Given the promising results of recent investigations, palliative care, that is, any therapy that seeks to reduce severity of symptoms and pain related to an illness rather than seeking to halt or cure the illness, may one day include the use of medicinal mushrooms.
The following study sought to establish the safety and efficacy of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound found in a variety of mushrooms, for the anxiety, depression, and physical pain associated with terminal cancer:
Pilot Study of Psilocybin Treatment for Anxiety in Patients With Advanced-Stage Cancer, Archives of General Psychiatry, September 2010
A dose of 0.2 mg/kg psilocybin was found to be safe and better than placebo at reducing anxiety and improving mood for these patients.
The summary of the study on ABCNews (Magic Mushrooms Can Ease Anxiety of Late-Stage Cancer) included the following poignant interview with Pam Saduka who took part in the study. At 55, she was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and given 6-14 months to live. In 2005 she signed up for the study.
Pam:
"[Negative emotions] started to dissipate and I started to look at it differently and I think that's the beauty of having, being able to, expand your consciousness, change the way you're feeling about things.
I don't think the drug is the cause of these things. I think it's the catalyst to release your own thoughts and feelings from someplace that you've bound them very tightly.
I began to realize that all this negative fear and the guilt was such a hindrance to the actual positive part of making the most of, and enjoying, the healthy time that I'm having, however long it may be, that I was basically not utilizing it to the best and enjoying my life because I was so afraid of what wasn't there yet.
There was a tremendous feeling of relief, and of happiness, and of hope ... that it was something I could deal with.
I can't discount the fact that a state of mind, the amount of rest you get, and your emotional condition, just fortifies your own defenses and that it boosts your own physical ability to fight the disease.
I would like to see this become part of the mainstream treatment of stage IV cancer."
