Skepticism about Recent Evidence That Psilocybin “Liberates” Depressed Minds
Manoj K. Doss, Frederick S. Barrett, Philip R. Corlett
ACS Chemical Neuroscience August 24, 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.2c00461 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary or critique Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Ambiguity Sertindole Modularity biology Cognitive psychology Hallucinogen Schizophrenia object-oriented programming Olanzapine |
| Citations | 21 |
| Key points | Argues that the original Nature Medicine paper on psilocybin therapy contains statistical flaws, inconsistent outcome reporting, and overinterpretation, making its claims of unique effects on brain network modularity questionable. |
Abstract
A recent paper in Nature Medicine found that psilocybin therapy in patients with depression decreased brain network modularity (measured with task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging), an effect supposedly not found with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor S-citalopram. This decrease in network modularity also correlated with depression. Here, we raise several issues with this paper, including inconsistencies in reports of the primary clinical outcome, statistical flaws including a one-tailed test, nonsignificant interaction, and regression to the mean, the ambiguity and overinterpretation of "resting state" data, and a missing reference for a conceptually similar study that exemplifies why a one-tailed test cannot be justified. Together, these issues make us question the uniqueness and impact of these findings, as well as the unwarranted media hype that they generated.