Psilocybin as a disease-modifying drug—a salutogenic approach in psychiatry

Psilocybin treatment works differently from standard psychiatric medication, potentially offering rapid and lasting benefits across multiple diagnoses. It may improve not just symptoms but broader aspects of mental health, suggesting it could modify the underlying disease process and promote well-being. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy might become the first disease-modifying treatment in psychiatry.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Treatment with psilocybin differs fundamentally from classic psychopharmacotherapy. Its potentially transdiagnostic, rapid, and sustainable efficacy and its positive effect on further dimensions of mental health beyond the patient's symptoms and psychopathology imply that it may have diseasemodifying and salutogenic mechanisms of action. Psychotherapy accompanied by the administration of psychedelic drugs may turn out to be the first disease-modifying treatment in the history of psychiatry.