NIH awards $3.4M to study psilocybin to treat cocaine addiction, depression

From left: Thomas D. Meyer, PhD; Joy M. Schmitz, PhD; and Angela Stotts, PhD. (Photo by UTHealth Houston)

A team of UTHealth Houston researchers has been awarded a five-year, $3.4 million grant to study whether psilocybin-assisted therapy is a viable treatment option for individuals with co-occurring cocaine use disorder and major depressive disorder.  

“A lot of people with cocaine use disorder also have depression,” said co-principal investigator Thomas D. Meyer, PhD, professor in the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and director of the Psychological Intervention and Research Program on Mood Spectrum Disorders at UTHealth Houston. “There is evidence psilocybin works for depression. Instead of treating each condition separately, why don't we target people with comorbid cocaine use disorder and depression?”  

Psilocybin, also referred to as “magic mushrooms,” is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound known for its hallucinogenic effects. To evaluate its potential as a treatment for cocaine use disorder and depression, about 50 adults who are diagnosed with both conditions will be enrolled in the 12-week study and receive up to two doses of psilocybin at a UTHealth Houston clinic.  

“Psilocybin has shown the ability to promote neuroplasticity in the brain,” said co-principal investigator Joy M. Schmitz, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction at McGovern Medical School. Schmitz is also the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Distinguished Professor at McGovern Medical School. 

“Psilocybin appears to enhance communication across brain regions and increase cognitive flexibility,” she said. “This may be particularly beneficial for people with these disorders who often get stuck in rigid and unhelpful ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.”  

Participants will also receive multiple sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT, a form of talk therapy, before and after receiving the drug.  

“ACT is an empirically supported treatment that targets psychological flexibility and promotes values-based behavior change,” said co-principal investigator Angela Stotts, PhD, professor, vice chair for research, and director of the Behavioral Health and Addiction Research Program in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at McGovern Medical School. “We think psilocybin and ACT will work together to assist people in changing ingrained behavior patterns like cocaine use.”    

“The preparation therapy before dosing is a critical part of the process because it helps participants get ready for the session. The integration sessions that follow dosing day help them make sense of and interpret what they experienced, and translate those insights into meaningful therapeutic change,” Meyer said.  

The team hopes that the drug, in combination with ACT, will simultaneously reduce depressive symptoms and increase abstinence from cocaine.  

Researchers will also evaluate brain scans of participants taken throughout the study to observe changes in response to the drug. 

Cocaine addiction, also known as cocaine use disorder, affects about 1.4 million people in the United States, according to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Among this population, lifetime prevalence estimates of depression are as high as 40%. People who use cocaine experience depression at significantly higher rates than those who do not.  

Unlike major depressive disorder, there are no FDA-approved interventions for cocaine addiction.  

The study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.  

Other UTHealth Houston researchers on the study include Jair C. Soares, MD, PhD; Michael Weaver, MD; Wen Li, PhD; Charles Green, PhD; and Dan Petrovitch, PhD.  

For more information about the study, please call the Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction at 713-486-2800.