The healing spiritual effects of psilocybin

Psilocybin is being used to treat depression, but it's also been shown in clinical trials as an effective treatment for alcohol addiction. Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine were especially interested in how spiritual experiences during people's journey changed their view on their life and their alcohol comsumption afterwards.

Recently published in Spirituality in Clinical Practice, researchers detail three different experiences reported by patients who had visions of deceased family members or an encounter with a "universal power." One participant even got visited by a Hindu holy man who left him a glowing blue pearl. Each one of them attributed the success of their treatment to the lessons learned through the spiritual experiences in the psilocybin session.  

The authors state that spiritual experiences have a big role in the healing process of psilocybin therapy, and they hope that sharing examples will help therapists better anticipate and respond to their own patients' spiritual experiences.