Trial reportScientific reports2024
Psychological flexibility as a mechanism of change in psilocybin-assisted therapy for major depression: results from an exploratory placebo-controlled trial.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on negative emotions, automatic thoughts and psychological flexibility for depression and its acceptability: a meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of high-intensity exercise on patients with depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Psilocybin-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy for major depressive disorder: A pilot trial.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Trial
- Effects of psilocybin on personality, psychiatric symptoms, and values: Exploring mediating effects of the acute psychedelic experience.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Trial
- Psilocybin or Nicotine Patch for Smoking Cessation: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Natural medicine‑empowered treatment of depression via restoring neurogenesis (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2026Review
- Psilocybin, From Ancestral Use to Therapeutic Potential: A Multidimensional Review of Its Pharmacological Basis and Current Perspectives.Human psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Mechanistic insights toward dissociating therapeutic from psychedelic effects: bridging the gap between psychedelic research and mental health care.Translational psychiatry · 2026Review
- Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa: Clinical Considerations and Emerging Models of Care.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
- Psychedelic Therapies for Comorbid Major Depressive Disorder and Chronic Pain: A Review of Putative Mechanisms of Action.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2026Review
- Predictors of the Effectiveness of Psychedelics in Treating Depression-A Scoping Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Pilot study of psilocybin in patients with post-treatment lyme disease.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The science of psychedelic medicine.Nature medicine · 2026Review
- Psychedelic integration beyond the verbal: participatory-imaginal processing as a hypothesis-generating therapeutic framework.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- From the attenuation of self-boundaries to inner peace: how nonordinary states of consciousness modulates self-experience and subjective well-being.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2026Review
- Systems-based psychiatry: insights from psychedelic research on mechanisms of healing.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Positive psychology 4.0: a science of consequence for a world that can no longer wait.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: Potential Benefits and Challenges in Mental Health Treatment.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Several phase II studies have demonstrated that psilocybin-assisted therapy shows therapeutic potential across a spectrum of neuropsychiatric conditions, including major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the mechanisms underlying its often persisting beneficial effects remain unclear. Observational research suggests that improvements in psychological flexibility may mediate therapeutic effects. However, no psychedelic trials to date have substantiated this finding in a clinical sample. In an exploratory placebo-controlled, within-subject, fixed-order study, individuals with moderate to severe MDD were administered placebo (n = 19) followed by psilocybin (0.3 mg/kg) (n = 15) 4 weeks later. Dosing sessions were embedded within a manualized psychotherapy that incorporated principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Depression severity, psychological flexibility, mindfulness, and values-congruent living were measured over a 16-weeks study period. Psychological flexibility, several facets of mindfulness, and values-congruent living significantly improved following psilocybin and were maintained through week 16. Additionally, improvements in psychological flexibility and experiential acceptance were strongly associated with reductions in depression severity following psilocybin. These findings support the theoretical premise of integrating psilocybin treatment with psychotherapeutic platforms that target psychological flexibility and add to emerging evidence that increasing psychological flexibility may be an important putative mechanism of change in psilocybin-assisted therapy for MDD and potentially, other mental health conditions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.