The Final Trip: Embracing Psychedelics in Terminal Care

End-of-life care facilities are embracing the transformative power of psychedelics — offering those facing terminal diagnoses a ray of light against the shadows of existential anxiety.

Palliative care focuses on making patients with complex and terminal diagnoses feel more comfortable — often focusing on relieving symptoms and helping them cope with pain, anxiety, and the unsettling uncertainty of death.

The latter challenge has proven much more difficult for palliative care doctors to address. 

There are plenty of drugs that can be used to effectively block pain, alleviate anxiety, soothe restlessness, and improve sleep quality — but what can be done about the dread of certain death?

When someone is delivered the devastating news, everything they hold to be true about themselves and the nature of reality comes crashing down in a heap of rubble.

There’s a term for this phenomenon — ontological shock. This term refers to the profound psychological and existential crisis that occurs when one’s fundamental understanding of reality, the nature of being, and what it means to exist crumbles beneath their feet.

We all know we’re going to die one day, but our egos fervently resist the idea — to the point where it’s become a societal taboo to even bring up the topic in conversation. 

The unsettling concept of death threatens our sense of identity and contradicts the picture our ego paints for us. When that inevitable terminal diagnosis is delivered, all our walls and defenses designed to keep these thoughts out of our minds come crashing down — leaving us in a dizzying and vulnerable state.

“Death can come at any age, but the pride of life fools a person into thinking that day is far away.” — John Buttrick.

Psychedelics may offer an answer to this enduring problem.

Doctors in Canada have been using magic mushrooms as a part of their palliative care efforts for several years now — and the results have been spectacular. 

Research has shown that certain psychedelics can reliably induce mystical experiences and break down the barriers imposed by the ego. Insight brought on by such an experience may offer us a safety rope to hold on to as we descend into the abyss.

Psychedelic-induced mystical experiences can provide us with a new lens through which to view our current predicaments, accept our fate, find peace, and embrace our final moments with grace.

How Psychedelics Are Changing Our Approach to Palliative Care (For the Better)

Medical advancements over the past century have allowed us to live longer than ever before — but it also means more of us end up in palliative care during our final days. Most require specialized treatment. 

While it’s commendable that we’ve achieved these milestones in medical care, the need for a new approach to end-of-life care is becoming increasingly apparent.

Dr. Ericka Dyck — a historian at the University of Saskatchewan — points out that “despite the inevitability of death, the practice of medicine is preoccupied with life, recognizing death as a defeat, and something beyond the grasp of modern medicine. Only in the latter half of the twentieth century has the idea begun to be accepted that death fits into a clinical category of its own, complete with its own spiritual needs, specialized care teams, and a philosophical acceptance of human mortality.”

Today, psychedelics are emerging as a transformative tool, heralding a radical shift in our approach to palliative care. The exploration of substances like magic mushrooms, DMT, LSD, and ketamine in clinical trials illuminates their potential not only for treating physical symptoms but also for addressing the psychological and existential distress that often accompanies terminal diagnoses.

This is not about escapism but about confronting one's mortality with clarity, acceptance, and a reduced fear of death.

Crossing The Void With Psychedelic Death Trips

When we talk about the use of psychedelics in palliative care, we often refer to administering the drug prior to death — as a way to help patients prepare and confront fears and anxieties around the unknown.

But there’s another way some people are turning to these substances. They’re using them to facilitate the critical transition phase from life to death.