-assisted therapy had fewer drinking days than the control group over 32 weeks, and the NCCIH said it “suggests that psilocybin may be helpful for alcohol use disorders.”
user photo Dick Culbert.