Can a psychedelic drug save the terminally ill from their deepest fears of death?
Within palliative care wards, antidepressants have not been particularly useful in treating the dying.
The trial is part of a revolutionary shift in attitudes towards psychedelic drugs believed to have therapeutic benefits for treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even commonplace addiction to alcohol or tobacco. “Antidepressants tend to make people feel a little less awful,” explains Dwyer, who has been working for 12 years at the intersection of psychology and palliative care and heads St Vincent’s Department for Psychosocial Cancer Care. “One of the psychological problems is that when you get cancer, you are defined by cancer,” he says as we pass by a pod of nurses. “What is happening to your body never leaves your mind. “But with psilocybin, you can have an experience that enables you to reflect on the important things in life, to see life itself differently, and to have experiences where you no longer feel so tethered to suffering and to the body.”
Original Article (The Age):
Can a psychedelic drug save the terminally ill from their deepest fears of death?
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