A New Zealand study is looking at the clinical possibilities of combining micro doses of LSD with talk therapy for late stage cancer patients.
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Substances such as LSD, MDMA and psilocybin have all shown promising results in the treatment of depression, anxiety and even addiction.
Dr Lisa Reynolds, who is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland's school of psychological medicine, is leading the study.
The micro-dosing trial is about treating the psychological problems people experience with late-term cancer, rather than the cancer itself, she told RNZ's Nights.
It was a randomised controlled trial, she said.
"It's at a very early stage, what we call a feasibility trial. We're focusing on feasibility, acceptability, and of course safety, of LSD micro-dosing, alongside talk therapy. The talk therapy we're using something called meaning-centred psychotherapy, which has got really good evidence for its users. It's been shown to be helpful in people who have advanced cancer."
People in the trial receive LSD micro doses, or one of three possible placebos, but everyone receives the talk therapy, she said.
"Some of the things that come up really commonly for people who have an advanced cancer, are feelings of isolation and demoralisation, and feeling disconnected from others, anxiety and depression and fear of death and dying, a whole lot of things that can be really, really full on for people. So, we're hoping that that this therapy might be helpful for that."
A micro dose is about a 10th of a normal dose, she said.
"We start at 8 micrograms and we have what we call a titration protocol, which means that we can increase it a little bit, or decrease it a little bit, depending on how people are responding.
"The idea is that it's just enough of a dose to give you a sense of something happening. But there's not a mind-altering sense, you're going to still feel completely grounded in reality."
The idea is that the micro does of LSD will make participants more open to the talk therapy, she said.
"We wanted to choose a therapy that had really good evidence and meaning centred therapy has probably the best evidence for being helpful for people who have advanced cancer. And it's a therapy that has been built on the work of Viktor Frankl who was an Austrian psychiatrist who survived the concentration camps.
"Frankl talked about meaning-centred psychotherapy and this idea that even in the most terrible of circumstances, we can find meaning and purpose in what we're doing and that it can make our experience more bearable."
It was a powerful psychotherapy, she said.
"The psychologists who deliver the therapy, and we've got many psychologists on the trial, they really enjoy giving the therapy because they see such benefit from it."
One of the weaknesses in clinical trials using mind-altering drugs was participants would know if they've had a drug rather than placebo, she said.
"One of the benefits of micro-dosing is that we think that people won't know so much. We will get around those expectations."
The study email address at the University of Auckland is wellbeingtrials@auckland.ac.nz for people interested in participating.
