08 Dec ONE HIT WONDER | APA MONITOR ON PSYCHOLOGY
A feature article in the December 2015 issue of Monitor on Psychology, a publication of the American Psychological Association, surveys recent developments in psychedelic science with an emphasis on Heffter-sponsored research. In “One Hit Wonder,” writer Kirsten Weir quotes Heffter researchers Roland Griffiths, Anthony Bossis, and Jeffrey Guss. The article focuses on psilocybin as a treatment for existential distress in cancer patients.
“We don’t deal well with death and dying in this culture,” says Roland Griffiths, PhD, a professor of behavioral biology and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Being diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease often leads to a kind of chronic syndrome of anxiety, depression and emotional distress. “But under appropriate conditions in well-prepared participants, psilocybin can produce these really quite profound and abrupt shifts in mood and attitude and behavior, even after a single session,” he says. “It’s unlike anything available within psychiatry.”