Psychedelic depression drugs

Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most intractable conditions of our time. Modern society seems to be good at creating the ground on which they thrive. We have only recently realized that simple molecules that could help these conditions have been known for decades.

Timothy Leary, a Harvard professor of psychology of the 1960s, promoted psychedelic drugs, but his goals were vague. Turn on, tune in, drop out, Leary’s admonition was directed at people who thought their minds would be expanded, and perhaps they were, but Leary’s prescription for fulfillment was not helpful to scientists and physicians seeking therapies for depression and anxiety. The drugs also scared the FDA and other government officials because they were part of the 1960s counterculture movement. They could be dangerous. Psychedelics were banned in 1970.

Banned drugs, like banned books, have a way of reappearing. Ketamine, psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA can have extraordinary effects, including hallucinations and an expansive view of life.

They are simple compounds and easy for chemists to make. Psychedelic drugs bind to important elements called receptors in neurons. Psilocybin, from a family of mushrooms, has been used for centuries by Native Americans, as part of cultural and religious practice.

Matthew W. Johnson and Roland R. Griffiths of Johns Hopkins wrote a 2017 review of the therapeutic effects of psilocybin for depression and other conditions. They and other researchers have pulled some of these drugs out of administrative limbo. [See the link below.]

Ketamine was approved by the FDA since 1970, the same year that other psychedelic drugs were banned. It is a sedative and anesthetic for children, and it remained available for other uses. Profoundly depressed patients, who had not been helped by serotonin uptake inhibitors like Prozac which act slowly, quickly responded to ketamine. Except for ketamine, the 1970 ban stopped research funding for psychedelic research, but their use continued underground.

Michael Pollan, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley, recounted his own experiences taking these drugs, and provides a history of their development and use in his book “How to Change Your Mind.”

The bans lasted until the late 1990’s when clinical trials were permitted by The National Institutes of Mental Health for patients with major depressive disorder and anxiety in terminally ill cancer patients. Post-traumatic stress disorder has also been studied. Clinical trials are not easy to do. So, the numbers are small.

A specific dose of pure psilocybin or ketamine causes sedation and then a psychedelic trip, with auditory and visual hallucinations, sometimes of an extraordinary nature that can, in the patient’s perception, touch on the divine, and block the ability to distinguish reality and fantasy.

Patients report a loss of ego. A guide always attends and is important to the results. Relief from depression occurs quickly and lasts for months after the drug has disappeared and the patient’s brain has reassembled a rationale view of the world. Most drugs act only when present in the brain above a particular concentration. That said, a bad trip can be terrifying and the memory of it endures.

All psychiatric conditions have a physical basis in nerve cells and the circuits they form.

Instinctively, many people (including me) think of non-corporeal causes, but there is no devil or evil spirit here. There are physical structures and neuronal circuits that can be touched by psychedelics or other drugs, or by electroshock. It looks like psychedelics can do that, but how they do it is unclear.

Syndromes like PTSD lead to self-treatment with opioids or alcohol. Not to study these the psychedelics would be irresponsible. But it will not be simple—there are many neurological conditions and numerous psychedelics. Drug concentrations and methods of application make a difference, as does coordinated psychotherapy. I predict that there will be cultural objections to using these drugs.

I wrote four columns on opioids a few years ago that provided background and described the neurons and receptors involved in euphoria and in controlling breathing. The columns described then current treatments that worked and some that do not. We do not know how psychedelics work on symptoms. We have clues from brain imaging tools that are now incorporated into clinical trials. Mechanism may be beyond a microbiologist like me.

(Microbiology is blissfully simple compared to the human brain, or any brain for that matter.)

We will provide information about medical centers with strong departments of neuroscience and psychiatry who are using new approaches to treatment. Learning how to treat intractable conditions is always fraught, especially if it involves drugs with a prior history.

[See: www.link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13311-017-0542-y for effects of psilocybin on depression.]


Rich Kessin is Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Email: Richard.Kessin@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Latest News

Geer Village announces ‘strategic partnership’ with Integritus Healthcare

Geer Village Senior Community in North Canaan announced its partnership with the Mass.-based Integritus Healthcare on Aug. 7. Geer will remain the operator of the facility’s programs and services but joins the umbrella of 19 entities at Integritus Healthcare.

Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas
“This is the best possible scenario for the future of Geer.” Shaun Powell, CEO/CFO Geer Village Senior Community

NORTH CANAAN — For the first time in its more than 95-year history, the nonprofit Geer Village Senior Community will soon operate under a new management contract, although it will remain an independent organization.

A joint announcement of a “strategic partnership” between Geer Village and Integritus Healthcare, a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization and post-acute healthcare industry leader based out of Pittsfield, Mass., was made on Aug. 7.

Keep ReadingShow less
Deputies respond to political dispute at Fountain Square

AMENIA — Dutchess County Sheriff’s Deputies broke up a political dispute between two Amenia residents at Fountain Square in downtown Amenia on Tuesday, July 15.

Kimberly Travis of Amenia was conducting her daily “No Kings” anti-Trump administration protest at Fountain Square at 1:15 p.m. when Jamie Deines, of Amenia and candidate for Town Board in the Nov. 4 election, approached her.

Keep ReadingShow less
East Twin Lake
finds new hope 
as hydrilla fades

Gregory Bugbee, associate scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), where he heads the Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS), was a guest speaker at the Aug. 2 annual meeting of the Twin Lakes Association.

Debra A. Aleksinas

SALISBURY— A fierce and costly battle to halt the spread of hydrilla in East Twin Lake may have finally paid off.

All but three remaining small patches, one near the shoreline at O’Hara’s Landing Marina and two others in deeper water as boats exit the marina and head out, have been destroyed by this summer’s treatment with the aquatic herbicide fluridone, which began on May 20. None of the remaining plants are thriving.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lisa Mae Keller

LIME ROCK — Lisa Mae Keller of Lime Rock, Connecticut, passed away peacefully at her home on July 26, 2025, following a yearlong battle with cancer. Lisa remained at home between lengthy stays at Smilow Cancer Hospital – Yale New Haven. Throughout Lisa’s ordeal, the family home was a constant hub of love and support, with friends and relatives regularly dropping by. Their presence lifted Lisa’s spirits and helped her stay positive during even the toughest moments. The family remains deeply grateful to the community for their unwavering kindness and encouragement.

Born on June 2, 1958, in Bridgeport to Mae and Robert Schmidle, Lisa graduated from Newtown High School in 1976. Lisa first attended Ithica College to pursue a degree in fine arts concentrating on opera. Drawn to a more robust and challenging curriculum, Lisa transferred to Whittier College, Whittier, California earning a Bachelor of Science degree. It was in 1988 that Lisa met and married Robert (Rob) Keller in Newtown, Connecticut. Together, they embarked on a remarkable journey. The couple started small businesses, developed land in Litchfield County and welcomed in quick succession their sons Baxter and Clayton. The growing family discovered the long-abandoned historic Lime Rock Casino in 1993, while attending a race at Lime Rock Park. The couple found it difficult to commute for work while raising a family and restoring a vintage home. Lisa persuaded her husband that chimney sweeping was a noble profession, leading them to purchase the established business, Sultans of Soot Chimney Sweeps. She later leveraged her role into ownership of the largest U.S. importer of vintage Italian reproduction gun parts. Even as her entrepreneurial ventures expanded, Lisa continued managing the pick, pack, and ship operation for Kirst Konverter, though she sold the remainder of the business prior to her illness. Lisa will be remembered for her business acumen, community service, and being a trained vocalist with the Crescendo Coral Group of Lime Rock. Lisa tended the extensive gardens around the home and curated an art collection that adorns the walls within. Baking cookies was a passion. Countless cookie packages were sent world wide to each son and their military friends while deployed. It is still undetermined in the Keller house whether the Army or Marines leave less crumbs. At Christmas, the Lakeville Post Office staff would post over 80 packages of cookies to lucky recipients, while receiving a tray for their effort. Unable to bake cookies in her last year, Lisa selflessly compiled and self-published “ Pot Luck at The Casino”, a 160 page book of all of her favorite recipes, sent to everyone on her cookie list. It was a true labor of love.

Keep ReadingShow less