Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 1, 2026
Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Sarah Shnayder, Geena Fram et al.
Introduction Psilocybin treatment has shown promise for treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), yet clinical response is variable. Little is known about the subjective experiences associated with divergent outcomes or the psychological processes differentiating responders from non-responders. Materials and methods A qualitative case comparison was conducted using...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 27, 2022
William P. Barone, Michiko Mitsunaga-Whitten, Lia Osunfunláyò Blaustein et al.
14 citations
Anxiety associated with life-threatening illness (LTI) is a pervasive mental health issue with a wide impact. A spectrum of traditional pharmacotherapies and psychotherapies are available, but offer varying success in reducing symptoms and improving quality of life. We explore a novel therapy for this condition by assessing prominent thematic elements from participant narrative accounts of a...
PLoS One
August 24, 2022
Mary M. Sweeney, Sandeep M. Nayak, Ethan Hurwitz et al.
60 citations
Both psychedelic drug experiences and near-death experiences can occasion changes in perspectives on death and dying, but there have been few direct comparisons of these phenomena. This study directly compared psychedelic occasioned and non-drug experiences which altered individuals’ beliefs about death. Individuals who reported an experience that altered their beliefs about death occasioned by...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
June 25, 2018
Tehseen Noorani, Albert Garcia‐romeu, Thomas Cody Swift et al.
285 citations
Background: Recent pilot trials suggest feasibility and potential efficacy of psychedelic-facilitated addiction treatment interventions. Fifteen participants completed a psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation pilot study between 2009 and 2015. Aims: The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to identify perceived mechanisms of change leading to smoking cessation in the pilot study; (2) to...
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
June 14, 2017
Thomas Cody Swift, Alexander Belser, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes et al.
187 citations
Recent randomized controlled trials of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for patients with cancer suggest that this treatment results in large-magnitude reductions in anxiety and depression as well as improvements in attitudes toward disease progression and death, quality of life, and spirituality. To better understand these findings, we sought to identify psychological mechanisms of action...
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
April 28, 2017
Alexander Belser, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Thomas Cody Swift et al.
305 citations
The psychological mechanisms of action involved in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy are not yet well understood. Despite a resurgence of quantitative research regarding psilocybin, the current study is the first qualitative study of participant experiences in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. Semistructured interviews were carried out with 13 adult participants aged 22 to 69 years ( M = 50...