{"id":287854,"date":"2026-02-17T06:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287854\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T06:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:09:09","slug":"psychedelic-drug-relieved-severe-depression-for-months-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287854\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychedelic drug relieved severe depression for months, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A single dose of a particular psychedelic drug has been found to rapidly reduce symptoms of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/depression\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"depression\">depression<\/a>, suggesting a new form of mental health treatment.A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"UK\">UK<\/a> clinical trial, the results of which were published in the journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scimex.org\/newsfeed\/one-dose-of-a-psychadelic-drug-can-rapidly-reduce-depressive-symptoms\/multimedia\/psychedelic-depression_nature_paper.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Nature Medicine\">Nature Medicine<\/a> this morning, showed that a dose of the drug\ufeff dimethyltryptamine (DMT), given with psychological support, rapidly reduced depressive symptoms in 34 adults with major depressive disorder.<\/p>\n<p>Major depressive disorder is a leading cause of global disability, but many people do not respond to existing treatments, which are also associated with several side effects, including sexual dysfunction, weight gain, and sleep disturbance.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/003fb18d-5e13-4603-a43a-f4dac1fb0d32.jpeg\"   alt=\"\"\/>Psychedelic drug DMT has been found to relieve severe depression. (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>Psychedelic-assisted therapy, including the use of psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms), has shown promise.<\/p>\n<p>However, the effects of psilocybin last for about two hours, which makes therapeutic sessions overly long and difficult to scale up.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, DMT is a fast-acting psychedelic drug that, when given intravenously, causes a brief period of subjective psychedelic effects of around 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/fc32a9b3-8a36-4fb0-aaf0-7b213c866ede.jpeg\"   alt=\"Voters in Oregon will decide on a measure that would legalise therapeutic, regulated use of psilocybin mushrooms.\"\/>Psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, had been previously tested. (AP)<\/p>\n<p>However, whether such a rapid-acting psychedelic could provide similar antidepressant effects to psilocybin had previously been unclear.<\/p>\n<p>In the new study, David Erritzoe and his colleagues in the first stage divided the 34 participants into groups that received either DMT or a placebo, without knowing which.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks later, all participants received a DMT dose, with therapist support.<\/p>\n<p>After the first fortnight, researchers found those who had received a DMT dose showed a greater reduction in depression scores on a clinical diagnostic tool called the Montgomery-\u00c5sberg Depression Rating Scale.<\/p>\n<p>The improvements were also apparent after one week.<\/p>\n<p>Twelve weeks after the second phase, the anti-depressant effects lasted for 12 weeks and no difference in depression scores were observed between one-dose and two-dose participants.<\/p>\n<p>Side effects were &#8220;mild or moderate&#8221;, researchers said, and included injection-site pain, nausea, and temporary anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>While larger studies are needed, the researchers say the results point the way forward for a new method of treating depression, in conjunction with other therapies.<\/p>\n<p>If you or someone you know is in need of support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. <\/p>\n<p>In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A single dose of a particular psychedelic drug has been found to rapidly reduce symptoms of depression, suggesting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-287854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}