Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy

Attenuation of psilocybin mushroom effects during and after SSRI/SNRI antidepressant use

Gukasyan N, Griffiths RR, Yaden DB, et al. · Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2023

Researchers at Johns Hopkins wanted to know whether common antidepressants change how strongly psilocybin mushrooms are felt. They ran an online retrospective survey of people who had used psilocybin mushrooms while taking an antidepressant, or within two years of stopping one. In this study, across 611 reports of use while on an antidepressant, weaker-than-expected effects were reported about 47% of the time with SSRIs, 55% with SNRIs, and 29% with bupropion. Among 1,542 reports after stopping an SSRI or SNRI, reduced effects were still reported up to three to six months later. An honest limitation: this is self-reported, retrospective survey data, so recall and expectation may have shaped the answers. Psilocybin remains a Schedule I substance under US federal law, and regulated access currently exists only through state programs in Oregon and Colorado; it is not available in New Jersey.

Our summaries describe what each study found. They are not medical advice, and the practices at Halcyon are not a treatment for any condition.