Corrigendum to “Decreases in Suicidality Following Psychedelic Therapy: A Meta-Analysis of Individual Patient Data Across Clinical Trials”

J Clin Psychiatry 2022;83(3):22l14505

To cite: Zeifman RJ, Yu D, Singhal N, et al. Corrigendum to “Decreases in Suicidality Following Psychedelic Therapy: A Meta-Analysis of Individual Patient Data Across Clinical Trials.” J Clin Psychiatry. 2022;83(3):22l14505.
To share: https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.22l14505

© Copyright 2022 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

^aDepartment of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
^bDepartment of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
^cDepartment of Mathematics, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas
^dDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
^eDalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
^fDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
^gDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
*Corresponding author: Cory R. Weissman, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 16918 Dove Canyon Rd, Ste 100, Mail Code 8322, San Diego, CA 92127 ([email protected]).

See article by Zeifman et al

To the Editor: Our group recently published in JCP the first meta-analysis of patient-level data on the effects of psychedelics on suicidality.¹ While not described in our article, it is noteworthy that 2 suicidality-related events that had been deemed not attributable to the administration of a psychedelic (by the authors of the primary outcome studies) occurred within the studies included in our meta-analysis.

Griffiths et al² describe in their supplementary materials that 1 individual in their very low-dose (placebo-like) psilocybin condition completed suicide 11 days after being administered 1 mg/70 kg psilocybin. The individual reported feeling bored during the session and was discontinued from the study after leaving the session early. They also report that there was no behavioral impairment or adverse sequelae during the follow-up later that day or on subsequent days. Andersen et al³ report that 1 individual attempted suicide approximately 2 months after being administered an active dose of psilocybin (21–25.2 mg/70 kg). The suicide attempt occurred after the individual learned about the sudden death of a former partner, subsequently used methamphetamine and crack cocaine, and then experienced a brief psychotic episode. They reported that the actual lethality of the attempt was 0 and the potential lethality was a 2 on the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale.

Although these events are likely not attributable to psychedelic therapy itself, they are nonetheless worthy of consideration and suggest the importance of closely monitoring patients in all treatment arms throughout and following psychedelic therapy trials.

Published online: May 9, 2022.
Relevant financial relationships: Dr Nayak serves on a data and safety monitoring board for Maryland Oncology Hematology. Dr Weissman receives funding from the Brain and Behavior Research foundation and serves on the scientific advisory board of GoodCap Pharmaceuticals. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
Funding/support: None.