Stepping back into life: How Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy transforms the way of life of the terminally ill
Justin Dwyer, Robert B. Johnston, Clare O'Callaghan, Margaret Ross
General Hospital Psychiatry December 10, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2025.12.002 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractTerminally ill people with extreme death anxiety can feel displaced from their own lives, afraid and alone in an all-encompassing present. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) can enable them to fully inhabit their life in a more abundant and joyful present, even in the face of death. The psilocybin component is necessary but not sufficient for this outcome. These findings expand the conceptualization of death anxiety and the personal transformation that constitutes successful PAP.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Qualitative study using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) nested within a randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Terminally ill subjects with extreme death anxiety |
| Interventions | Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy psilocybin |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key finding | Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can enable terminally ill people with extreme death anxiety to fully inhabit their life in a more abundant and joyful present, even in the face of death, and the psilocybin component is necessary but not sufficient for this outcome. |
Abstract
This qualitative study of how successful Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) transforms the way of life of terminally ill subjects provides new knowledge for researchers and clinicians contemplating its use. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA) and interviews with subjects before and after PAP from a recent randomised control trial, we find that participants with extreme death anxiety have become displaced from their own life, afraid and alone in an all-encompassing present. PAP can enable them to fully inhabit their life in a more abundant and joyful present, even in the face of death. The psilocybin component is found to be necessary but not sufficient for this achieving this outcome. These novel findings expand our conceptualisation of death anxiety and of the personal transformation that constitutes successful PAP. Clinical trial details Australian New Zealand Clinician Trials Registry. https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=378101&isReview=true registration: ACTRN12619001225101.