Psychedelic therapy
Psychedelic therapy for anxiety is the most powerful form of therapy known. It can be used to treat depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, and other mental disorders and/or complaints. The following section discusses psilocybin therapy for terminal cancer patients.
Terminal cancer and psilocybin
When her doctors told Pam Sakuda that her cancer had spread and there was nothing more that could be done, the fear of death overwhelmed her.
“"You can no longer carry out all the plans you had," she said in a video interview before her death in 2006. "You essentially live in fear. ... It paralyzes the good life you're living at the moment."”
That's why Sakuda turned to hallucinogens.
Hoping to "find a way to achieve peace," she participated in a pilot study led by psychiatrist Charles Grob at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles in 2004. Grob combined Sakuda's regular talk therapy treatments with a single dose of psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms and magic truffles. Incidentally, the Food and Drug Administration recently approved psilocybin for use in clinical trials for the treatment of end-of-life anxiety (fear of death).
Sakuda believed psilocybin helped her appreciate life. "It allows you to let go of other feelings and explore other ways you might feel," she said. "I began to realize that all this negative anxiety was an obstacle to making the most of and enjoying the healthy time I have—however long it may be."“
She wasn't alone. In the 12 patients he treated with psilocybin, Grob found preliminary evidence of reduced anxiety and improved mood and quality of life, and an indication that these benefits persisted for several months.
To expand on Grob's work, psychiatrists from Johns Hopkins University and New York University are currently recruiting patients for similar studies. Studies like these have launched a wave of research that promises new ways to treat mental health problems and a new understanding of our brains.
“It appears that the very, very powerful experience allows individuals to come away with more peace of mind,” said Grob, who plans to publish his results this year.
According to Stephen Ross, who led the New York University study, doctors have no standard procedures for dealing with a patient's end-of-life needs, and this fear is often ignored.
“"As doctors, we're good at saving lives," Ross said. "But we haven't learned the art of helping patients die well."”
A 2007 study published by the American Cancer Society found that up to 50 percent of patients with advanced or terminal cancer are diagnosed with a major psychiatric disorder, and less than half of patients with depressive symptoms receive psychiatric medications.
According to the researchers, psilocybin can achieve in a single session what would otherwise take months or years, time some of these patients may not have.
Psilocybin binds to two types of serotonin receptors in the brain that are strongly associated with mood and anxiety. Even more interesting for psychiatrists, brain imaging studies from the Heffter Research Center in Switzerland show that the drug appears to influence areas of the brain believed to mediate consciousness and spiritual feelings.
The effects of psilocybin last approximately four to six hours, during which time the brain activity of the participants resembles that of people in spiritual states, such as meditating monks. Like people who practice meditation, the patients in the psilocybin trials reported feelings such as greater connection with others, relief from anxiety, and the ability to internalize their limited time as opportunities for personal growth.
Patients on psilocybin "connect with deeper parts of their psyche that they normally wouldn't," Ross said. "They can make certain connections they wouldn't normally make."“
However, the drug's mechanism is not fully understood, leaving long-term risks unclear. According to David Shurtleff, director of basic neuroscience at the National Institute of Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland, the drug's effects are highly variable and should only be taken under controlled conditions. Unlike other drugs, however, evidence suggests a low potential for abuse. Psilocybin does not appear to be physically addictive, partly because rats will not self-ingest it as they do nicotine, alcohol, and cocaine.
In fact, based on the initial positive results from end-of-life distress studies, Ross and other researchers want to test psilocybin to treat addictions to tobacco, alcohol, and narcotics. "Addicts have this compulsive, eroded relationship only with the drug and nothing else," Ross said. "Psilocybin can help their lives gain meaning, direction, purpose, and connection."“
Ultimately, scientists hope these studies will help clarify the neurobiology of spirituality. "The fact that we have neural tissue that makes these experiences possible shows that the brain evolved to have spiritual experiences," Ross said.