Center for Psychedelic Research

CU Denver Professor Co-Leads Study on Treating Late-Stage Cancer Patients with Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy

CU Denver News | January 2023

The physical effects of cancer can be excruciating—nausea, fatigue, and hair loss, to name a few—and are well-documented. But what about the toll on an individual’s mental health and wellbeing? CU Denver psychology professor Jim Grigsby, PhD, in partnership with Stacy Fischer, MD, an internist, palliative care physician, and researcher at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, and Steve Ross, MD, a psychiatrist at New York University (NYU), are studying an alternative way to ease the psychological distress on late-stage cancer patients: psilocybin-assisted therapy.  

Studying Psychedelics to Treat Psychiatric Distress in Late-Stage Cancer

University of Colorado Cancer Center | August 2022

The effects of cancer are not just physical, especially in advanced stages of the disease. People living with a cancer diagnosis may experience depression, anxiety, and fear, or feel demoralized by the weight of new and unanticipated burdens. While the majority of cancer interventions focus on treating or preventing the physical aspects of the disease, a growing body of research is studying behavioral and therapeutic interventions to address the psychiatric and existential distress that can result from a cancer diagnosis. One such intervention is therapy combined with controlled-dose psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic found in some varieties of mushrooms.

University of Colorado Cancer Center co-leader of Cancer Prevention and Control Stacy Fischer, MD, an associate professor of internal medicine in the CU School of Medicine, and research partner Jim Grigsby, PhD, a professor of psychology at CU Denver, along with researchers at New York University, will begin recruiting participants early next year to a groundbreaking study focused on psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in advanced cancer.

Could psilocybin change a young mother's cancer journey? Inside Colorado’s major psychedelic study

Colorado Public Radio | June 2024

Kate Showalter knew that cancer might come for her, ever since it took her mother’s life in 2002. She made plans for it...She’s trying treatment options that patients before her never had — for her cancer, and for her mind.

Flower Follower

Denver Business Journal | April 2024

How lessons from the cannabis industry will impact Colorado’s budding psychedelic scene. As retail cannabis enters its second decade and the psychedelic market takes shape in Colorado, industry watchers discuss the future of each market. [paywall]

Can psilocybin help ease existential despair in patients with advanced cancer? CU researchers hope to find out.

The Denver Post | October 2023

A new study in Colorado is trying to answer definitively whether psychedelics help at least some patients dealing with distress over advanced cancer.

Dr. Stacy Fischer, co-leader of cancer prevention and control at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, said several small studies have found that psychedelic drugs may help patients who are experiencing demoralization or despair because of their impending mortality. The study CU is part of will have a larger and more diverse group of people, which hopefully will produce more conclusive evidence of whether there’s a benefit, she said.

Can psilocybin help ease existential despair in patients with advanced cancer? CU researchers hope to find out.

Westword | March 2023

Our mortality is too scary for most of us to consider, but people with terminal cancer don't have a choice. Receiving such terrible news can bring on feelings of anxiety, depression and despair, according to researchers with the University of Colorado, but they believe there's something out there that can lessen the mental suffering: psilocybin.

For the first time ever, the National Cancer Institute is funding a study that will look into psilocybin's effect on the emotional and mental suffering of terminal cancer patients. Led by CU doctors Stacy Fischer and Jim Grigsby, the study will monitor patients who undergo extensive sessions of psychotherapy, during which each participant will receive 25 milligrams of psilocybin, a "moderate to high dose" that is enough for ego dissolution, according to Fischer.