Abstract
ObjectiveTo explore whether psilocybin with psychological support modulates personality parameters in patients suffering from treatment‐resistant depression (TRD).MethodTwenty patients with moderate or severe, unipolar, TRD received oral psilocybin (10 and 25 mg, one week apart) in a supportive setting. Personality was assessed at baseline and at 3‐month follow‐up using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO‐PI‐R), the subjective psilocybin experience with Altered State of Consciousness (ASC) scale, and depressive symptoms with QIDS‐SR16.Results Neuroticism scores significantly decreased while Extraversion increased following psilocybin therapy. These changes were in the direction of the normative NEO‐PI‐R data and were both predicted, in an exploratory analysis, by the degree of insightfulness experienced during the psilocybin session. Openness scores also significantly increased following psilocybin, whereas Conscientiousness showed trend‐level increases, and Agreeableness did not change.ConclusionOur observation of changes in personality measures after psilocybin therapy was mostly consistent with reports of personality change in relation to conventional antidepressant treatment, although the pronounced increases in Extraversion and Openness might constitute an effect more specific to psychedelic therapy. This needs further exploration in future controlled studies, as do the brain mechanisms of postpsychedelic personality change.
Highlights
Major depression is a commonly occurring disorder associated with high morbidity, socio-economic burden, and rates of completed suicide [1, 2]
The aim of the present study was to explore whether psilocybin with psychological support modulates personality parameters in patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression, to investigate whether these changes relate to the quality of the psychedelic experience and to investigate whether such modulations could potentially help us understand the long-lasting nature of psychedelic-assisted therapy
Treatment responders after 3 months did not significantly differ from nonresponders on any of the 5 domain scores at baseline. In this open-label study of psilocybin therapy for treat-resistant major depression, clinical improvement among patients was found to be accompanied by significant changes in personality measures
Summary
To explore whether psilocybin with psychological support modulates personality parameters in patients suffering from treatmentresistant depression (TRD). Conclusion: Our observation of changes in personality measures after psilocybin therapy was mostly consistent with reports of personality change in relation to conventional antidepressant treatment, the pronounced increases in Extraversion and Openness might constitute an effect more specific to psychedelic therapy. Personality trait Neuroticism decreased, while traits Extraversion, Conscientiousness (trend-level), and Openness all increased from baseline to the 3-month follow-up after psilocybin-facilitated therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Where changes in Neuroticism and Conscientiousness are consistent with what has been observed previously among patients responding to antidepressant treatment, the pronounced increases in Extraversion and Openness might constitute an effect more specific to therapy with a psychedelic
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