Psilocybin based therapy for cancer related distress, a systematic review and meta analysis

Depression and anxiety are common in cancer patients, and standard antidepressants have not proven effective for this distress compared to placebo. A systematic review and meta-analysis of four randomized studies involving 105 patients found that psilocybin, a serotoninergic hallucinogen, significantly reduced cancer-related depression and anxiety compared to placebo, as measured by pooled Peto odds ratios. The substance appeared safe for these patients. The review also identified surprising psychological mechanisms that may underlie the effects. Psilocybin-based therapy shows potential as a treatment for cancer-related distress, but future research should confirm these findings in larger populations and explore application to non-hospitalized patients.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Background : depression and anxiety are common in patients with cancer, classical antidepressant has no proven efficacy on this type of distress compared to placebo. A Psilocybin (serotoninergic hallucinogen) based therapy appear to give promising results among recent studies. Aims : to examine if a Psilocybin based therapy could be considered for patients with cancer related depression and anxiety and to assume it's safety. To sum up Heffter institute work, as the main institute working on this topic. Method : following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta Analyses) guidelines, a systematic review was conducted, for quantitative and qualitative studies about psilocybin for treating cancer related depression and anxiety. Pubmed and the Heffter institute databases have been reached for this purpose, separating studies in types : qualitative or quantitative. We studied the effects on cancer related depression and anxiety separately and investigated the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms. Results : the four studies included a total of 105 randomized patients, meta analysis on depression and anxiety with pooled Peto odds ratio showed a significant superiority of Psilocybin over placebo. The substance appeared to be safe for this type of patients. Surprising psychological mechanisms hypothesis have been found out. Conclusion : psilocybin appear to be potentially useful as a treatment for cancer related depression and anxiety. Future research should verify these findings on wider population and eventually seek a way to apply therapy to non hospitalized (ambulatory) patients. Keywords : psilocybin, depression, anxiety, review, meta-analysis