Summary: The New Yorker interviews psilocybin researchers and study participant Eddie Marritz about how psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may help reduce anxiety associated with terminal cancer diagnoses. Marritz speaks about using psilocybin as an adjunct to psychotherapy, and the members of the New York University psilocybin research team speak about the scientific importance of psychedelic research. "Preparation, the experience, and the integration of what happened contribute to it being powerful," explains psilocybin researcher Jeffrey Guss, M.D. "It isn’t just in the molecule itself.”
Originally appearing here.
The way in which we commonly perceive so-called magic mushrooms—as the means to youthful psychedelic adventure—is undergoing a radical transformation. As Michael Pollan reports in this week’s issue of the magazine, doctors at major medical institutions have been using the hallucinogen psilocybin, the mushrooms’ active ingredient, to treat anxiety and “existential distress” in cancer patients. Eddie Marritz, a cinematographer and photographer in remission from small-cell carcinoma, participated in one of New York University’s research studies in late 2013, and continues to feel the benefits of the treatment. Marritz, who had gone into remission before deciding to enroll in the study, takes us through his trip.
