Psilocybin for Depression and Anxiety in Cancer Patients
OpenAlex – January 01, 2025
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
In a significant finding for medicine, psilocybin, combined with psychotherapist support, dramatically reduced anxiety and depression in 51 cancer patients. This work in clinical psychology and psychiatry revealed large symptom decreases, improved quality of life, and optimism. Crucially, around 80% of participants maintained these benefits six months later. Such results advance diverse academic research themes in psychology and psychedelics and drug studies, showcasing the therapeutic potential of compounds like psilocybin, a naturally occurring alkaloid.
Abstract
Abstract Fifty-one cancer patients with symptoms of depression and anxiety were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial using low-dose psilocybin (placebo) and high-dose psilocybin (intervention group) combined with psychotherapy with 5 weeks between dosing sessions and at 6-month follow-up. Participants in the intervention group had large decreases in clinician- and self-rated measures of depression and anxiety. They also had improvements in quality of life, life meaning, and optimism and decreases in death anxiety at 5 weeks. Significant changes in depression and anxiety were durable for around 80% of participants at 6-month follow-up. A mystical-type experience on the drug session day mediated the effect of psilocybin dose on the therapeutic outcomes.