Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
Research on psilocybin for low mood and depression is promising but still early. Small clinical trials that pair psilocybin with professional therapy have found reductions in depressive symptoms, and some people report benefits that last weeks or months after one or a few doses. Scientists also see brain changes in lab and animal studies that could explain mood effects, but the exact reasons are not settled. Important limits remain. Most clinical studies are small, often use the drug together with therapy (so it is hard to separate drug from therapy), and the participants are not very diverse. Safety in these studies has been acceptable under careful medical supervision, but more and larger trials are needed to know how well psilocybin works long term and how safe it is for many different people.
This paper looked at 20 clinical trials to see whether therapies that use psychedelic drugs together with talking therapy can help people who have serious, life‑limiting illnesses. The review found that these therapies often helped with psychological and spiritual problems like anxiety, low mood, and fear of dying. The drugs…
