(Repost from www.therapsil.ca)
By Tara Portelli, PCP, CHN, PT/ TheraPsil Patient Educator/ @NudeMushroom
To all those people who are suffering from a terminal Cancer diagnosis, we want you to know that we are fighting for you.
Our fight is for a better quality of life for you and something that we feel very strongly about. As a Cancer patient you may currently be suffering from clinical depression or anxiety for a variety of reasons, including; concerns over your diagnosis, fears around death, or the amount of pain you may be experiencing. Life as you know it has changed for so many reasons and you are not alone. Although life may have changed, it doesn’t have to feel so dark. Psilocybin assisted psychotherapy, is a therapy that has been shown to offer relief for end-of-life distress in 80% of the patients who participated in clinical trials.
The studies conducted through John Hopkins University have shown that ”psilocybin produced substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.“ (Griffiths et al, 2016, Journal of Psychopharmacology)
These same patients showed “High-dose psilocybin produced large decreases in clinician- and self-rated measures of depressed mood and anxiety, along with increases in quality of life, life meaning, and optimism, and decreases in death anxiety. (Griffiths et al, 2016, Journal of Psychopharmacology)
Amazingly , At 6-month follow-up, these changes were sustained, with about 80% of participants continuing to show clinically significant decreases in depressed mood and anxiety. Study participants attributed improvements in attitudes about life/self, mood, relationships, and spirituality to the high-dose experience“ (Griffiths et al, 2016, Journal of Psychopharmacology)
These studies show compelling results, offering hope for Cancer patients who are suffering. Here is what Brenda, a female in her 60s, with Stage I, Colon Cancer had to say about what she learned from her treatment with psilocybin-assisted
psychotherapy, “What’s so funny is that nobody can really see it, but yet, for me, everything has changed…I feel more content and happy about my place in the world in all the things I’m doing.” (Malone et al, 2018, Frontiers in Pharmacology )
We are a non-profit organization made up of health-care professionals, patients, and advocates who are working to gain legal access to psilocybin therapy on compassionate grounds, for patients with a terminal diagnosis, who feel hopeless. Our founder Dr. Bruce Tobin, a Psychotherapist of 35 years feels that, “Canadians have now acknowledged patients’ “Right To Die” when faced with serious suffering at end-of-life. Surely, Canadians have a “Right To Try” a medicine that may help them want to live.”
So here we are fighting the fight, in hopes of giving patients such as yourself, or a loved one, the opportunity to choose this effective therapy. Why shouldn’t patients have a chance to live out the rest of their days with a little more light and a lot less darkness?
If you or someone you know would like to apply for Psilocybin therapy, or learn more about this compassionate treatment option, Click Here
Source:
Malone T, Mennenga S, … Bossis A, et al. (April 2018) Individual Experiences in Four
Cancer Patients Following Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy. Frontiers in Pharmacology 9:256. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00256
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