Trial reportPalliative medicine2026
PSilocybin for psYCHological and existential distress in PALliative care (PSYCHED-PAL): A single arm unblinded clinical trial.
Trial report in Palliative medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04754061 (PSilocybin for psYCHological and Existential Distress in PALliative Care), which is not on this map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
PSilocybin for psYCHological and Existential Distress in PALliative Care (PSYCHED-PAL): A Multi-site, Open-label, Single Arm Phase I/II Proof-of-concept, Dose-finding, and Feasibility Clinical Trial
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Single-Ascending-Dose Study to Identify a Subperceptual Dose of Psilocybin in Healthy Adults.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Psilocybin, From Ancestral Use to Therapeutic Potential: A Multidimensional Review of Its Pharmacological Basis and Current Perspectives.Human psychopharmacology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPsychological distress is a common problem near the end of life, for which we lack effective, timely and scalable treatments. No previous study has assessed whether microdose psilocybin can improve symptoms in this population.
aimTo determine whether microdose psilocybin is safe, feasible and potentially efficacious in a palliative setting.
designOpen label, single-arm clinical trial of a 3-week oral psilocybin intervention, starting with 1 mg daily in week 1, increased to 2 mg in week 2 and 3 mg in week 3. CLINICALTRIALS: gov NCT04754061. SETTING/
participantsTwo-center study in Ottawa, Canada of adults with advanced, incurable illness and an estimated prognosis of 1-12 months, experiencing severe psychological distress.
resultsWe enrolled 20 participants (59% of those screened) between January 2024 and April 2025, of which 17 began and 13/17 (76%) completed the intervention. Participants were 40-84 years old, 53% female, and 82% had cancer. There were no serious adverse events reported, and nine mild or moderate adverse events. Four participants withdrew due to disease progression or poor response. Of the 13 remaining participants, nine (69%) reported a meaningful global improvement (Patient Global Impression of Change ⩾ 5); 8 (62%) reported >50% improvement in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores, 7 (54%) reported >50% improvement in Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores and 9 (72%) reported a meaningful improvement in Demoralization Scale II scores.
conclusionsMicrodose psilocybin is a safe, feasible and potentially efficacious treatment for psychological distress in people with advanced illness.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.