Trial reportPsychological medicine2019
Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.
Trial report in Psychological medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02914769 (Antidepressant Effects of Ayahuasca), which is not on this map. Cited by 334 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Antidepressant Effects of Ayahuasca: a Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial in Treatment Resistant Depression
Who cites it
334 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 797 citations in OpenAlex.
- Music Playlist Use in Clinical Trials of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Predictors of therapeutic response to psychedelic-assisted therapy: A systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Magnitude of response in treatment and control groups within psychedelic trials for psychiatric disorders: A meta-analysis.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026Pooled it
- Rethinking Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Systematic Review of Novel Therapeutic Strategies and Precision Medicine Approaches.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Pooled it
- Psychedelics and ketamine/esketamine in depressive disorders: biological mechanisms and associated neuroimaging and clinical changes.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Ketamine-induced altered states of consciousness: a systematic review of implications for therapeutic outcomes in psychiatric practices.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Quantitative evaluation of multiple treatment regimens for treatment-resistant depression.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Comparative oral monotherapy of psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, ayahuasca, and escitalopram for depressive symptoms: systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Pooled it
- In the new era of psychedelic assisted therapy: A systematic review of study methodology in randomized controlled trials.Psychopharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Risk of bias in randomized clinical trials on psychedelic medicine: A systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2023Pooled it
- The effects of ketamine and classic hallucinogens on neurotrophic and inflammatory markers in unipolar treatment-resistant depression: a systematic review of clinical trials.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- The Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) Task Force Report: Serotonergic Psychedelic Treatments for Major Depressive Disorder.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2023Pooled it
- Adverse events in clinical treatments with serotonergic psychedelics and MDMA: A mixed-methods systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Novel Antidepressants in the Pipeline (Phase II and III): A Systematic Review of the US Clinical Trials Registry.Pharmacopsychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of ayahuasca and its alkaloids on substance use disorders: an updated (2016-2020) systematic review of preclinical and human studies.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Enhancing mindfulness and compassion through an ayahuasca-inspired formulation containing N,N-DMT and harmine: A randomized controlled trial in healthy subjects.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Trial
- Neuroplastic white matter changes in patients with major depression following lysergic acid diethylamide treatment.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Trial
- The 3D-ASCr scale: A revalidation of the core dimensions of the Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale 5D(11)-ASC for psychedelic research.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Trial
- Short-Term and Late-Term Effects of Psilocybin on Symptoms in Major Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- A short-acting psychedelic intervention for major depressive disorder: a phase IIa randomized placebo-controlled trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
274 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecent open-label trials show that psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, hold promise as fast-onset antidepressants in treatment-resistant depression.
methodsTo test the antidepressant effects of ayahuasca, we conducted a parallel-arm, double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial in 29 patients with treatment-resistant depression. Patients received a single dose of either ayahuasca or placebo. We assessed changes in depression severity with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Hamilton Depression Rating scale at baseline, and at 1 (D1), 2 (D2), and 7 (D7) days after dosing.
resultsWe observed significant antidepressant effects of ayahuasca when compared with placebo at all-time points. MADRS scores were significantly lower in the ayahuasca group compared with placebo at D1 and D2 (p = 0.04), and at D7 (p < 0.0001). Between-group effect sizes increased from D1 to D7 (D1: Cohen's d = 0.84; D2: Cohen's d = 0.84; D7: Cohen's d = 1.49). Response rates were high for both groups at D1 and D2, and significantly higher in the ayahuasca group at D7 (64% v. 27%; p = 0.04). Remission rate showed a trend toward significance at D7 (36% v. 7%, p = 0.054).
conclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first controlled trial to test a psychedelic substance in treatment-resistant depression. Overall, this study brings new evidence supporting the safety and therapeutic value of ayahuasca, dosed within an appropriate setting, to help treat depression. This study is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02914769).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.