Support for the Dying

The other majorly researched use of psychedelics is in easing anxiety and depression stemming from terminal illness and fear of death, especially in end-stage cancer patients.  There are many studies currently under way using LSD or psilocybin pills to treat anxiety and depression in cancer patients.  A study was just completed by psychiatrist Charles Grob at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center that found that psilocybin can be administered safely while reducing anxiety and depression in end-stage cancer patients.  In the study, Grob brought subjects into a hospital room that had been draped in sheets and with extra furnishings to create a more comfortable environment, and the subjects brought pictures and other objects with sentimental value, and the subject would discuss these pictures and objects with the doctor and assistants while they administered the drug.  This created a positive mindset in the patients, who would then listen to music with a blindfold on while they were experiencing the psilocybin trip.  The subjects showed significant reduction in depression and anxiety for 6 months after the drug was administered.  The psilocybin, in 20-30 milligrams doses, gave the subjects mystical insight into their life position, and caused “sustained positive changes in attitude, mood and behavior” (Slater).  The subjects reported that they were able to enjoy the time they had left more fully, and felt grateful for and took advantage of the present, and were more comfortable with their death.  While researchers do not know how psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs work, it is understood that ingestion of these substances is "associated with a deactivation of regions of the brain that integrate our senses and our perception of self" (Slater).  Timothy Leary, one of the biggest voices for psychedelic research in the 1960's, called this phenomenon "ego-loss", where the drug user loses his identity and sense of who he is.  Leary said that ego-loss was an important tool for lasting change because sometimes to change one's identity it is necessary to lose identity and perceive it from another point of view.  This may be the most important characteristic of psychedelics for the use of therapy and what causes patients given these drugs to change their outlook on their disease.