Study finds participants saw reduction in depressive symptoms as researchers welcome ‘promising’ results
A phase II clinical trial has found dimethyltryptamine (DMT), one of the psychoactive components traditionally used in the Amazonian psychedelic ritual ayahuasca, might be a promising therapy for depression.
The psychedelic pharmaceutical company Small Pharma (now Cybin UK) sponsored and designed the trial, which was led by Dr David Erritzoe, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at Imperial College London. The results were published in Nature this month.
Seventeen participants received an injection of a DMT compound developed by Small Pharma, and 17 received placebo – all participants received psychotherapeutic support. Two weeks after the injection, participants who received DMT enjoyed a greater reduction in depressive symptoms than those who received placebo.
Tommaso Barba, a PhD candidate at Imperial College London and one of the study’s authors, emphasised the role of therapists in the study to help prepare patients for the experience and help them understand it and integrate it into their lives after it was over. He also cautioned that the trial was small and preliminary.
