About the Author: Rubin Battino (1931-present) is well known to many in Ericksonian circles for his engaging and practical books on psychotherapy, hypnosis, and guiding people to live more fully. Battino is both a professor emeritus in chemistry and a licensed professional counselor, specializing in brief therapy, an Ericksonian approach, and palliative care. His previous books include:...
The healthcare field and society at large are witnessing a resurgence of interest in the effects and applications of psychedelic therapies in a wide range of settings. In the 1950s and 1960s, research was conducted to explore different applications for psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and mescaline, in the healthcare setting. However, psychedelic research was dramatically...
Terminally ill patients may experience existential distress, depression, or anxiety, limiting quality of life in the final stage. Existing psychotherapeutic or pharmacological interventions have (time) limited efficacy. Psychedelic treatment may be a safe and effective alternative treatment option. Systematically review studies on psychedelic treatment with and without psychotherapy for...
End of life and palliative care has improved in recent decades but the psychopharmacological options available to clinicians and patients in these contexts remain limited. In particular, psychological factors such as depression, existential distress, and well-being remain challenging to address with current medications. Here, we review recent research on the use of psychedelics in clinical...
Abstract Background Existential distress is a significant source of suffering for patients facing life-threatening illness. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies (PAT) are novel treatments that have shown promise in treating existential distress, but openness to providing PAT may be limited by stigma surrounding psychedelics and the paucity of education regarding their medical use. How PAT might be...
Buprenorphine (BUP) can be a safe and effective alternative to traditional opioids for many patients with chronic pain. For patients on higher doses of opioids, rotation to BUP is complicated by the requirement of an opioid-free interval or withdrawal during the transition. Microdosing inductions, in which BUP is gradually titrated, while full agonist opioids are continued, are a viable...
There is a growing body of research suggesting that palliative care patients coping with existential distress may benefit from psilocybin. However, there is a large gap regarding the perceptions of palliative care providers who may provide education, counseling services, recommendations, and/or prescriptions for psilocybin if it is decriminalized, commercialized, and/or federally rescheduled...
I’ve always been drawn to specialties where medicine can be practised holistically. It’s one of the reasons I applied for GP training and am currently undertaking a diploma in lifestyle medicine. My last post as a second-year GP trainee was a 6-month placement in palliative medicine at a well-known inner London hospice. While on this rotation, I came across patients who suffered with ‘total...
People with advanced cancer are at heightened risk of desire for hastened death (DHD), suicidal ideation (SI), and completed suicide. Loss of Meaning (LoM), a component of demoralization, can be elevated by a cancer diagnosis and predicts DHD and SI in this population. We completed a randomized controlled trial in which psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) produced rapid and sustained...
As palliative care providers, we are expected to expertly address psychological and spiritual distress among our patients. Left unchecked, existential suffering threatens to exacerbate symptom burden and limit therapeutic potential. Tending to the psychospiritual domains of a person’s experience is thus as fundamental to our roles as healers as is familiarity with equianalgesic charts and bowel...