Dr Margaret Ross - Psilocybin Assisted Therapy at the End of Life: Notes from the edge
“I just feel so much happier. I know I’m dying but I’m not scared. It was beautiful. I can’t put it into words… It’s given me so much peace.”
~60 year old with metastatic prostate cancer and psilocybin-assisted therapy patient.
The lovely Dr Margaret Ross shares her experiences conducting Australia’s first ever psychedelic clinical trial. Forty people with advanced-life threatening illness and depression and/or anxiety were given two psilocybin dosage sessions, six weeks apart.
Dr Ross takes our hand and gently guides us through this profound, blissful and terrifying terrain; psychedelics at the end of life.
Bio Dr Margaret Ross
Dr Margaret Ross is a consultant clinical psychologist and the clinical lead in Australia’s first ever psychedelic clinical trial. The trial will be based at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne and will investigate the ability of psilocybin-assisted therapy to alleviate anxiety and depression in terminally ill patients. The St Vincent’s clinical trial will see palliative care patients given one to two doses of psilocybin and psychotherapy in a treatment protocol shown in overseas trials to produce rapid and dramatic improvements in depression and anxiety, and provide an altered outlook on their situation approaching death. Alongside psychotherapy and guidance, the psychedelic medicines are hoped to give terminally ill patients a new perspective on their lives, and to reduce the fear and depression which can often take over their final months.
Margaret will talk about the study's progress, its history, aims, and practical workings, whilst addressing the rationale for how psilocybin works to alleviate anxiety and depression.
