BackgroundPsychiatry has long maintained an ambivalent relationship with religion and spirituality, often acknowledging their relevance while remaining cautious about clinical engagement.ObjectivesThis article examines the historical, conceptual, and clinical tensions surrounding spirituality in psychiatry and explores how contemporary psychedelic research has renewed attention to meaning and...
Background/Objectives: Psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) is a promising intervention to alleviate existential distress among patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care. However, evidence on how to integrate PAT into routine oncology and palliative care services remains scarce. This study aimed to examine real-world PAT implementation, identify factors influencing adoption, and...
Background/Objectives: Patients in palliative care frequently experience multidimensional suffering that extends beyond physical symptoms to include existential distress, demoralization, and loss of meaning. Psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT), including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP), have re-emerged as promising interventions for these domains. This study aimed to provide a narrative...
BACKGROUND: While the adoption of psilocybin-assisted therapy for existential distress offers promising support for patients with life-threatening illnesses, implementing this intervention into palliative care settings presents significant real-world challenges. AIM: To examine palliative care stakeholders' knowledge and attitudes regarding psilocybin-assisted therapy, and identify barriers and...
Psychiatric symptoms and existential distress are common at the end of life and associated with poor outcomes. Psychedelic therapies are an emerging option for managing such patients, but their testing and application depends, inter alia , on prescribers’ perspectives. However, no published data exist on the opinions of Australasian palliative care medical staff regarding psychedelic safety and...
Psychospiritual distress (PSD) causes profound suffering in people with serious illness, yet treatment options are few and evidence of their efficacy is modest. Although high-level evidence is limited, decades of preliminary research suggest that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP), including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP), may alleviate the anxiety, depression, and existential...
Meaning is a primary existential concern in those with advanced illnesses and functions as an important coping mechanism. Loss of meaning contributes to existential distress, and, in particular, may manifest as demoralization, a syndrome of poor coping that is associated with negative outcomes. Psychedelics are unique psychoactive compounds that, among other properties, are proposed to enhance...
psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is a compelling therapeutic option warranting further investigation through rigorous, interdisciplinary research to promote an anthropologically/ethically grounded implementation in palliative settings, even beyond the oncology field.
People with cancer often experience anxiety and depression following a diagnosis and can face barriers to accessing treatment for their mental health. An increasing number of patients are considering alternative approaches to managing their mental health symptoms, such as the psychedelic, psilocybin. A growing number of clinical trials show significant and enduring improvements in mood and...
Psychedelic substances are recognized for their potential to ease psychological suffering linked to end-of-life issues, yet policy remains restrictive. The wide range of both substances and therapeutic approaches used in end-of-life populations has not been adequately covered by reviews to date. To identify and learn from the variety that exists within the research on therapeutic psychedelic...
Palliative MedicineJanuary 30, 2026James Downar, Julie Lapenskie, Koby Anderson et al.
Background: Psychological distress is a common problem near the end of life, for which we lack effective, timely and scalable treatments. No previous study has assessed whether microdose psilocybin can improve symptoms in this population. Aim: To determine whether microdose psilocybin is safe, feasible and potentially efficacious in a palliative setting. Design: Open label, single-arm clinical...
HealthcareJanuary 21, 2026Emily Santos Montarroyos, Sara Lima, Raimundo Barreto et al.
Background/Objectives: Cancer is a disabling, challenging, and growing global disease. Although early diagnosis and adequate treatment of cancer are developing rapidly, a large part of the population remains without access to specialized services and routinely progresses to uncontrolled pain, poorer quality of life, and suffering. Complementary therapies for pain management and the well-being...
Psychological and spiritual distress are highly prevalent in patients with advanced cancer, yet conventional interventions often fail to address their interconnected nature. While mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are widely used in oncology, their integration with spiritual or meaning-centered components remains insufficiently synthesized in high-level evidence. This review aimed to...
Psychedelic substances have been increasingly recognised for their potential in treating various mental health conditions, yet they can also induce what we call ontologically challenging psychedelic experiences (OCPEs), a concept developed in our research to describe experiences that profoundly disrupt an individual's sense of self, reality, and existence. We present OCPEs not as a diagnostic...
OBJECTIVES: People with serious illnesses often experience spiritual and emotional pain, manifesting in conditions such as depression, anxiety, and demoralization. Emerging research in psychedelic-assisted therapy has shown efficacy in treating these conditions. Despite evidence that psychedelics frequently occasion mystical/spiritual experiences in participants, there has been little research...