Cancer Anxiety Study with Psilocybin in Baltimore

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine are providing experimental treatment with psilocybin (an ingredient found in "magic mushrooms") for cancer anxiety. A similar study was completed in Los Angeles in 2008, and results from that study will be published online in September in a top psyciatric journal. There is also a team at NYU conducting a third cancer anxiety study with psilocybin. More information about the Hopkins study can be found here: http://www.cancer-insight.org This field of research is gaining traction after nearly 40 years of prohibition. Anyone have any strong opinions about the potential benefits and risks?

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Wouldn't the patients have bad trips due to their condition? The "set and setting" is compromised rather heavily. I'm not sure a dedicated "tour guide" would be enough to keep their negative feelings from coming to the surface. The patients would need to be given anxiety medication to fix the negative "set and setting", which defeats the purpose of using a hallucinogen to defeat the anxiety by itself.

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I was the research associate and co-facilitator for the psilocybin study at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The results of our study will be published on Sept. 9, and the outcomes were positive. We worked with 12 participants, which is a small number. However, we did not encounter the kinds of challenges you describe. I agree that it seems counterintuitive to provide a substance that could provide a bad trip, especially given the stresses of advanced cancer. Here are a few points to consider:

1) The dose was 0.2 mg. per kg. of body weight, which is a moderate dose. We weren't trying to knock anyone's socks off. At this level, participants tended to become introspective about quality of life at end of life issues.
2) We were providing pure, synthetic psilocybin instead of mushrooms. Psilocybin by itself is gentler on the body than mushrooms (no GI upset, easier come on, etc.) , and the fact that it was a standardized dose made the experiences less unpredictable than mushrooms.
3) Negative feelings coming to the surface can be a good thing. In fact, that was often the desired outcome. Some participants desired a cathartic "good cry" or release of painful emotions. For example, one woman completed a painful forgiveness process that left her feeling less depressed after treatment. One woman experienced the pain that her husband would feel when she died, and that process improved their relationship. In fact, several couples dealt with anxieties that were making them bicker in ways that improved their relationships in the time they had remaining. One woman came to terms with the fact that the cancer was going to take her life. She had been experiencing strong denial. As a result, she was able to attend to relationships and tasks in ways that she wanted to before she died. In fact, the individuals who processed the negative feelings were more calm and prepared when the time to die arrived. After doing this work for a while, I have come to realize that a "hard trip" is not necessarily a "bad trip."

Finally, taking psilocybin in a clinical setting is quite different from recreational use. But not anti-anxiety medication was needed. I hope someday that this work can be done in a more natural environment than in a clinical setting.

Last edited by Dan4th on Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

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DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Dr. Strassman is one of the best books i've read.

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Very interesting, thanks for responding with that information. The study actually wanted any negative feelings of the participants to come to the surface, but only when they were ready and in their own way. (The gentlest release possible.) I am starting to see how hallucinogens might help to accomplish this.

Have you noticed if there is a connection between the negative feelings and the cancer itself? For example, does the cancer appear to regress after the negative feelings have been released?

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We were not collecting any data on how psilocybin might influence the disease process in cancer. In fact, I had to be very careful when I was recruiting participants to avoid the impression that we were providing cancer treatment. It was a psychiatric study for existential anxiety. Having said that, many of the participants wondered if an improved mood might boost immunity or help make them stonger in others ways that might prolong life. I have no data to support such claims. Some participants died before they could complete the 6-months of follow-up surveys and two still survive today. Some outlived their prognoses by a notable margin, and some died soon after the study. We don't have enough information to draw any conclusions. I know there are other area of research that investigate the role some medicinal mushrooms might play in fighting cancer, and mushrooms are an excellent source of vitamin D, which plays a role in supporting a healthy immune system. (Vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to breast cancer, for example.) For now, we're just taking baby steps to see if psilocybin can help with anxiety and depression in individuals with cancer. Who knows what we'll learn over the next decade.

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Indeed. Thanks for posting here and answering questions.

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The research team at Johns Hopkins Medicine is still recruiting participants for their cancer anxiety study with psilocybin. A cancer diagnosis is required for enrollment, but the cancer does not need to be at an advanced stage. Participants can also be in remission if they are also experiencing anxiety. You can find the study website by searching "cancer-insight."