Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy with trained facilitators helped to reduce symptoms of depression and burnout among clinicians who had provided front-line COVID-19 care in 2020 and 2021, according to five participants from the clinical trial.
Drs. Tim Lee, Sarah Kirsch and Juan Iregui, physician assistant Rachel Drayer and flight nurse Will Koenig describe their feelings stemming from pandemic-related care and how psilocybin therapy helped them.
Koenig, a critical-care flight nurse, said receiving counseling with psilocybin “gave me this sense that (human) suffering can be transcended and transformed, and that’s our natural state.
"It seemed like I was creating the suffering I was experiencing … and that letting myself be tied up in in suffering that I created can only detract from the care that I provide to future patients,” he said.
Download broadcast-ready soundbites and related multimedia with the clinicians. See our related news release.
