Patient education
Preparing and educating patients about the therapy are critical, said Dr. Gründer, especially given the intense response psychedelic treatment often invokes.
Echoing Dr. Gründer, Dr. Tófoli said explaining the nature of psychedelic treatment to potential patients helps ease anxiety.
Dr. Griffiths noted that in the United States, study participants are not only educated about the potential effects of psychedelic agents but also undergo several hours of psychological preparation in advance of their first treatment session and are provided with psychological support after treatment.
There is also a strong emphasis on patient preparation and education in the United Kingdom, where patients meet with therapists before and after treatment. During these posttreatment debriefings, clinicians use the patients’ experience with psychedelics to help them gain insight into the underlying cause of their depression.
Dr. Schenberg noted that at his institution in São Paulo, there are online courses to teach clinicians about psychedelic therapy for psychiatric disorders. Next year, he added, a new training program in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy will begin.
Working out treatment protocols
Treatment protocols for psychedelics vary by agent and indication from country to country. For instance, Dr. Pani noted that current psychedelic research in Italy predominantly focuses more on microdosing, which involves administering 1% of the pharmacologically active dose to a maximum of 100 mcg, in contrast to low dosing or full dosing.
Therapeutic regimens in Brazil, said Dr. Schenberg, also differ by agent but share common elements. For instance, psychedelics are always administered in a research setting, and sessions include concomitant psychotherapy.
In Germany, investigators are working to determine optimal treatment regimen for psilocybin for resistant depression in a randomized three-arm study planned for 2021.
For Mexico’s Dr. Velásquez, treatment regimens are complex and varied. Either way, he said, patients always require long-term follow-up.
With ketamine therapy, Dr. Ferreri said his team administers the drug in 45- to 60-minute intravenous infusion sessions in a hospital room without light or sound stimulation. Regardless of the drug’s immediate effect, he said, the protocol is repeated within a 6-month period.
The question of the duration of treatment effect is important. Dr. Griffiths said research suggests that the positive effects of psilocybin are long lasting and that most individuals report positive changes in mood, attitude, and behavior that endure for months or even years after the session.
“Our research has shown that the benefits of these experiences can last as long as 14 months, often longer, and that many participants characterize their psilocybin experience as among the most profound and personally meaningful experiences of their lives,” said Dr. Griffiths.
Dr. Nutt agreed, noting that a single intense “trip” can improve mood for weeks, months, or even years. Nevertheless, he said, in his experience, approximately three-quarters of patients treated with psychedelics for major depression relapse within 3-9 months.
“Most get better,” he said, “but the majority of depression comes back over a period of months.”
Given the current illegal status of the drugs, he said it’s nearly impossible to provide patients with regular, subsequent treatment with psychedelics over time.
“My suspicion is that you might well have to dose four or five times over a couple of years to get people to escape from very severe depression,” said Dr. Nutt. “The longer they’ve been depressed, the harder it is for them to make a full recovery, because it’s more entrenched in the brain.”
All experts agree that exciting times are ahead for psychedelics as therapeutics for a wide range of psychiatric disorders.
“We can look forward to continued growth and expansion of this research,” said Dr. Griffiths, “including the refinement of protocols for a variety of therapeutic indications and to the development of a variety of new classic psychedelic compounds.”
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.