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Introducing psychedelics to end-of-life mental healthcare

Nature Mental Health volume 1, pages 920–922 (2023)Cite this article

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Early evidence suggests psychedelics could help alleviate end-of-life anxiety and depression. Yet there has been little study or discussion of their integration into hospice and palliative care settings, where patients often have complex comorbidities and medication regimens. The authors discuss relevant clinical challenges and approaches.

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Acknowledgements

I.G.C., M.M. and C.S. received funding from the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center, which is itself funded by the Saisei Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas, USA. I.G.C. also receives funding from the Gracias Family Psychedelics Research Initiative and Bootcamp in Ethics Regulation Fund at Harvard Law School. B.K. receives research funding from Seelos Therapeutics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR), Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Mason Marks & I. Glenn Cohen

  2. Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Mason Marks

  3. Program in Psychiatric Ethics, Huntsman Mental Health Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Brent Kious

  4. Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Carmel Shachar

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  1. Mason Marks
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  2. Brent Kious
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  3. Carmel Shachar
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  4. I. Glenn Cohen
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Contributions

M.M., B.K., C.S. and I.G.C. contributed equally to the conception and drafting of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mason Marks.

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Competing interests

I.G.C., M.M. and C.S. received funding from the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center, which is itself funded by the Saisei Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas, USA. I.G.C. also receives funding from the Gracias Family Psychedelics Research Initiative and Bootcamp in Ethics Regulation Fund at Harvard Law School. B.K. receives research funding from Seelos Therapeutics.

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Nature Mental Health thanks Jamie Beachy and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Marks, M., Kious, B., Shachar, C. et al. Introducing psychedelics to end-of-life mental healthcare. Nat. Mental Health 1, 920–922 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00166-1

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