This is a linkpost for https://open.substack.com/pub/ussri/p/a-depressed-shrink-tries-shrooms?
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You're welcome! I can only hope that the effects last, but even a short relief makes a big difference when it comes to how bad things had gotten. I can only look forward to, hopefully, positive clinical results and the liberty to take it myself and prescribe for my patients.
1I apologize for forgetting, but from memory the effects had worn off by 4 months. Within the expected window, from my understanding. But that is far superior to many other antidepressant therapies. You're trading an afternoon twice or thrice a year for robust relief. I would strongly recommend it even now, and I can't wait till it's widely available as a psychiatric intervention. I was back to being moderately-severely depressed for a long time, but I feel fine again. Unfortunately, there are multiple confounders, including positive changes in my circumstances.
Oh, thanks a lot for remembering to respond! Did you take another dose once the effects had worn off and did that have similar effects?
As I've complained in my latest essay, they don't let you back into a clinical trial just because you ask nicely haha.
If you're asking about the trial itself, it involves two doses separated by about 2 weeks. I noticed the antidepressant effect most strongly after the second one. I still greatly look forward to the conclusion of the trial (if it hasn't happened already, I haven't checked) and the release of results. I know, n=1, well beyond reasonable doubt, that it worked and was life-changing for me. I expect that the trial itself will have a positive outcome, and am generally positive that we'll see legally available psilocybin in clinics within 5 years. I'd say I think that's around 70% likely to happen, at least in the UK. If that does end up happening, I will insist on psilocybin as my drug of choice for myself, and probably a lot of patients too.
You can look at my latest essay, but I'll save you some time and tell you that I experimented with LSD (and did not do it as sensibly or as cautiously as I wish I had). I think it had a similar antidepressant effect for me, but this is confounded by a very positive change in my life which already had me feeling much better overall. No strong conclusions to be taken away from that one.
As I've complained in my latest essay, they don't let you back into a clinical trial just because you ask nicely haha.
If you're asking about the trial itself, it involves two doses separated by about 2 weeks. I noticed the antidepressant effect most strongly after the second one. I still greatly look forward to the conclusion of the trial (if it hasn't happened already, I haven't checked) and the release of results. I know, n=1, well beyond reasonable doubt, that it worked and was life-changing for me. I expect that the trial itself will have a positive outcome, and am generally positive that we'll see legally available psilocybin in clinics within 5 years. I'd say I think that's around 70% likely to happen, at least in the UK. If that does end up happening, I will insist on psilocybin as my drug of choice for myself, and probably a lot of patients too.
You can look at my latest essay, but I'll save you some time and tell you that I experimented with LSD (and did not do it as sensibly or as cautiously as I wish I had). I think it had a similar antidepressant effect for me, but this is confounded by a very positive change in my life which already had me feeling much better overall. No strong conclusions to be taken away from that one.
As I've complained in my latest essay, they don't let you back into a clinical trial just because you ask nicely haha.
If you're asking about the trial itself, it involves two doses separated by about 2 weeks. I noticed the antidepressant effect most strongly after the second one. I still greatly look forward to the conclusion of the trial (if it hasn't happened already, I haven't checked) and the release of results. I know, n=1, well beyond reasonable doubt, that it worked and was life-changing for me. I expect that the trial itself will have a positive outcome, and am generally positive that we'll see legally available psilocybin in clinics within 5 years. I'd say I think that's around 70% likely to happen, at least in the UK. If that does end up happening, I will insist on psilocybin as my drug of choice for myself, and probably a lot of patients too.
You can look at my latest essay, but I'll save you some time and tell you that I experimented with LSD (and did not do it as sensibly or as cautiously as I wish I had). I think it had a similar antidepressant effect for me, but this is confounded by a very positive change in my life which already had me feeling much better overall. No strong conclusions to be taken away from that one.
Thank you! You'll be waiting a while, but I'll try and do a follow up, either as edits to the main post, or as standalone entries.
This is a first-person account from a psychiatry resident (me) enrolling in a clinical trial of psilocybin. Somewhere between a trip report, an overview of the pharmacology of psilocybin, and a review of the clinical evidence suggesting pronounced benefits for depression.