Taking Psychedelics Seriously.

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric research in the 1950s and 1960s showed potential for psychedelic medications to markedly alleviate depression and suffering associated with terminal illness. More recent published studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of psilocybin, MDMA, and ketamine when administered in a medically supervised and monitored approach. A single or brief series of sessions often results in substantial and sustained improvement among people with treatment-resistant depression and anxiety, including those with serious medical conditions. Need and Clinical Considerations: Palliative care clinicians occasionally encounter patients with emotional, existential, or spiritual suffering, which persists despite optimal existing treatments. Such suffering may rob people of a sense that life is worth living. Data from Oregon show that most terminally people who obtain prescriptions to intentionally end their lives are motivated by non-physical suffering. This paper overviews the history of this class of drugs and their therapeutic potential. Clinical cautions, adverse reactions, and important steps related to safe administration of psychedelics are presented, emphasizing careful patient screening, preparation, setting and supervision. CONCLUSION: Even with an expanding evidence base confirming safety and benefits, political, regulatory, and industry issues impose challenges to the legitimate use of psychedelics. The federal expanded access program and right-to-try laws in multiple states provide precendents for giving terminally ill patients access to medications that have not yet earned FDA approval. Given the prevalence of persistent suffering and growing acceptance of physician-hastened death as a medical response, it is time to revisit the legitimate therapeutic use of psychedelics

Fireside Chat with Dr. Ira Byock & StoryCorps\u27 David Isay

Join master storytellers Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps, and Dr. Ira Byock, founder of the Institute for Human Caring, in exploring how stories build human connection during a global health crisis. Social-distancing restrictions due to the Coronavirus pandemic have created a longing for human connection – particularly for quarantined patients, frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable communities. Two complementary programs on opposite ends of the country are providing essential connections when they’re needed the most. Reimagine End of Life, in partnership with the Providence Institute for Human Caring and StoryCorps, is hosting an online show-and-tell with two of the nation’s leaders in their respective fields. Dr. Byock will unpack selected content from Providence’s Coronavirus Chronicles, a website for the public as well as patients and caregivers across the nation’s third-largest health system to share videos, pictures, text, art, and poetry on the pandemic. Isay will reveal audio recordings from Storycorps Connect, its first remote-recording platform, which was built in response to the pandemic. The platform enables people to record a StoryCorps interview with a loved one remotely using video-conference technology. Isay will show how this platform is being used in healthcare settings to help facilitate a connection between isolated patients and their loved ones. Bios Ira Byock, M.D., FAAHPM is a leading palliative care physician, author, and public advocate for improving care through the end of life. He is founder and chief medical officer of the Providence Institute for Human Caring, based in the Los Angeles area. The Institute advances efforts to measure, monitor, improve and expand models of highly personalized care. Dr. Byock’s books include Dying Well, The Four Things That Matter Most, and The Best Care Possible. Dave Isay is one of the most trusted and respected broadcasters working today. The recipient of six Peabody Awards, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, and the $1 Million TED prize, his work taps into the heart and soul of the human experience. He is an author, documentarian, and founder of StoryCorps. About StoryCorps Founded in 2003, StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit organization based in Brooklyn, NY, that has brought more than 600,000 Americans together—two at a time—to record intimate conversations about their lives, create human connection, pass wisdom from one generation to the next, and leave a legacy for the future. Each conversation is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is the largest single collection of personal narratives ever gathered, and millions listen to StoryCorps’ weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition

Facebook Live: National Health Care Decision Day and COVID-19 with Ira Byock, M.D.

Providence Health System, Facebook Live Event: National Health Care Decision Day and COVID-19 with Ira Byock, M.D