Psychedelic therapy can 'open up' brain connections in people with depression, study indicates
Psilocybin – the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms – appears to 'open up' the brains of some people dealing with depression and could lift negative thinking patterns for around three weeks, according to a new study.
According to the findings, the compound increases flexibility and fluidity in the brain. As such, the findings show that this form of therapy appears to work differently to antidepressants, with the researchers behind the study believing that they may have 'untangled' how psilocybin can provides therapeutic effects.
Researchers believe that these results indicate that psilocybin-assisted therapy could be an alternative to conventional depression treatments. (Psilocybin is one of a number of psychedelics which is currently being investigated as a potential alternative therapy for mental health conditions.)
The team has warned that people with depression do not try to self-medicate with psilocybin. These studies were conducted under strict medical conditions. Taking any form of the compound without these safeguards may not have a positive outcome, and possession is illegal in the U.K.
Conducted by Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research and published in leading science journal Nature, research focused on analysis of brain scans from close to 60 people receiving some sort of treatment for depression.
What have previous studies indicated about Psilocybin-assisted therapy?
Previous studies have explored the potential of the compound on relieving some of the symptoms of conditions such as depression and anxiety. These have yielded some promising results, although the mechanism of how the compound resulted in such changes was unclear.
These new results indicate that people who responded to the therapy showed increased brain connectivity, or an 'opening up' of the brain, for up to three weeks post treatment. This 'opening up' effect was associated with self-reported improvements in their depressive symptoms.
The academics behind the findings believe that psilocybin-assisted therapy could help people with depression to 'break out' of the rigid brain patterns associated with the condition.
Why might these findings be important?
'These findings are important because for the first time we find that psilocybin works differently from conventional antidepressants – making the brain more flexible and fluid, and less entrenched in the negative thinking patterns associated with depression,' said Prof David Nutt, Head of the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research.
'This supports our initial predictions and confirms psilocybin could be a real alternative approach to depression treatments.'
These new results are taken from two studies. In the first, all participants were given psilocybin. In the second, which was a randomised controlled trial, some people were given the drug, with others given a different antidepressant. In addition, all participants were given talking therapy with a mental health professional.
The brain scans were taken before the psilocybin therapy, then one day or three weeks after. An analysis of the scans showed altered connectivity between brain regions, with an increase in communication in brain regions which are typically more segregated in people with depression.
Could these results last longer than 3 weeks?
Longer term data to see if the effects lasted beyond three weeks is still being analysed, so if this therapy provides benefits in the longer term is yet to be seen. The researchers say, however, that brain activity changes one day after treatment are a good predictor of whether a person would still show improvement six months after the therapy.
That is most definitely not to say that this treatment is a silver bullet for depression. 'We don’t yet know how long the changes in brain activity seen with psilocybin therapy last and we need to do more research to understand this. We do know that some people relapse, and it may be that after a while their brains revert to the rigid patterns of activity we see in depression,' said Prof Robin Carhart-Harris, the study's senior author.
He also flagged that these results have potential implications for the treatment of other illnesses. 'One exciting implication of our findings is that we have discovered a fundamental mechanism via which psychedelic therapy works not just for depression – but other mental illnesses, such as anorexia or addiction. We now need to test if this is the case, and if it is, then we have found something important.'
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