Professional clinical chaplains, as subject matter experts in spirituality and health, are an asset to psychedelic-assisted therapies and should be utilized in research trials and clinical practice. The article argues that participants in clinical trials consistently report mystical-type experiences during dosing sessions, which may mediate clinical improvements in depression, PTSD, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Given a relative lack of training in spirituality and religion among interprofessional practitioners, chaplains can provide spiritual and emotional support, helping participants navigate non-ordinary states of consciousness with safety and insight. Competencies include spiritual and religious care, spiritual inquiry, empathic presence, ethical engagement, and advocacy. Chaplains will need specialized education and supervised experience beyond standard requirements.
Three patient-centered outcome measures for spiritual wellbeing—FACIT-Sp-12, EORTC QLQ-SWB-32, and NIH-HEALS—are suitable for use in psychedelic-assisted therapy with palliative care populations, based on a review of 286 articles. The NIH-HEALS is recommended for wider use because of its orientation toward identifying spiritual change in serious illness, strong reliability and validity, and accessibility across spiritual traditions.
This narrative review aims to understand what forms of spirituality screening and spiritual support are available to individuals with serious or life-threatening illness who are involved in psychedelic-assisted therapies. People facing serious illness often experience psychological and spiritual distress such as depression, anxiety, and demoralization. Psychedelic substances are being investigated to treat these conditions, but it is unclear how much spiritual, existential, religious, and theological components are emphasized in screening and treatment protocols. The review will include published studies and ongoing clinical trials involving patients with serious illness receiving psychedelic substances like psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and ketamine, using an empirical integrative orientation and searching databases including Embase, PubMed, PsycInfo, and CINAHL.