Psychedelics and End-of-Life Care

Join us for a free virtual education session: Psychedelics and End-of-Life Care, presented by MariaVittorria Mangini, PhD, FNP and Katja Allen.

This event is part of our 2022 Virtual Conference Series: Mortal Curiosity, sponsored by The Connie Hillman Family Foundation.

Psychedelics such as psilocybin have been shown to improve emotional wellbeing and help people change perspectives on challenging life realities. This session will explore the possible benefits that psychedelics can offer people nearing end-of-life to treat anxiety and other psychological symptoms. Mariavittoria Mangini will discuss the way psychedelics may be useful in existential distress at the end of life by changing obsessive, intrusive fear of death to a more nuanced consideration of what death means and represents. She will also share past and current research, and consider questions such as:

• How are we facing death and illness in the age of COVID? What is the current state of death in the culture at large?
• How will an individual experience of facing death be shifted when psychedelic therapy becomes widely available?
• How would a society that embraces psychedelic experiences approach death and dying?

Katja Allen will join the conversation to share her research in a field outside of end-of-life care entitled, “Psilocybin for the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.” This study seeks to improve the ability to treat and better the lives of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by exploring the benefits of psilocybin, a mind-altering drug that changes activity in brain areas believed to be involved in OCD.

Please join us for this enlightening conversation that will examine the research and potential benefits of psychedelics.