Narrative review of the potential for psychedelics to treat Prolonged Grief Disorder
International Review of Psychiatry May 23, 2024 Rebecca Ehrenkranz, Manish Agrawal, J. Kim Penberthy et al. 5 citations
Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) affects up to 10% of bereaved people, causing functional impairment and intense yearning for at least a year after loss. Current treatments are mainly psychological, and more options are needed. Psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA may help because they reduce depression and PTSD symptoms in clinical trials and produce subjective effects relevant to existential distress in PGD. No randomized clinical trials have yet tested psychedelics for PGD, but initial survey and open-label studies suggest a consistent trend toward grief reduction. A randomized clinical trial is the appropriate next step to explore this potential.