One psilocybin session for cancer-related anxiety and depression: what the NYU trial found
The question
A cancer diagnosis that may shorten your life often brings more than physical pain. Many people also live with anxiety, low mood, hopelessness and fear of dying. Standard medicines and talk therapy help some, but not everyone. Researchers at NYU Langone in New York asked a simple question: can one session with psilocybin (the active compound in "magic mushrooms"), given alongside psychotherapy, ease this kind of distress? And if it does, does the effect last?
Who took part and what happened
The study was a randomized controlled trial (people were assigned to groups by chance). It was also double-blind (neither participants nor the team running sessions were told who got what) and used a crossover design (each person eventually received both substances, in a different order).
- 29 adults with life-threatening cancer and clinically significant anxiety or depression took part. Their average age was 56. Most were recruited from NYU's cancer center.
- Out of 108 people pre-screened, 42 consented and 29 were randomized. None were taking psychiatric medication when they joined.
- Each person had one session with psilocybin (0.3 mg per kilogram of body weight, a moderate dose) and one session with niacin (250 mg, a vitamin that causes a warm flush, used as an "active placebo").
- Half got psilocybin first, half got niacin first. The switch happened about 7 weeks later.
- Both sessions came with psychotherapy: preparation before, and integration sessions after (talking through the experience).
Anxiety and depression were measured with standard questionnaires before, during and after the study, with follow-up reaching about 6.5 months after the first session.
What they found
- Fast change. The psilocybin group showed lower anxiety and depression soon after their session, compared with the niacin group.
- At 7 weeks, before anyone switched, 83% of the psilocybin-first group met the study's threshold for meaningful improvement in depression, compared with 14% of the niacin-first group. For anxiety, it was 58% versus 14%.
- At about 6.5 months, after everyone had received psilocybin, roughly 60–80% of participants still showed clinically significant reductions in depression or anxiety.
- Participants also reported less hopelessness and demoralization, and better spiritual well-being and quality of life.
- The researchers measured "mystical-type experience" (feelings of unity, meaning or awe during the session). How strong that experience was partly explained how much symptoms improved.
- Safety: no serious side effects were linked to psilocybin. Common short-term effects were raised blood pressure and heart rate (76%), headache (28%) and nausea (14%). Some people had passing anxiety (17%) or brief psychotic-like symptoms (7%) during the session. None of these lasted.
What this study does not tell us
- It was small. 29 people is not enough to know how results would look across a large, diverse population.
- The group was not very diverse. 62% were women and 90% were white.
- Blinding was limited. Psilocybin feels very different from niacin, so many participants could likely guess which one they got. That can shape expectations.
- The crossover blurs long-term results. After 7 weeks everyone had psilocybin, so there was no comparison group for the 6.5-month numbers.
- Drug and therapy came together. We can't fully separate what psilocybin did from what the psychotherapy did.
- Careful screening and support. People were medically and psychologically screened and supported by trained staff in a hospital setting. Results may not apply to other people or settings.
Why it matters
This was one of the first modern controlled trials of psilocybin for distress linked to serious illness. It does not settle the question. But it showed that, in a careful setting, one supported session was linked to improvements that many participants still reported months later, and it pointed researchers toward larger studies.
This is a summary of published research for general information. It is not medical advice. The study took place in a clinical research setting with medical screening and professional support.
Source: Ross S, Bossis A, Guss J, Agin-Liebes G, Malone T, Cohen B, Mennenga SE, Belser A, Kalliontzi K, Babb J, Su Z, Corby P, Schmidt BL (2016). Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1165–1180. doi:10.1177/0269881116675512 · PubMed · Full text
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