ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF PSYCHEDELIC SUBSTANCES IN THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The study sought to analyze the effect of psychedelics as an alternative means of treating major depressive disorder. This is an integrative literature review in which the descriptors “psychedelic” “depression” were selected, added with the Boolean operator “and” among these in the National Library of Medicine (PUBMED) and Virtual Health Library (VHL) databases. The inclusion criteria were articles in both English and Portuguese, published in the last 5 years, between 2018-2023, as well as controlled clinical trials. The exclusion criteria consist of studies differing from the topic and found on both platforms, with 17 controlled clinical trials being analyzed.  A therapeutic potential was evidenced in the use of Psilocybin, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), ketamine, Ayahuasca, given that patients showed a clinical improvement in depression symptoms, in addition, a reduction in assessment scores was observed and it was also observed an improvement in patients with resistance to current treatment.  However, it is still necessary to delve deeper into research as there is not enough scientific evidence to corroborate the definitive therapeutic use of psychedelics in the treatment of depression.