Journal of Palliative Medicine
September 22, 2020
William E Rosa, Caroline Dorsen, Andrew Penn
We applaud the findings of Beaussant and colleagues 1 in defining the research priorities for psychedelic-assisted therapies in palliative care. The innovative conceptual framework posed for integrating these therapies into extant care delivery models promotes the strategic use of psychedelic-assisted interventions capable of reaching those patients most in need. A recent scoping review of...
Mortality
August 30, 2020
Mackenzie Blomstrom, Andrew Burns, D. Larriviere et al.
ABSTRACT The fear of death and dying is a multifaceted and prevalent source of human distress that can cause significant psychological and existential distress, especially at the end of life. Analysing current therapeutic approaches to this issue to identify promising modalities and knowledge gaps could improve end of life experiences and reduce human suffering. In this systematically...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 25, 2020
Johannes G. Ramaekers, Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Natasha L. Mason et al.
95 citations
Background: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is an ergot alkaloid derivative with psychedelic properties that has been implicated in the management of persistent pain. Clinical studies in the 1960s and 1970s have demonstrated profound analgesic effects of full doses of LSD in terminally ill patients, but this line of research evaporated after LSD was scheduled worldwide. Aim: The present...
Brain Sciences
August 1, 2020
Alessandro Cicolin, Michele Boffano, Guglielmo Beccuti et al.
Both non-rapid eye movements and rapid eye movements sleep facilitate the strengthening of newly encoded memory traces, and dream content reflects this process. Numerous studies evaluated the impact of diseases on dream content, with particular reference to cancer, and reported the presence of issues related to death, negative emotions, pain and illness. This study investigates death and...
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
July 8, 2020
Enrico Facco
The topic of resilience is of paramount importance. Although the term resilience was coined in the fields of physics and engineering, its use has spread to the fields of social sciences, biology, psychology, and psychiatry, as well as to the industry. Moreover, the term is now endowed with a wide range of meanings. The topic of resilience plays a central role in all critical life events. It is...
Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy
May 28, 2020
Adam Greif, Martin Šurkala
25 citations
In the present paper, we discuss the ethics of compassionate psychedelic psychotherapy and argue that it can be morally permissible. When talking about psychedelics, we mean specifically two substances: psilocybin and MDMA. When administered under supportive conditions and in conjunction with psychotherapy, therapies assisted by these substances show promising results. However, given the...
Journal of Palliative Medicine
April 1, 2020
Yvan Beaussant, Justin J. Sanders, Zachary Sager et al.
39 citations
Background: Recent and preprohibition studies show that patients with serious illness might benefit from psychedelic-assisted therapies for a range of symptoms, physical, psychosocial, and existential. Objective: To explore the potential roles and research priorities of these therapies in patients with serious illness. Design, Setting, and Participants: Qualitative study based on semistructured...
Oncology Times
March 26, 2020
Richard Simoneaux
With the technological advances that have been made in diagnostics for cancer, more disease is being detected at an earlier stage. Although this generally improves the patient's chances for survival, a diagnosis of cancer can often provoke significant psychological distress in patients. A significant number of cancer patients will ultimately be affected by conditions such as anxiety and...
Ethos
March 2020
Tony V Pham, Rishav Koirala, Brandon A Kohrt
To explore the relationship between traditional healers and conventional psychotherapy, we conducted a combined ethnographic study and structured observational rating of healers in the middle hill region of central Nepal. We conducted in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations of healing with 84 participants comprising 29 traditional healers and 55 other community members. Overall, our...
Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Nursing
February 19, 2020
Dominique Denis-Lalonde, Andrew Estefan
10 citations
Background Psychedelic-assisted therapy research is demonstrating unprecedented rates of success in treating mental illness, addictions, and end-of-life distress. This psychedelic renaissance is a turning point in how complex human conditions can be treated and has implications for nursing knowledge, advocacy, and practice internationally. Objective This article aims to explore the current...