Journal of affective disorders

Psilocybin therapy's effects on loss of pleasure in hard-to-treat depression

Updated

Abstract

Participants (n = 30) with treatment-resistant depression experienced a statistically significant reduction in anhedonia severity after psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.

  • Anhedonia was measured using the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS).
  • A significant reduction in SHAPS scores was observed at the 2-week primary endpoint (F(8, 143.48) = 3.43, p = 0.001, n = 29).
  • Clinically significant improvements in anhedonia were also noted at 3-month and 6-month follow-ups.
  • Exploratory analysis suggested potential mediation of changes in anhedonia through overall depression severity, as measured by the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS).
  • Findings indicate that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may offer a new approach for treating anhedonia in individuals with treatment-resistant depression.

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Full Text

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Funding

Competing interests

Declaration of competing interest Dr. Roger S. McIntyre has received research grant support from CIHR/GACD/National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Milken Institute; speaker/consultation fees from Lundbeck, Janssen, Alkermes, Neumora Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sage, Biogen, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Purdue, Pfizer, Otsuka, Takeda, Neurocrine, Neurawell, Sunovion, Bausch Health, Axsome, Novo Nordisk, Kris, Sanofi, Eisai, Intra-Cellular, NewBridge Pharmaceuticals, Viatris, Abbvie and Atai Life Sciences. Dr. Joshua D Rosenblat has received research grant support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Physician Services Inc. (PSI) Foundation, Labatt Brain Health Network, Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation (BCDF), Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Psychiatric Association, Academic Scholars Award, American Psychiatric Association, American Society of Psychopharmacology, University of Toronto, University Health Network Centre for Mental Health, Joseph M. West Family Memorial Fund, Inagene and Timeposters Fellowship and industry funding for speaker/consultation/research fees from iGan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Abbvie, Braxia Health (Canadian Rapid Treatment Centre of Excellence), Braxia Scientific, Janssen, Allergan, Lundbeck, Sunovion and COMPASS. E.S. Kaczmarek and N. Chisamore's salary is supported by the Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master's (CGS-M) and Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), but there was no direct project funding for the present study. E.S. Kaczmarek, Z. Doyle, S. Meshkat and R. Brudner received salary support from Braxia. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
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