Skip to content

Scott T Aaronson

20 papers in the library · 1,607 citations · publishing 2022-2026

Papers

Sort Most recent Most cited

The role of therapeutic alliance in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression: A post hoc path analysis.

Journal of Affective Disorders August 1, 2026 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 2 citations

The contribution of patient support to psilocybin's antidepressant effects remains uncertain. Relationships between therapeutic alliance (Scale to Assess Therapeutic Relationship-Patient version; STAR-P), psychedelic experience (Five-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness Questionnaire and Emotional Breakthrough Inventory; 5D-ASC and EBI) and clinical outcomes (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression...

Changes in anxiety, quality of life, and functioning following psilocybin-assisted therapy in veterans with treatment-resistant depression.

Journal of Affective Disorders June 4, 2026 Carlton M Kelly, Mathieu Fradet, Catherine Bostian et al.

Psilocybin has demonstrated promise for improving depressive symptoms in treatment-resistant depression, but its effects on anxiety, quality of life, functioning, and posttraumatic stress symptoms are less well studied. This study reports exploratory findings from an open-label trial in Veterans with TRD. Participants received a single 25-mg dose of psilocybin administered with psychological...

Efficacy and Safety of a Single Dose of Psilocybin for Chronic Suicidal Ideation: An Open-Label Trial.

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry May 13, 2026 Andrew van der Vaart, Jeffrey LaPratt, Kimberly Swartz et al.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and durability of a single 25-mg dose of a proprietary, synthetic formulation of psilocybin with psychological support for reducing chronic suicidal ideation in a treatment-resistant population. Methods: This was an open-label, single-arm study with a 12-week follow-up conducted between March 2022 and May 2025. Twenty adults with chronic suicidal...

Corrigendum to "The role of the psychedelic experience in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression" [Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 372 (2025), Pages 523-532].

J Affect Disord October 10, 2025 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. correction

Corrigendum to "The role of the psychedelic experience in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression" [Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 372 (2025), Pages 523-532].

Long-term outcomes of single-dose psilocybin for U.S. military Veterans with severe treatment-resistant depression - 12-month data from an open-label pilot study.

Journal of Affective Disorders June 9, 2025 Sara Ellis, Catherine Bostian, Anna Donnelly et al. 3 citations

One-third of Veterans with major depressive disorder suffer from treatment-resistant depression (TRD). This is the first study to evaluate the long-term outcomes of psilocybin in Veterans with severe TRD. This paper presents 12-month results from an open-label pilot study assessing the effects of 25 mg psilocybin in Veterans with severe TRD, defined as a major depressive episode failing to...

The role of the psychedelic experience in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression.

Journal of Affective Disorders March 1, 2025 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 35 citations

To determine the relationships between psilocybin dose, psychedelic experiences, and therapeutic outcome in treatment-resistant depression. For treatment-resistant depression, 233 participants received a single dose of 25, 10, or 1 mg of COMP360 psilocybin (a proprietary, pharmaceutical-grade synthesized psilocybin formulation, developed by the sponsor, Compass Pathfinder Ltd.) with...

A Field-Wide Review and Analysis of Study Materials Used in Psilocybin Trials: Assessment of Two Decades of Research

Psychedelic Medicine January 20, 2025 Marianna Graziosi, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Mary P Cosimano et al. 9 citations

Introduction: Serotonergic psychedelics, serotonin 2A receptor agonists such as psilocybin that can result in substantially altered states of consciousness, are used in recreational and research settings. The safety of psychedelic experiences in research settings is supported by controlled physical environments, presence of clinical and medical staff to address emergent issues, screening for...

Single-dose psilocybin for U.S. military Veterans with severe treatment-resistant depression - A first-in-kind open-label pilot study.

Journal of Affective Disorders January 15, 2025 Sara Ellis, Catherine Bostian, Wendy Feng et al. 23 citations

The enduring and severe depression often suffered by Veterans causes immense suffering and is associated with high rates of suicide and disability. This is the first study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of psilocybin in Veterans with severe treatment-resistant depression (TRD). 15 Veterans with severe TRD (major depressive episode failing to respond to ≥5 treatments, or lasting >2 years)...

Single-Dose Psilocybin for Depression With Severe Treatment Resistance: An Open-Label Trial

American Journal of Psychiatry 2025 Scott T Aaronson, Andrew van der Vaart, Tammy Miller et al. 31 citations

This open-label study suggests efficacy and safety of psilocybin in severe TRD and supports further study of psychedelics in this population, including consideration of PTSD interaction effects.

Treating Bipolar Depression Using Psilocybin—Validity Threats Regarding Efficacy and Safety—Reply

JAMA Psychiatry April 10, 2024 Scott T Aaronson, Andrew van der Vaart, Harold A Sackeim

Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to use our site, or clicking "Continue," you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy | Continue JAMA Psychiatry HomeNew OnlineCurrent IssueFor Authors Podcast Journals JAMA JAMA Network Open JAMA Cardiology JAMA Dermatology JAMA Health Forum JAMA Internal Medicine JAMA Neurology JAMA Oncology JAMA Ophthalmology JAMA...

