Mental health benefits of psilocybin last nearly 5 years for cancer patients
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A single dose of psilocybin combined with psychotherapy may significantly improve psychiatric distress in patients with cancer for nearly 5 years after administration, according to study findings published in Journal of Psychopharmacology.
“These long-term findings present a strong suggestion that in the context of a structured therapeutic treatment program, psilocybin-assisted therapy holds promise in generating lasting benefit for the majority of participants, and the effects of psilocybin-assisted therapy may persist well beyond the time course of acute drug action,” Gabrielle I. Agin-Liebes, MS, a PhD student at Palo Alto University in California, told Healio Psychiatry. “These finding are compelling enough to warrant future study with larger samples and a true control group that extends for years.”
According to Agin-Liebes and colleagues, the unique existential challenges associated with a cancer diagnosis are becoming increasingly clear within psycho-oncology. Specifically, these patients face existential distress, which previous research has described as “mental distress experienced by those facing imminent death and associated with demoralization, absence of purpose or meaning, hopelessness, isolation and loss of dignity,” the researchers noted. Although psychotropic medications are commonly used to treat this distress, evidence supporting their efficacy is lacking and they come with significant adverse effects.
To address this research gap, Agin-Liebes and colleagues conducted a long-term within-subjects follow-up analysis of self-reported symptomatology among 15 surviving participants with cancer-related psychiatric distress who were included in a parent trial. The parent trial compared single-dose psilocybin with single-dose niacin in conjunction with psychotherapy. Participants of the present study participated at an average of 3.2 and 4.5 years after psilocybin administration.
The researchers found that reductions in depression, anxiety, demoralization, hopelessness and death anxiety were sustained at both follow-ups. Approximately 60% to 80% of participants met criteria for clinically significant antidepressant or anxiolytic responses at the 4.5-year follow-up. Between 71% and 100% of participants attributed positive life changes to the psilocybin-assisted therapy and rated it among the most spiritually significant and personally meaningful experiences of their lives, the researchers wrote.
“It is nearly unprecedented in psychiatry that a medication taken one time would potentially lead to enduring outcomes years later,” Agin-Liebes said. “Traditional psychotropic medications depend on the persistent presence of the medication in the body. Psychedelics like psilocybin appear to initiate a deeply meaningful and powerful psychological process.” – by Joe Gramigna
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.