Exploratory study of the dose-related safety, tolerability, and efficacy of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in healthy volunteers and major depressive disorder.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology September 1, 2022 Deepak Cyril D'Souza, Shariful A Syed, L Taylor Flynn et al. 156 citations
A potent, rapid-onset psychedelic drug, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), was tested intravenously in a small pilot study with 7 treatment-resistant depressed individuals and 3 healthy controls. DMT was mostly safe and tolerated; no participants dropped out. Depression scores on the HAMD-17 scale dropped significantly the day after the higher dose (0.3 mg/kg), with an average decrease of 4.5 points. Side effects like increased blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety resolved within 20-30 minutes. The findings suggest DMT may have next-day antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant depression, but more rigorous trials are needed to confirm and assess durability.