Group Format Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy: Commentary on the HOPE trial (HOPE: a pilot study of psilocybin-enhanced group psychotherapy in patients with cancer)

Abstract

Depression and depressive symptoms are an all too common bedfellow for many cancer patients, adding to an already daunting array of symptoms requiring palliation [1][2][3][4] . Without successful treatment, depression significantly increases mortality rates 5,6 , sabotages quality of life 7 , reduces cancer treatment compliance 8 , and multiplies the rates of completed suicide rates four-fold 9,10 . Not surprisingly, caregivers for depressed cancer patients experience a degree of depression and hopelessness strongly correlated with these same clinical features in patients 11 .Psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) has emerged in recent years as a safe, feasible, and highly effective treatment option for refractory depression [16][17][18][19][20] . Affected cancer patients have duly been the target of several randomized controlled trials on PAT to date [21][22][23][24] Lewis BR, Byrne K, Beck A. Group Format Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy: Commentary on the HOPE trial (HOPE: a pilot study of psilocybin-enhanced group psychotherapy in patients with cancer).