JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Psilocybin is a psychedelic substance which has demonstrated promise in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Significant media coverage has been dedicated to psychedelic medicine, but it is unclear whether the public associates psilocybin with its potential therapeutic benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in depression, anxiety, and substance abuse in the general population.

Objective:

This study attempts to link increases in interest in these disorders with increases in interest in psilocybin using Google Trends.

Methods:

Weekly, interest-over-time Google Trends data for four years, from the week of March 11th, 2018 to the week of March 6th, 2022, was downloaded for “psilocybin”, as well as search terms to be used as controls: “cannabis,” “cocaine,” “psychedelic therapy,” “antidepressant,” “depression,” “anxiety,” and “addiction.” Important psilocybin-related news drivers and the declaration of the pandemic were marked visually on a line graph of psilocybin trends data. Two t-tests of slopes were performed for all queries versus a trendline with a slope of zero, one using two years of data prior to the declaration of the pandemic and one using two years of data after the declaration of the pandemic. T-test of slope was performed internally for each query as well, with two years prior to the pandemic data being compared to two years after the pandemic data to determine if the slope of the trendlines changed significantly after the declaration of pandemic.

Results:

Psilocybin-, psychedelic therapy- and antidepressant-related search interest had been increasing before the declaration of pandemic and significantly increased after the declaration. Addiction-related search interest was decreasing before the declaration of pandemic and increasing after the declaration, which represented a significant change. Cannabis-related searches were level prior to the pandemic and decreasing after the pandemic, but this change was not significant. Cocaine-related searches were decreasing prior to the pandemic and level after the declaration, and this was a significant change. Depression-related search interest was decreasing before the pandemic and level after the pandemic, but this change was not significant. Anxiety-related search interest was level prior to the pandemic, and increasing after the pandemic, but this difference was not significant.

Conclusions:

This study suggests that interest in psilocybin is increasing when measured by Google Trends data, that the interest in psilocybin and psychedelic therapy increased after declaration of pandemic, and that this increase in interest correlates with an increase in interest in antidepressants after the pandemic declaration, perhaps suggesting that there is an association with psilocybin as a therapeutic similar to antidepressants. The lack of correlation with increases in interest in cannabis or cocaine further support this.