Tuesday 14 June 2022 12:07 AM Could magic mushrooms help curb fear of death in care homes? trends now
Psychedelic drugs such as those in magic mushrooms could ‘revolutionise’ care home treatment if given to people at the end of their life, an expert has argued.
Dr David Luke, associate professor of psychology at Greenwich University and an authority on the science of such drugs, said they can reduce the fear of death.
Speaking at Cheltenham Science Festival, he said: ‘I think there’s a good argument for psychedelics in palliative care.’
Psilocybin, the compound found in magic mushrooms, shows significant promise in studies for reducing depression.
According to Dr David Luke, psychedelic drugs such as those in magic mushrooms could ‘revolutionise’ care home treatment if given to people at the end of their life. Studies also suggest the drug can help minimise depression (STOCK)
People who consume it also report an ‘opened mind’ and a sense of meaning which can cause some to start believing in an afterlife.
Dr Luke said people given psychedelics near the end of their life could have an ‘epiphany’, adding: ‘It often relates to a sense of their own existence, they get a glimmer of something which reduces their fear of death, and it’s often that maybe death isn’t the end or something like that.’
In one US study, testing psilocybin on 29 cancer patients, most of whom were in an advanced stage of the disease, up to 80 per cent of them had significantly reduced depression and anxiety six months afterwards.
Psilocybin decreased cancer-related demoralisation, according to the researchers, such as feelings of loss of meaning, hope and purpose.
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