Psilocybin-assisted therapy improves psycho-social-spiritual well-being in cancer patients.

J Affect Disord

Sunstone Therapies, Rockville, MD, United States of America. Electronic address:

Published: February 2023

Background: While psychedelics have been shown to improve psycho-spiritual well-being, the underlying elements of this change are not well-characterized. The NIH-HEALS posits that psycho-social-spiritual change occurs through the factors of Connection, Reflection & Introspection, and Trust & Acceptance. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in NIH-HEALS scores in a cancer population with major depressive disorder undergoing psilocybin-assisted therapy.

Methods: In this Phase II, single-center, open label trial, 30 cancer patients with major depressive disorder received a fixed dose of 25 mg of psilocybin. Participants underwent group preparation sessions, simultaneous psilocybin treatment administered in adjacent rooms, and group integration sessions, along with individual care. The NIH-HEALS, a self-administered, 35-item measure of psycho-social spiritual healing was completed at baseline and post-treatment at day 1, week 1, week 3, and week 8 following psilocybin therapy.

Results: NIH-HEALS scores, representing psycho-social-spiritual wellbeing, improved in response to psilocybin treatment (p < 0.001). All three factors of the NIH-HEALS (Connection, Reflection & Introspection, and Trust & Acceptance) demonstrated positive change by 12.7 %, 7.7 %, and 22.4 %, respectively. These effects were apparent at all study time points and were sustained up to the last study interval at 8 weeks (p < 0.001).

Limitations: The study lacks a control group, relies on a self-report measure, and uses a relatively small sample size with limited diversity that restricts generalizability.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that psilocybin-assisted therapy facilitates psycho-social-spiritual growth as measured by the NIH-HEALS and its three factors. This supports the factors of Connection, Reflection & Introspection, and Trust & Acceptance as underlying elements for psycho-social-spiritual healing in cancer patients, and validates the use of the NIH-HEALS within psychedelic research.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9884542PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.11.046DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

cancer patients
8
nih-heals scores
8
major depressive
8
depressive disorder
8
psilocybin treatment
8
week week
8
psilocybin-assisted therapy
4
therapy improves
4
improves psycho-social-spiritual
4
psycho-social-spiritual well-being
4

Similar Publications

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the clinicopathologic features of primary fallopian tubal carcinoma (PFTC) and high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) and explore the prognostic factors of these two malignant tumors.

Methods: Fifty-seven patients diagnosed with PFTC from 2006 to 2015 and 60 patients diagnosed with HGSOC from 2014 to 2015 with complete prognostic information were identified at Women's Hospital of Zhejiang University. The clinicopathological and surgical data were collected, and the survival of the patients was followed for 5 years after surgery.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cancer requires interdisciplinary intersectoral care. The Care Coordination Instrument (CCI) captures patients' perspectives on cancer care coordination. We aimed to translate, adapt, and validate the CCI for Germany (CCI German version).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast is a rare subtype, constituting less than 3.5% of primary breast carcinomas. Despite being categorized as a type of triple-negative breast cancer, it generally has a favorable prognosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: De-intensification of anti-cancer therapy without significantly affecting outcomes is an important goal. Omission of axillary surgery or breast radiation is considered a reasonable option in elderly patients with early-stage breast cancer and good prognostic factors. Data on avoidance of both axillary surgery and radiation therapy (RT) is scarce and inconclusive.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A machine learning-based model to predict POD24 in follicular lymphoma: a study by the Chinese workshop on follicular lymphoma.

Biomark Res

January 2025

Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361003, P.R. China.

Background: Disease progression within 24 months (POD24) significantly impacts overall survival (OS) in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). This study aimed to develop a robust predictive model, FLIPI-C, using a machine learning approach to identify FL patients at high risk of POD24.

Methods: A cohort of 1,938 FL patients (FL1-3a) from seventeen centers nationwide in China was randomly divided into training and internal validation sets (2:1 ratio).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!