treatment-resistant depression – Page 4

Patient perspectives and experiences with psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression: a qualitative study

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This study explored how patients with severe depression that didn’t respond to typical treatments experienced psilocybin therapy. Researchers interviewed 11 patients about their experiences and found that building trust with therapists, managing expectations, and having multiple treatment sessions were crucial. Many patients found the experience intense and overwhelming, and most wanted ongoing support to understand what they experienced and how it affected their recovery.

Psychological flexibility as a mechanism of change in psilocybin-assisted therapy for major depression: results from an exploratory placebo-controlled trial

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This study examined how psilocybin mushroom therapy works for treating depression when combined with talk therapy. Participants received a placebo pill followed by psilocybin four weeks later, both times as part of psychological treatment. The research found that people who received psilocybin showed greater improvements in their ability to accept difficult thoughts and emotions and live according to their values, and these improvements were linked to feeling less depressed.

Psychedelics: Safety and Efficacy

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This paper reviews scientific research on psychedelic drugs like LSD and psilocybin that are being studied for treating depression and PTSD. While some research claims these drugs are beneficial, many studies have serious flaws including hiding negative side effects and being influenced by money from pharmaceutical companies. The author concludes that we need much better research before these drugs can be safely approved for medical use.

From Efficacy to Effectiveness: Evaluating Psychedelic Randomized Controlled Trials for Trustworthy Evidence-Based Policy and Practice

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This paper discusses why testing psychedelic therapies in clinical trials is more complicated than testing regular drugs. When people take psychedelics like MDMA or psilocybin, they clearly notice the effects, which makes it hard to keep the study ‘blinded’ (where neither patients nor researchers know who got the real drug). The author argues that for therapies combining drugs with counseling, this actually makes sense because the therapy itself is part of how the treatment works, not just a confounding factor. However, for stand-alone drug use, this unblinding is a real problem that makes it unclear whether the drug or people’s expectations caused the improvement.

Mushrooms, Microdosing, and Mental Illness: The Effect of Psilocybin on Neurotransmitters, Neuroinflammation, and Neuroplasticity

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This review examines how psilocybin, the active compound in certain mushrooms, may help treat depression and anxiety by reducing brain inflammation and promoting healthy neurotransmitter function. Both full doses under medical supervision and smaller ‘microdoses’ show promise for mental health conditions. The research suggests psilocybin works by calming the immune system’s inflammatory response while simultaneously supporting the brain’s natural healing and adaptation processes, offering a potential alternative treatment when standard medications don’t work.

Meta-correlation of the effect of ketamine and psilocybin induced subjective effects on therapeutic outcome

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This study examined whether the psychological experiences people have while taking ketamine or psilocybin—such as feeling disconnected or having spiritual insights—are actually responsible for their mental health improvements. Researchers analyzed 23 studies and found that these subjective experiences explain about 10% of ketamine’s benefits and 24% of psilocybin’s benefits. Psilocybin’s effects appear more connected to therapeutic outcomes than ketamine’s, and both drugs showed stronger connections between subjective effects and treatment success in substance use disorder compared to depression.

Biological markers of treatment response to serotonergic psychedelic therapies: a systematic review

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This review examines how scientists can predict which patients will benefit most from psychedelic-assisted therapy for depression by measuring biological markers in the brain and blood. Researchers found that certain brain changes and protein levels—particularly involving the amygdala, specific brain regions, and inflammation markers—appear linked to treatment success. While the current studies are small, they suggest that measuring these biological markers could eventually help doctors personalize psychedelic treatments for depression.

Group psychedelic therapy: empirical estimates of cost-savings and improved access

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This study examines whether treating multiple patients together in psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions could reduce costs and help more people access these promising psychiatric treatments. Researchers compared group versus individual therapy using MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin for depression, finding that group therapy saved about 35-51% on clinician costs. If adopted widely, group therapy could reduce the number of clinicians needed and potentially save billions of dollars while helping thousands more patients receive treatment.

Anhedonia: Current and future treatments

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Anhedonia is the inability to feel pleasure from activities, which is a significant problem affecting many people with depression and other psychiatric conditions. This review examined many different treatments for anhedonia including medications, brain stimulation techniques, and psychological therapies. The research shows that newer medications like vortioxetine and ketamine work better for anhedonia than older antidepressants, and combining multiple approaches including therapy and lifestyle changes gives the best results.

Development of the Japanese version of the Challenging Experience Questionnaire

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Researchers have translated an important measurement tool called the Challenging Experience Questionnaire into Japanese. This tool helps doctors and researchers measure difficult feelings like fear and anxiety that people sometimes experience when taking psilocybin mushrooms as part of therapy. Having this questionnaire available in Japanese is important because it allows Japanese patients and researchers to participate in psychedelic research and understand these experiences better.

Disease: treatment-resistant depression