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Body mass index (BMI) does not predict responses to psilocybin
Meg J Spriggs1, Bruna Giribaldi1, Taylor Lyons1
1Centre for Psychedelic Research, Division of Psychiatry, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Journal of Psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
|November 14, 2022
Summary
Body Mass Index (BMI) does not impact the intensity of acute psychedelic experiences or long-term well-being improvements from psilocybin therapy. This suggests fixed dosing may be viable, easing scalability challenges for psychedelic treatments.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychopharmacology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Psilocybin, a 5-HT2A receptor agonist, is a psychedelic compound with therapeutic potential.
- Body Mass Index (BMI) is linked to 5-HT2A receptor density, but its effect on psilocybin therapy outcomes is unknown.
- Current body weight-adjusted dosing for psilocybin therapy presents scalability challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if BMI predicts the acute psychedelic experience and subsequent psychological well-being changes.
- To determine if BMI influences the intensity of altered states, mystical experiences, or emotional breakthroughs.
- To assess the relationship between BMI and improvements in well-being following psilocybin therapy.
Main Methods:
- Pooled data from three studies using a fixed 25mg dose of psilocybin in a therapeutic setting.
- Employed frequentist analysis supplemented with Bayes Factors to evaluate the null hypothesis.
- Assessed acute experience characteristics and well-being changes at 2-week follow-up.
Main Results:
- Supported the null hypothesis: BMI did not predict the intensity of acute psychedelic experiences (altered state, mystical experiences, perceptual changes, emotional breakthroughs).
- Found weak evidence for increased 'dread of ego dissolution' with lower BMI, but BMI was not a significant predictor when combined with other covariates.
- Mystical-type experiences and emotional breakthroughs strongly predicted well-being improvements, independent of BMI.
Conclusions:
- BMI does not appear to be a significant predictor of acute psychedelic experience intensity or long-term outcomes in psilocybin therapy.
- Findings support the potential for standardizing a fixed psilocybin dose, which could enhance the scalability and accessibility of psychedelic-assisted therapies.
- This research contributes to understanding both pharmacological and non-pharmacological factors influencing psychedelic therapy effectiveness.
Keywords:
5-HT2ABayes FactorPsychedelic therapybody mass indexbody weightclassic psychedelichallucinogenpsychedelic-assisted therapyMore Related Videos
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