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Cancer Patient Faces Hurdles After Diagnosis — Could Psychedelics Help End-of-Life Care?
Anxiety following a terminal diagnosis is common, with research finding 25% to 48% of advanced cancer patients experiencing elevated anxiety symptoms.
After years of misdiagnosis, Dale Atkinson was diagnosed with Stage 4 oesophageal cancer in 2024 — and told he had less than 12 months to live.
On a mission to carry on living, Atkinson took control of his treatments by finding alternative ways to support his well-being. Could psychedelics be another option for patients in need?
A Patient’s Struggle To Get A Diagnosis
Atkinson began experiencing acid reflux which intensified over the next few years, until eventually causing severe pain in his abdomen after eating.
Battling through his pain, Atkinson, who had been working in finance, went on to launch his own business and began working long hours. This is when he rapidly began losing weight — which he initially put down to stress.
“I was walking around with the pain of a heart attack for a little over six or seven months,” explains Atkinson. “At that point, I’d lost around 30 or 40 kilos of weight because I couldn’t swallow.
According to Atkinson, it took a number of months before his doctors were able to see the full picture, realizing his condition was urgent.
“I was told at that point that I was palliative care only and that the prognosis was less than a year,” says Atkinson.
“They said there was very little they could do, it was incurable and inoperable. I think that meeting lasted less than three minutes.” Atkinson was recommended for palliative therapy.
“I decided at the grand old age of 35 that I wasn’t done living yet,” says Atkinson.
While mental health support is part of NHS palliative care, Atkinson explains that he struggled to find support through his journey.
“Nobody mentally supported me through this journey, there was no form of counseling or training or even a friendly ear to be part of it,” he said.
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The Impact Of Diagnosis On Health Anxiety
A terminal diagnosis can have a big impact on mental health, and research shows that many people in palliative care have some form of anxiety disorder. Equally, many people with a terminal diagnosis may experience hypervigilance of their body, interpreting body signals as worsening illness.
At the time of his diagnosis, Atkinson says that his healthcare professional was unwilling to consider supporting therapies for his treatment or chemotherapy.
He explains that since the diagnosis, his life has been defined by ongoing scanning, blood testing, making treatment decisions, and constantly assessing if a new sensation represents something minor or something disastrous.
This health anxiety has altered the way Atkinson lives each day, he explains, causing him to pay much closer attention to his body.
“I have learned the difference between being aware of my body and being hyper-vigilant. Being informed versus being consumed by my health issues. Advocating for my health versus having my health dictate my actions.”
Taking Control Of Health Anxiety
Feeling a lack of agency and guidance over his health, Atkinson said he wanted to take control of his health anxiety as “not having that focus and passion was more destructive to me than having it.”
On a mission to arm himself with knowledge, Atkinson began to explore complementary practices that supported his well-being and quality of life.
“My entire life had dropped, and the pain, the grief, and the anger that came out of that, atop all of these issues that I was going through, and with the healthcare advice, I very quickly found it threw me into a world of my own research.”
Through the use of wellbeing-supporting practices such as red light therapy, hyperbaric chambers, ice baths, and mindfulness techniques such as meditation, journalling, walks in nature, and Wim Hof breathwork, Atkinson has worked to reduce stress in his body.
“Everybody on this journey always says, ‘we live in the day, not for the future.’ I try to put that into practice.”
As part of his mission, Atkinson now runs a Health and Fitness company, Peak Health and Fitness, that aims to support people’s wellbeing, and he has launched a charity that helps to support cancer patients.
“10% of the profits from my business are going to be allocated into a charity that I have established to support cancer patients.”
Atkinson says that empowering patients to have agency in their own health journey is vital, and encourages people to advocate for themselves.
“Self advocacy is vital. Don’t be afraid to say no if you find you’re not comfortable with something, and don’t be afraid to ask questions — having that ability to double check and ask makes a huge difference.”
Atkinson explains that his self advocacy led to an agreement with his healthcare professional to receive a weaker chemotherapy, and he has since seen his cancer go into remission.
Atkinson encourages patients to ask questions, seek clarity, and actively participate in decisions about their own care.
Psychedelics As Tool For End-Of-Life Anxiety
End-of-life anxiety care traditionally consists of psychological, social, and spiritual support. However, research shows that palliative care does not always relieve distress, depression or anxiety, and that new treatment options should be available to patients in need.
While Dale Atkinson added several complimentary treatments to his traditional regiment, psychedelics wasn’t one of them. But research suggests psychedelic therapies could be beneficial for patients in his situation, showing promising results for reducing end-of-life anxiety.
In a review of studies, researchers found that multiple clinical trials treating cancer patients for anxiety using psilocybin demonstrated rapid reductions in depression, anxiety, demoralization, and existential distress. The review also found that participants experienced improved quality of life and attitudes toward death.
A further review that compared benzodiazepine-opioid combinations and psilocybin for end-of-life anxiety found that psilocybin demonstrated “rapid and sustained anxiety relief,” with approximately 60% to 80% of participants experiencing clinically significant improvements.
Based on this emerging research, a number of countries across the globe are now enabling access to psychedelics — such as psilocybin — for end-of-life anxiety treatment.
In 2020, Canada was the first country in the world to add psilocybin as a treatment for end-of-life anxiety enabling patients to apply for access through Health Canada’s Special Access Programme (SAP), if they’ve received support from their GP.
Other countries including Australia, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic have now followed suit, as well as a number of states in the United States have introduced or are developing frameworks for supervised psilocybin access.
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While this is promising progress, overcoming regulatory barriers will be a huge challenge for psychedelic medicines.
In an opinion article for Frontiers, experts highlight that palliative health care teams “often lack the resources to adequately address the psychological and existential distress experienced at end-of-life.” This is an area where psychedelic assisted therapy (PAT) has shown “the most promise”.
They emphasize that in countries where access is possible, such as Canada, this access is still “tightly restricted” due to its classification as a scheduled substance under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Noting that the requirements for referral to the SAP are “unrealistic,” and that Health Canada’s request to switch to a clinical trial-only framework in 2022 due to the high volume of requests, the authors conclude that “good healthcare should not be political.”
“The beating heart of this case are Canadians with terrible health issues seeking access to safe and effective treatment”
lead lawyer Paul Lewin
Showing how access to these therapies is still severely limited, a group of Canadian patients, led by non-profit Therapsil, sued the Canadian government for increased access for terminally-ill patients. They claim that access to these therapies, if supported by a doctor, should be a human right and the government should not impede it.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer, my doctor didn’t have to ask a bureaucrat if they could treat me with chemotherapy because my doctor is experienced and qualified to advise me about my treatment options. When it comes to my mental health, why would I accept that a bureaucrat could make better decisions about my medical condition and treatment, than my doctor and myself?
“Psilocybin assisted therapy works for me, and it is really something that should be determined between a patient and their doctor, the same way any other medical treatment is done,” a quote from Thomas Hartle, the first Canadian to access legal psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in August 2020.
While more research is needed before these therapies can be implemented and scaled across traditional healthcare systems — psychedelic therapies may hold hope for patients like Dale Atkinson and others, offering alternatives to health anxiety and end-of-life care.
Expert Board Member
Health anxiety, the persistent worry about having or developing a serious illness driven by real or imagined bodily sensation, is particularly complex when the feared illness is real. Dan Atkinson's story highlights the emotional toll of health anxiety, the gaps in support he encountered, and the way he transformed his struggle into a mission to empower and advocate for other patients.
London , United Kingdom 
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