Animal Study Shows Psilocybin Boosts Optimism Long-Term

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Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound that can be found in more than two hundred species of mushrooms. A new study has found that psilocybin may heighten engagement and optimism in tasks, providing insight into the drug’s potential in managing depression.

Depression is a mental health condition characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness. Individuals with depression may lack motivation to engage with the outside world and often leads to withdrawal.

Numerous studies have demonstrated psilocybin’s potential in managing symptoms of depression. Despite this, the mechanisms that drive the drug’s therapeutic effects remain unclear. The objective of this latest study was to find out how psilocybin affected optimism and decision-making processes. Learning more about these processes could help improve treatments by making sure they targeted depression’s underlying mechanisms.

For their study, the researchers used twenty-two female Sprague-Dawley rats to eliminate influence of participants’ expectations in their findings, as observed in human trials.

The rats were divided into 2 groups, with one group receiving a saline placebo while the other received one dose of psilocybin. They then used a combination of computational modeling and behavioral testing to pick out changes in the animals’ decision-making processes when psilocybin was administered.

They determined that rats which received psilocybin demonstrated an increase in optimism. This in turn motivated them to engage with their environment more.

They also found that rats that received the psychedelic demonstrated a stronger optimism bias, which made them more inclined to expect positive results and encouraged them to continue with their tasks.

In addition to this, the researchers found that the changes they observed weren’t accompanied by anxiety-like behaviors or heightened general levels of activity, which indicates that psilocybin’s effects were unique to processes in decision-making associated with reward and optimism.

Elizabeth L. Fisher, the author of the study, explained that patients with depression who were withdrawn could benefit from engaging with the outside world. She added that their current focus was on finding different therapies that could help treat depression by increasing engagement with the world and overall optimism.

The study had some limitations, including the fact that rats were used, which meant that the findings couldn’t be translated to humans directly. Decision-making processes in humans are influenced by different factors, including social contexts and emotions.

The study’s findings were reported in Translational Psychiatry. Other researchers involved in the study included Laura K. Milton, Claire J. Foldi, Ryan Smith, Jakob Hohwy, Kyna Conn, and Andrew W. Corcoran.

Startups like Seelos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SEEL) are also conducting R&D programs aimed at leveraging the therapeutic potential of different psychedelic compounds. As the firms progress through the different drug development stages, it will become clearer how exactly these substances trigger the therapeutic effects that they have been associated with.

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