“Magic mushrooms” may ease anxiety, depression in cancer patients

Bazer was a participant in one of two controlled clinical trials of the effects of psilocybin on patients dealing with depression and distress related to facing the end of life. Both studies found that patients had elevated emotions for up to 6 months.

Looking ahead in this line of research, Journal of Psychopharmacology editor David Nutt, who lead the May study on shrooms and chronic depression wrote in an earlier editorial that it’s important to continue to pursue this research: “W$3 e are now in an exciting new phase of psychedelic psychopharmacology that needs to be encouraged not impeded”, according to the Guardian. “Whatever it was, it was a power that is in the universe”.

Both teams acknowledged the importance of clinical supervision for the patients in the study, meaning they warned against trying this at home.

The patients displayed clinically-scored decreases in depression and death anxiety, and increased quality of life six months after the drug experience, the scientists conclude. “They attribute changes in how they approach life, interact with people and to their value systems to that experience”.

The separate but similar clinical trials were created to see if a single dose of psilocybin could reduce psychological illness and existential distress among patients with a life-threatening diagnosis. All 51 patients were diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening cancer including breast, aerodigestive and gastrointestinal cancer.

“Our study showed that psilocybin facilitated experiences that drove reductions in psychological distress”, says co-investigator Anthony Bossis. The trial was a very controlled environment, where people were able to lie down for several hours while they experienced the trip. She had her left kidney and adrenal glands removed in 2003 after being diagnosed with kidney disease. After the surgery, she felt constantly exhausted and anxious. They were given either a therapeutic or a very low dose of psilocybin in a first treatment, then got the opposite dose five weeks later. Participants met with clinicians in a room that looked like a living room. Immediately after the sessions, participants completed questionnaires assessing changes in visual, auditory and body perceptions; feelings of transcendence; changes in mood; and more.

Then she felt deep love for her family and friends, and sensed their love for her.

“We are already seeing a national epidemic of opioid overdose deaths”, she said.

“I felt an acceptance of the world as it is and myself as I am”, she said. “I have benefited enormously”.

Of 29 cancer patients who got psilocybin in a trial conducted at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, 20 rated it as “among the most meaningful” events of their life.

And you should not try this at home, researchers stressed – distancing themselves from a history in which psychedelic advocates such as Timothy Leary urged widespread use of LSD, psilocybin and other hallucinogens.

While many more trials will be needed before any treatment involving psilocybin is legally approved, there are doubts that psilocybin treatment has a commercial future, given that just one dose seems effective. This made the process more time-consuming and expensive.

Doctors tend to prioritize cancer patient’s physical health. Lisa Callaghan of Brooklyn read part of a journal entry from her late husband Patrick Mettes, who participated in one of the studies.

The NYU Langone-led study was published side by side with a similar study from Johns Hopkins. “The research did not stop for scientific reasons”.