Psilocybin Plus Mindfulness Shows Promise for Healthcare Worker Burnout and Depression
Researchers at the University of Utah completed a groundbreaking trial testing whether psilocybin-assisted therapy combined with mindfulness training could help frontline healthcare workers overcome depression and burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-four healthcare providers were randomly assigned to receive either an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program alone, or the same program plus group psilocybin therapy sessions. The psychedelic intervention included preparation sessions, a single supervised 25mg psilocybin experience with individual therapist support, and integration sessions to process the experience. This represents one of the first controlled studies examining psychedelic medicine for occupational burnout in healthcare settings.