The study was conducted from March 12, 2014, to March 19, 2020, by researchers from New York University Langone’s Center for Psychedelic Medicine in New York City with 93 participants who fit the diagnostic criteria of alcohol use disorder.
The study found that patients who were given a 12-week therapy program with two sessions of psilocybin sessions reduced their heavy drinking by 83 percent in the eight months following their participation in the study, while patients who received a placebo with therapy reduced their drinking by 51 percent.
“Our findings strongly suggest that psilocybin therapy is a promising means of treating alcohol use disorder, a complex disease that has proven notoriously difficult to manage,” Michael Bogenschutz, MD, director of the Center for Psychedelic Medicine, said in an Aug. 24 news release from the medical center.
