Psilocybin is a naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid. It's the principal
psychoactive component of so-called magic mushrooms, psilocybe genus of
mushrooms. About 100 species of those mushrooms had been identified, and
they've been used for, literally for thousands of years within some cultures,
for structured manners and for divinatory and religious purposes. So, recently,
research has been reinitiated with psilocybin as a classic hallucinogen and
exploring some of its potential for therapeutic application. And this work
points back to research done in the 1950s and 60s for two different kinds of
indications. One was in cancer patients, primarily terminally ill and the other
was in addictions area, primarily alcoholism. And we currently have studies in
both those areas going on at Johns Hopkins. So, in the cancer patients, we're
investigating the effects of a single psilocybin session on the existential
anxiety or depressed mood that some patients experience as a consequence of
their cancer diagnosis. So, as you may appreciate any terminal diagnosis can be
very psychologically disruptive. And a fairly good percentage of people
confronted with such a diagnosis, really end up, in despair and and reduced
quality of life. We bring those individual in. They're very carefully screened
prior to participation. And if they qualify for the, for the study, then we'd
give them an opportunity to have a guided and supported psilocybin session in
our laboratory. The context is that people lay down on a couch, they had
headphones and eye shades. They're asked to turn their attention in on their
inner experience. They're in the presence of two guides or monitors with whom
they've already developed a secure and supportive relationship. And those
people are there for the eight-hour session just to provide a context of safety
and support. Under these conditions, with very high probability as we've seen
in both cancer patients and other studies that we've run in healthy volunteers,
the majority of people have what we call a transcendent or mystical type
experience. These are experiences that have actually been well-characterized in
the general research literature on religion, they occur naturally. And they're
transformative and that they can alter very dramatically someone's entire sense
of self and attitudes towards life and meaning. The characteristics of these
experiences include a sense of unity or a sense of the interconnectedness of
all people and things. A sense of sacredness, reverence noetic sense that there
is something more true and more real about this experience than every day
waking consciousness. A positive mood often accompanies these experiences,
often experienced a deep gratitude or sometimes universal love. A transcendence
of time and space occurs, the time collapses into the present moment. There's
no past, there's no future, it's being this now. Finally, these experiences are
said to be ineffable. People, the first thing they say about this kind of
experience is, you know, I can't even put it into words. But with these kinds
of experiences come, can come great psychological healing. There's been one
recent published pilot study out of UCLA. We have this trial going at Johns
Hopkins currently. NYU also has a cancer trial going, and we're really quite
hopeful that very systematic application of psilocybin in this context could
transform end of life care, not only for cancer patients but ultimately for us
all.
>> For the cancer patients, did they report it helping their relationship with
their family or do their families report that the person was ready to pass on,
or was there any family input on that?
>> Yeah, so with the cancer patients, one of the really interesting outcomes is
their relationship to family and their caregivers. People come through these
kinds of experiences with a altered core sense of self and their beingness in
the world. It gives them deep inner strength. And what's really remarkable and
touching is when then that deep inner strength is communicated to their
caretakers. So people can come through this kind of experience and, and be able
to say, clear-eyed, and emotionally open, you know? I'm dying and, and it's sad
and I, I am upset to be leaving and, and leaving you, but it's also okay, and
there, and there's something beautiful about this and there's something
absolutely okay, and I want you to know that.
>> Right. >> And [LAUGH]
and when that's, it actually gets to me just describing it. But, but when
someone can say that to their loved ones, it has remarkable healing direction
both ways.
>> I can imagine.