Canadian State-Funded Trial Looks To Understand If Psychedelia Is Necessary For The Therapeutic Effect Of Psilocybin

Mental health and addiction teaching hospital and research center CAMH has recently been awarded Canada's first federal grant by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to study psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. 

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) combines clinical care, research, education, policy development, and health promotion, goals for which it has become fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. 

This time, researchers will focus on whether psilocybin's psychedelic effects are a required step for the substance to have antidepressant action within a mental health treatment. For that purpose, they will recruit 60 adults with treatment-resistant depression over three years. 

A random third of the participants will be administered a full dose of psilocybin plus a blocker for the 5-HT2A serotonin brain receptor inhibiting the drug's psychedelic effect, a second group will be given psilocybin plus a placebo, and the final cohort will receive a placebo plus the serotonin blocker. All participants will also receive 12 hours of psychotherapy as per current practice in psychedelic research. 

The trial’s results are expected to serve as preliminary findings on the antidepressant effect of this drug combination, which would then lead to future research validating this potential approach for depression treatment without the use of intensive psychotherapy.

The head of the CAMH clinical trials unit and PI of the new study, Dr. Ishrat Husain, further explained: "Previous clinical trials have reported large and sustained antidepressant effects of psilocybin when combined with intensive psychotherapy. If this study shows that psilocybin is still effective at treating depression without inducing a psychedelic state, it could remove the time-intensive and costly need for psychological support during the treatment.” 

All of which would “make the treatment more accessible both for healthcare funders and for those seeking treatment," stated Husain.

The vice president of research and director of the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH Dr. Aristotle Voineskos added: "It is crucial that moving forward we bring to bear state-of-the-art research technologies, like neuroimaging and molecular assessments, to get a better understanding of how compounds like psilocybin induce their antidepressant effect or psychedelic effect, and overall safety (or benefit) considerations related to brain health."

Participants willing to enroll should first connect with their healthcare provider, and then seek a referral to CAMH for further assessment of the trial’s eligibility particulars.

Photo Courtesy of Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.