Assessing the risk of symptom worsening in psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression: A systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis

In this Psychiatry Research journal article, the highlights/abstract reads:

Highlights

• •Independent participant data from psilocybin trials for depression were meta-analyzed.
• •Psilocybin condition was associated with less symptom worsening relative to waitlist.
• •There was no difference in symptom worsening between psilocybin and escitalopram.

Abstract

We conducted a meta-analysis using individual participant data from three, two-dose psilocybin trials for depression (N = 102) with the aim of assessing the risk of symptom worsening. Clinically significant symptom worsening occurred for a minority of participants in the psilocybin and escitalopram conditions (∼10%) and for a majority of participants in the waitlist condition (63.6%). Using data from the two trials with control arms, the psilocybin arm showed a lower likelihood of symptom worsening versus waitlist, and no difference in the likelihood of symptom worsening versus escitalopram. The limitation of a relatively small sample size should be addressed in future studies.

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