New evidence for flexible psilocybin dosing in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Med (New York, N.Y.) March 8, 2024 Scott T Aaronson, Zofia Kozak 1 citation

Psilocybin has demonstrated efficacy for treating depression; however, psychiatrically complex patients have been excluded from trials. A recent clinical trial by Rosenblat at al.1 demonstrates feasibility of a flexible dosing schedule of psilocybin in individuals with severely treatment-resistant depression (TRD), including those with co-morbid conditions or bipolar II disorder (BPII),...

Clinical characteristics and treatment exposure of patients with marked treatment-resistant unipolar major depressive disorder: A RECOVER trial report.

Brain Stimulation 2024 Charles R Conway, Scott T Aaronson, Harold A Sackeim et al. 16 citations

RECOVER is a randomized sham-controlled trial of vagus nerve stimulation and the largest such trial conducted with a psychiatric neuromodulation intervention. To describe pre-implantation baseline clinical characteristics and treatment history of patients with unipolar, major depressive disorder (MDD), overall and as a function of exposure to interventional psychiatric treatments (INTs),...

Single-Dose Synthetic Psilocybin With Psychotherapy for Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Type II Major Depressive Episodes

JAMA Psychiatry December 6, 2023 Tammy Miller, Jeffrey LaPratt, Kimberly Swartz et al. 101 citations

Importance Bipolar II disorder (BDII) is a debilitating condition frequently associated with difficult-to-treat depressive episodes. Psilocybin has evidence for rapid-acting antidepressant effects but has not been investigated in bipolar depression. Objective To establish the safety and efficacy of psilocybin in patients with BDII in a current depressive episode. Design, Setting, and...

Assessing potential of psilocybin for depressive disorders

Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs October 3, 2023 Zofia Kozak, Matthew W Johnson, Scott T Aaronson 10 citations

There is still much unknown regarding the risks of psilocybin treatment. When weighing the known risks and benefits of psilocybin treatment against those found in existing standards of care, among patients with depression, patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) may be the most suitable candidates for psilocybin treatment at this time.

Psychedelics, With a Focus on Psilocybin: Issues for the Clinician.

Journal of Psychiatric Practice September 1, 2023 Amir Garakani, Jeanne L Alexander, Calvin R Sumner et al. 6 citations

There has been a burgeoning interest in psychedelics among the public, state legislatures, psychiatrists and other clinical providers, and within the research community. Increasing numbers of studies evaluating psychedelics for depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders have been conducted or are underway. While discussing psychedelics in general, the focus...

Psilocybin therapy for treatment resistant depression: prediction of clinical outcome by natural language processing

Psychopharmacology August 22, 2023 Robert F. Dougherty, Patrick Clarke, Merve Atli et al. 21 citations

Abstract Rationale Therapeutic administration of psychedelics has shown significant potential in historical accounts and recent clinical trials in the treatment of depression and other mood disorders. A recent randomized double-blind phase-IIb study demonstrated the safety and efficacy of COMP360, COMPASS Pathways’ proprietary synthetic formulation of psilocybin, in participants with...

Optimizing outcomes in psilocybin therapy: Considerations in participant evaluation and preparation.

Journal of Affective Disorders April 1, 2023 Nadav Liam Modlin, Tammy M Miller, James J Rucker et al. 30 citations

Recent studies have demonstrated the promise of psilocybin therapies in creating positive changes for those with poor mental health across multiple diagnostic categories, including major depressive disorder (MDD), end-of-life anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While there may be a large population that is eligible to participate in psilocybin therapy based on psychiatric...

Single-dose psilocybin for a treatment-resistant episode of major depression: Impact on patient-reported depression severity, anxiety, function, and quality of life

Journal of Affective Disorders February 3, 2023 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 168 citations

Three weeks after dosing, psilocybin 25 mg and, to a lesser degree, 10 mg improved measures of patient-reported depression severity, anxiety, affect, and functioning. These results extend the primary findings from the largest randomised clinical trial of psilocybin for TRD to examine other outcomes that are of importance to patients.

Single-Dose Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depression.

The New England journal of medicine November 3, 2022 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 1,095 citations

Psilocybin is being studied for use in treatment-resistant depression. In this phase 2 double-blind trial, we randomly assigned adults with treatment-resistant depression to receive a single dose of a proprietary, synthetic formulation of psilocybin at a dose of 25 mg, 10 mg, or 1 mg (control), along with psychological support. The primary end point was the change from baseline to week 3 in the...

The Emerging Field of Psychedelic Psychotherapy.

Current Psychiatry Reports October 1, 2022 Gregory S. Barber, Scott T Aaronson 56 citations

Few treatments are available for patients with mood disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who have already failed multiple interventions. After several decades when research into psychedelics was effectively halted by federal legislation, the past several years have shown the re-emergence of thoughtful investigations studying the utility of compounds such as...