By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Frontline healthcare workers faced a grueling reality during the COVID-19 pandemic, one that left many grappling with burnout and emotional distress long after the immediate crisis faded. In the face of these challenges, a groundbreaking study led by Dr. Anthony Back at the University of Washington School of Medicine offers new hope. Psilocybin, a psychedelic drug that has historically been stigmatized, has emerged as a potential lifeline for these professionals, providing relief from depression and anxiety.
The study, which focused on clinicians who provided direct care during the pandemic, found that psilocybin-assisted therapy, combined with professional guidance, significantly improved mental health outcomes.
“For doctors and nurses who feel burned out or disillusioned or disconnected from the patient care they want to provide, this study shows that psilocybin therapy is safe and can help these clinicians work through those feelings and get better,” said Dr. Back, the study’s lead investigator.
According to Will Koenig, a critical care nurse, helicopter flight nurse, and a participant in the clinical trial, there are a number of his colleagues who dealt with mental stress during and after COVID, with a few of them finding successful ways to cope with the stress of the job and the trauma they experienced.
“There are probably more answers to this issue than there are providers,” says Koenig. “I mean, everybody’s got some stress or trauma to deal with. The company that I work for started a group, an interdisciplinary group including pilots, dispatchers, nurses, medics, billing—everybody’s part of this group. We are trying and figuring out what to do to address our mental health. Some people focus on physical fitness to help address mental health, some on making connections with other people through social activities, some through things like meditation, and some just trying to find ways to make meaning or make sense out of suffering.”
Dr. Tim Lee, who works as a medical physician and who also was a participant in the trial, found that group sessions and expressing themselves openly about their experiences gave doctors and nurses solace in the fact that they were not alone.
“There were opportunities to talk during our staff meetings, and there were people that would speak up and speak openly about their struggles and their experience and what they’re going through,” said Lee. “A lot of other people are going through the same experience, and so, in that sense, you felt like you were understood and you weren’t alone.”
Beyond normal avenues people engage in to alleviate stress and anxiety—exercise, meditation, therapy, etc.—the University of Washington’s psilocybin trial provided participants with a safe alternative in tackling mental health issues like depression, PTSD, and anxiety.
Administering single doses of the psychedelic, along with follow-up monitoring, some participants found it to be a critical and beneficial step toward healing.
“The study was one single dose of the medicine, and we were very heavily monitored,” says Koenig. “For quite a while before and then during, and then afterwards with many days of follow-up ensuring that the medicine was not only out of our system but that we were not impaired in any way as far as psychological distress because that’s one of the things that can happen with a psychedelic.”
“That’s why it really helped to have a team of experienced therapists to be there to ensure that you knew that you’re going to be safe if something came up,” Koenig continues. “So, I think that’s a crucial piece of it—it’s not just taking a psychedelic, it’s a part of a larger program to make sure that it’s going to be a beneficial therapeutic tool.”
Finding the words to describe the experience was not an easy task for participants. Dr. Lee shared some adjectives used to describe the experience, like “feeling alive,” “feeling awake or aware,” “feeling a connection,” and “physical sensations.”
“Some people describe it as they feel more alive, feeling more awake than they are in everyday life when they’re under the influence,” says Lee. “After about 30 minutes, the first experience I had was I felt very alive. I could feel my body almost like it was vibrating, tingling—it felt very alive, and then I almost wanted to start to laugh. All the colors started to become more vivid, and shapes and stuff were more vivid. So, then I knew that I got the real thing and not the placebo, and I was happy about that.”
At the time of the study, one participant, Rachel Drayer, an emergency department physician assistant, said that work had left her feeling frantic and discordant.
“(In) the work that I do now, my body feels calm and quiet … deeply peaceful,” said Drayer. “This study changed my life.”
Dr. Lee agrees and says that the potential benefit of this treatment could have lasting beneficial implications, allowing doctors, nurses, and other personnel to continue the vital work they do.
“I would say that it is advantageous,” says Lee. “I think there’s a lot of potential for this as a treatment. People who feel like they’re stuck in a way in their life, and they want to be able to open up and try to see things differently or to change themselves in positive ways—I think there’s a lot of potential for this treatment to do that.”