Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy could lead to significant improvements in anxiety, pessimism, and disease acceptance among those with Parkinson’s disease, according to researchers from the University of Geneva and Geneva University Hospital.
Psilocybin mushrooms.
Published in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, the study focused on a 43-year-old patient who struggled with anxious ruminations and difficulty adjusting to her diagnosis. She declined conventional treatments, including increased dopaminergic medication or anxiolytics, and instead participated in four high-dose psilocybin therapy sessions over a year.
The therapy was well tolerated and led to a marked reduction in pessimism and anxiety, along with improved well-being. While her motor symptoms remained unchanged, she was ultimately more open to necessary pharmacological treatment adjustments.
“PAP (psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy) could be a safe and useful treatment for PD patients with dispositional pessimism and difficulties accepting their disease by promoting profound decentration from habitual thoughts and emotions, improving mood and PD acceptance”, concludes the study. “Randomized, controlled studies are needed to confirm this result.”
For more information on this study, click here.
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