Mystical Experience with Cancer Patients: Insights from Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy and Guided Imagery
Global Journal of Medical Research – July 31, 2021
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Profound "mystical experiences" from psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy directly correlate with alleviating cancer-related distress. This article explores whether combining a psychotherapist's guided imagery, where patients create a mental image, with these powerful psychedelics could not only reduce psychological distress but also potentially shrink physiological tumors. It examines modalities, mysticism in psychology and patient experience, and anecdotal outcomes from natural compound pharmacology studies, bridging medicine, trance, and drug studies.
Abstract
Background: In controlled, clinical studies of the impact of psilocybin on patients with life-threatening cancers, Johns Hopkins and NYU researchers found that the “intensity of the mystical experience” induced by psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy was directly correlated with the alleviation of cancer-related mental distress. Objective: The purpose of this article is to explore the proposition that the combination of psychotherapeutic guided imagery and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy could not only alleviate cancer-related psychological distress but also reduce or eliminate physiological tumors. Methods: The literature surrounding “mystical experience” is discussed; the modalities of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and guided imagery psychotherapy with cancer patients are compared; and the anecdotal outcomes of cancer remission among private therapy guided imagery patients are presented.