Psychedelic Therapy May Help Improve Cancer Patients’ Mental Health
Psilocybin improved a range of mental health symptoms for cancer patients in a pair of small clinical trials.

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The “magic mushroom” psychedelic compound – psilocybin – may help to improve mental health symptoms faced by cancer patients when used alongside psychotherapy, according to research published in Nature Mental Health.
The study found that psilocybin-assisted therapy reduced a host of symptoms including anxiety, depression and obsessive thoughts.
Tackling psychiatric symptoms for patients with cancer
A cancer diagnosis can be a devastating time for patients and their families; but cancer’s impact can spread far beyond physical health. Mental health can also take a profound hit, caused by both the disease itself as well as the side effects of treatment.
Anxiety and depression are the most common ways cancer can affect mental health, with 35–65% of patients estimated to experience psychiatric distress. While reaching for traditional antidepressants might seem the right move in these cases, they don’t always have the intended effect.
“Patients with cancer endure profound psychological and existential challenges alongside their physical illness, yet many find little relief from existing antidepressant medications,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Petros D. Petridis, a psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor at New York University (NYU) Langone Health, speaking to Technology Networks.
Recently, a growing movement is interested in investigating whether psychedelics could make a useful addition to the psychiatrist’s toolkit. Combined with psychotherapy, psychedelics such as psilocybin are under evaluation in clinical trials for conditions like treatment-resistant depression.
Given that the promise of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) is now being evaluated in trials for depression, Petridis decided to test whether it could also improve mental health symptoms for patients with cancer.
“By studying PAP for this population, my goal is to offer hope and contribute to the development of novel treatment strategies for those who have lacked effective mental health care,” Petridis explained.
Improvements in anxiety, depression and other symptoms
To do this, the researchers analyzed data from two previous clinical trials. These looked at 79 patients – 42 females and 37 males. Nearly two-thirds had advanced (stage III or IV) cancer or cancer that had spread or returned after treatment.
Around half of the participants received a large initial dose of psilocybin, while the rest were a “control” group who received either vitamin B3 or a very small dose of psilocybin. After six or seven weeks, depending on the trial, the groups switched treatments. Neither the researchers nor the patients were told which medication they were given.
The patients received psychotherapy before and after each dosing session and also completed a mental health questionnaire both at the start of the study and six months after the second dosing.
The study’s findings showed that PAP significantly reduced the patients’ anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts and anger toward others, with the improvements lasting up to six months. It also helped to improve some of the physical symptoms that can be caused by mental distress.
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Subscribe for FREE“Our study demonstrated that PAP effectively alleviates a broad range of psychiatric symptoms in patients with cancer, extending beyond anxiety and depression to include interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and somatization,” said Petridis. “If validated in larger clinical trials, PAP has the potential to serve as a comprehensive mental health treatment for cancer patients.”
PAP shows some promise, but more trials needed
There are some important limitations to note, however: “Our sample of participants was predominantly White and highly educated, which limits the generalizability of our findings,” said Petridis.
“Additionally, functional unblinding may have influenced results,” he continued, referring to how the hallucinogenic effects of psychedelics can reveal to patients which treatment group they are likely in. “Future studies should use more robust active placebos and measure expectancy biases.”
Though more studies and larger clinical trials are needed to confirm these results, the initial findings look promising. They may even allow PAP to be extended to other conditions aside from anxiety and depression, Petridis noted, given its effects on other psychiatric symptoms revealed in the study.
“My long-term goals include validating these findings in larger, more diverse populations and exploring psilocybin's potential in other palliative care settings,” said Petridis. “Ultimately, with sufficient research, I hope to integrate these therapies into mainstream care to enhance mental health outcomes.”
Reference: Petridis PD, Grinband J, Agin-Liebes G, et al. Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy improves psychiatric symptoms across multiple dimensions in patients with cancer. Nat Mental Health. 2024;2(11):1408-1414. doi: 10.1038/s44220-024-00331-0
About the interviewee:
Dr. Petros D. Petridis is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and an investigator at the NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine. His research focuses on the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for psychiatric distress in patients with cancer and treating alcohol use disorder. He is holds a medical degree from Columbia University and completed his psychiatry residency at NYU.