Psilocybin-assisted therapy for individuals with palliative care needs: A systematic review of safety and efficacy

Summary & key facts

Researchers looked at existing studies of psilocybin-assisted therapy for people with palliative care needs. They found that, across those studies, the therapy tended to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety and appeared safe in the short term. But the researchers say more work is needed to see how this therapy could fit into regular palliative care — for example, whether it is practical, acceptable to patients and staff, and affordable.

Key facts:

• The paper is a systematic review, which means the authors collected and compared results from several earlier studies of psilocybin-assisted therapy for people in palliative care.
• Across the studies they reviewed, psilocybin-assisted therapy was linked to reductions in depressive symptoms. This means people in those studies tended to report less sadness or low mood after treatment.
• The review also found reductions in anxiety symptoms, so people tended to feel less anxious or worried after receiving psilocybin-assisted therapy in the included studies.
• The authors report that psilocybin-assisted therapy appeared to be safe in the studies they examined. That means the studies did not find major safety problems, at least in the short term.
• The review highlights important gaps: researchers still need to test how to put this therapy into everyday palliative care settings. Key questions are whether clinics can practically offer it, whether patients and staff accept it, and whether it would be cost-effective.
• Because the paper summarizes existing studies, its findings depend on the size and design of those studies. The authors call for more research before psilocybin-assisted therapy can be widely added to routine palliative care services.

Abstract

Psilocybin-assisted therapy consistently demonstrated efficacy and safety in the reduction of depressive and anxiety symptoms. However, more studies exploring integrating psilocybin-assisted therapy into existing palliative care healthcare systems are needed. This includes investigating the feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of integrating psilocybin-assisted therapy into routine clinical practice.

Topics

Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Acute care Advance care planning Anxiety Clinical trial Curative care Depression (economics) Family medicine Health care Intensive care medicine Medicine MEDLINE Nursing Palliative care Palliative treatment

Substances

Psilocybin

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety Depression Anxiety or worry Sadness or low mood