The perceptions of cancer health-care practitioners in New Zealand and the USA toward psychedelic-assisted therapy with cancer patients: A cross-sectional survey

Summary

Health care practitioners widely recognize the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapy as an intervention for cancer patients experiencing anxiety and distress. Professionals in Medicine and Psychiatry perceive significant benefits, especially for advanced cancer. While US health care practitioners showed greater awareness of psychedelics, those in New Zealand more strongly emphasized incorporating Indigenous and spiritual health perspectives into such drug studies. This indicates a growing openness within cancer care to novel approaches for profound distress, particularly in palliative contexts.

Abstract

Abstract Objectives A resurgence of research investigating the administration of psychedelic compounds alongside psychotherapy suggests that this treatment is a promising intervention for anxiety, depression, and existential distress in people with cancer. However, psychedelic treatment that induces a mind-altering experience potentially poses barriers to vulnerable cancer patients, and health-care practitioners may have concerns about referring their patients to trials investigating this approach. The aim of the current study was to investigate the perceptions of cancer health-care practitioners based in New Zealand and the USA related to psychedelic-assisted therapy. Methods This study utilized a cross-sectional survey of cancer health-care practitioners in New Zealand and the USA via convenience sampling to identify their perceptions about the concept of conducting psychedelic-assisted therapy with cancer patients. Results Participants perceived that (1) psychedelic-assisted therapy has the potential to provide benefit for cancer patients, (2) research in this area across a variety of domains is important, (3) work should consider spiritual and indigenous perspectives of health, and (4) there was willingness to refer patients to trials in this area, especially patients with advanced disease who were no longer going through curative treatment. Participants in the USA had greater awareness of psychedelics than the New Zealand sample; however, New Zealand participants more strongly believed that spiritual/indigenous factors should be considered in psychedelic-assisted therapy. Significance of results Cancer health-care practitioners in our sample considered research investigating the potential for psychedelic-assisted therapies to be important and may be more open to studies that start in palliative and end-of-life contexts.

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