Powerful Placebo in a Psilocybin for Depression Study
The support and expectations patients were given in a clinical study evaluating a psychedelic drug possibly powered the drug to become an antidepressant — or did it?
My experimenting with psychedelics in college and later
I tried a variety of psychedelic drugs in college, as a lot of people around me did. We considered psilocybin relatively safe, particularly if we took it with friends in a controlled environment, away from complex situations that would require clearheaded decision making.
I do not recall anyone back then ingesting psilocybin with the hope it would be an effective antidepressant. If someone in my circle was clinically depressed, I doubt they would have expected any enduring antidepressant effects from the psychedelic.
Later, as a clinical psychology graduate student, I volunteered at a community house where people could go if they were having negative drug experiences — “bad trips” was the inaccurate term of that time — or just wanted to feel safe after consuming drugs.
I learned a lot more about context and expectations shaping the effects of psychedelics.
