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Comment by mindwok | Hacker News Reader

The recent wave of psychedelics being used to treat mental illnesses has been really interesting. I'm somewhat skeptical of the effects so I'm keen to see what long term research has to say, but I've read a few experiences like this about various psychedelics and it gives me enormous amounts of hope that there might be some answer to what seems like a problem we've been banging our heads against for the last few decades without any good answer.

Even if a small percentage of people have experiences like the author, I think that easily makes it worth pursuing this avenue.

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> I'm somewhat skeptical of the effects

Can you elaborate?

Sure! I just think the field is immature and dominated by anecdotal evidence, and especially only short term evidence. Plus I think there's some survivorship bias, people who don't have live changing experiences on these drugs rarely post about it and even when they do I doubt it'd end up in the New York Times.

I'm just trying to temper my expectations.

If by "anecdotal," you mean personal stories, not medical studies, that's no longer true. There are many studies comparing psychedelics with conventional treatments for depression and PTSD (eg below). Psychedelics have been repeatedly shown to work faster, 'better,' and provide longer-lasting relief than conventional treatments. Indeed, some studies selected treatment-resistant cases, so results apply to cases in which mainstream treatments have already failed.

Additional monitoring and analysis are always needed, as with any medical treatment. Depression can be a fatal illness, so avoiding effective treatment until the field is more "mature" may cost lives.

3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans, firefighters, and police officers: a randomised, double-blind, dose-response, phase 2 clinical trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29728331/

Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: six-month follow-up https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29119217/

Here's a counter-example to my claim, FYI. Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2032994

Thanks for the links. I remember reading some of these kinds of studies were approved, but hadn't realised there were some already concluded. The results are certainly promising!

The last psilocybin one is interesting. I listened to a podcast with a psychiatrist who was doing a study of treating depression with psilocybin and he believed the effectiveness was in a handful of therapy sessions with large doses, rather than a series of smaller ones. Perhaps that could explain the last paper you shared.

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