Original title: Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized placebo-controlled trial
The trial tested one dose of ayahuasca in people with depression that had not improved with treatment. By chance, patients received either ayahuasca or a placebo, a treatment designed to look like the real one but without its active substance. Researchers measured depression at the start, then one, two, and seven days later. Scores were lower in the ayahuasca group at every check, and more people in that group met the study's response standard by day seven.
Imagine trying a new way to organize a messy bedroom, then checking over the next few days whether it stays tidy. It is hard to tell whether the new routine helped or whether the room would have improved anyway. In this paper, one group gets ayahuasca and another gets a look-alike, and researchers compare their depression scores over the following days.
People whose depression has not improved with treatment need options that may help quickly. In this small trial, one dose of ayahuasca was linked to lower depression scores than placebo at each measured time point, though the results do not establish how well it works beyond a week.
The trial included only 29 patients and measured outcomes through day seven, so the abstract does not establish how long benefits last or how well the findings apply to other patients. The remission difference was a trend, not statistically significant. The abstract also does not provide detailed safety results.
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Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized placebo-controlled trial — Fernanda Palhano-Fontes, Dayanna Barreto, Heloisa Onias et al. — Psychological Medicine — doi:10.1017/s0033291718001356
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.