Meditation is increasingly being studied not just as a supplement to treatment, but as a subject of research in its own right. On October 7, researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC announced the launch of a clinical trial in which adults with depression will receive psilocybin therapy alongside eight weeks of mindfulness, loving-kindness and compassion meditation. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will provide up to $4 million in funding. The announcement marks the start of the trial, not the release of research results.
Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic compound found in certain mushrooms. In South Korea, it is classified as a controlled narcotic under the Narcotics Control Act, so individuals cannot obtain or use it. It is also classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under U.S. federal law, the most restrictive category, and this study will be conducted at an authorized research institution under medical supervision.
Only 40 of 80 participants will meditate for eight weeks—the goal is to isolate meditation’s contribution
The study is called EVIDENT-MAP. Researchers will recruit 80 adults with depression who live in Los Angeles. One notable eligibility requirement is that participants must have no prior experience with either psychedelics or meditation. Participants will be divided into two groups. One will receive psilocybin therapy alone, while the other will receive the same therapy plus an eight-week mindfulness meditation program.
Both groups will follow the same treatment process. Before their first psilocybin session, participants will receive six hours of preparatory psychotherapy and then attend two sessions about a month apart. They will also have three integration counseling sessions between the psilocybin sessions and three more after treatment ends, to help them process their experiences. The meditation group will additionally learn mindfulness—paying attention to the present moment—as well as loving-kindness and compassion practices that cultivate warmth toward oneself and others. Participants will meditate at home every day. Their first psilocybin session is scheduled between the second and third weeks of the meditation program, so they will have some experience with meditation before beginning treatment.
A tool for dismantling unhelpful narratives: why the study’s lead researcher included meditation
The study is led by Professor Rael Cahn, director of the USC Center for Mindfulness Science and a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences at USC. He also designed the meditation program for the trial. When he first announced this line of research in June, Cahn said mindfulness meditation gives people tools to dismantle unhelpful narratives. The hypothesis is that meditation can help people with depression recognize the self-narratives they repeatedly cling to and gain some distance from them. USC said the study builds on earlier research involving experienced meditators, which found that meditation may enhance responses to psychedelics.
The treatment-room setting was also designed with meditation in mind. Cahn said that during sessions, the therapist serves as a supportive presence rather than intervening actively. Co-investigator Professor Assal Habibi of the USC Brain and Creativity Institute worked with clinicians and music therapists to create a playlist of lyric-free music for the sessions. The selections, drawn from several musical traditions, are arranged to match the progression of psilocybin’s effects, with an emotionally intense piece played at the peak. After treatment, the team plans to scan participants’ brains while they listen to the same music, to see whether the music alone produces brain signals associated with the treatment experience. Habibi said the researchers want to find out whether music itself could have therapeutic value without psychedelics.
There are no results yet. Here’s why researchers are collecting everything from brain waves to gut microbes
This trial has not proven the treatment’s effectiveness. Researchers are now recruiting participants and will collect a wide range of data, including electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), saliva, blood and stool samples, psychological and cognitive assessments, and wearable-device records. ARPA-H’s EVIDENT initiative is a program that gathers real-time clinical data to accelerate mental health research. Studies funded through the initiative make de-identified data available in a national repository. Professor Shrikanth Narayanan, an engineer, is also a co-investigator.
The team is also studying the combination of psilocybin and mindfulness in people without mental health conditions. USC has described the early results from the first 24 participants as encouraging but has not released specific figures. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated psilocybin-based therapy as a breakthrough therapy candidate for major depressive disorder. That designation is intended to speed development and review; it is not an approval.
For South Korean readers, the takeaway is the eight-week practice—not the drug
The aspect of this study worth noting for South Korean readers is not the substance, but the role of meditation. A U.S. academic medical center has made an eight-week meditation program a separate comparison condition in a mental health treatment study. The researchers want to determine whether meditation is the key to enhancing treatment outcomes and making them last longer. This can be read as a sign that meditation is moving beyond a lifestyle practice for easing one’s mood and is beginning to be tested as a component of treatment research.
The practices used in the study can be learned without special equipment. Mindfulness, which involves noticing the breath and bodily sensations, and loving-kindness meditation, which involves directing goodwill toward oneself, loved ones and then strangers, are also readily available at meditation centers and through online courses in South Korea. If sitting for a long time is difficult, you can start with a lying-down body scan or slow walking meditation.
Depression, however, is not something to address with meditation alone. If low mood persists or disrupts daily life, consulting a psychiatrist should come first; meditation is safest when used as a tool alongside that process. It will be several years before we know what this trial finds. Science is beginning in earnest to answer whether meditation can make treatment more effective and its benefits longer-lasting.
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