Psychedelics Help Reduce Death Anxiety

By Catherine Durkin Robinson, owner of Anitya Doula Services in Chicago

As a death doula, my job is to support clients at the end of their lives. One of the many services I provide is trip sitting. In the name of harm reduction, I’m available to sit with someone tripping in a therapeutic session for up to twelve hours. This is in partnership with my client’s licensed mental health counselor, and we work together to plan the journey and then integrate what was learned. I don’t source the plant medicine or interfere with the trip itself. Instead, I sit with the client and occasionally provide water or a guided walk to the bathroom. I help them feel safe.

Dying – The Singular Universal Experience

Death is an inevitable and natural part of life. No matter our gender, economic status, or culture – every single one of us is going to die. And yet, as a society, we hardly discuss it.

On the contrary, we distract ourselves and deny, deny, deny. The medical community also

makes it worse. Dr. Kerr, a hospice physician, has said that if death makes you uncomfortable, the best place for you to go is medical school. There they see death as the ultimate failure. This results in a population of people scared to death about death.

Psychedelics Help Reduce Fears

In one study, 80 participants with terminal diagnoses took psilocybin in a carefully monitored

setting. After counseling, more than three-quarters said they felt major relief from depression and anxiety. Those improved feelings were still felt six months after the studies were complete. This is unprecedented. More studies confirm similar results.

Psychedelics help with the fear of death by opening people up to the mysteries surrounding us. The psilocybin experience is an especially profound one, revealing to people an awareness of sorts, especially those who are dying. Many lose whatever fear or trepidation they feel. This not only provides comfort for the person dying but for their loved ones as well. Combined with integration, and sometimes a meditative practice, psilocybin has been shown to increase feelings of gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness. A common theme

among psychedelic users is that we’re all connected. They feel an overpowering love.

Your Favorite Song

Words sometimes feel woefully ineffective to explain a psychedelic experience. For the

uninitiated, I use an analogy to try to convey what this awareness feels like. Think about your favorite song. If you have one, you can easily recall the title and artist, right? Thinking of the song puts a smile on your face. Now think about when you walk into a room or you’re driving down the road and that song comes on the radio. It’s different when you hear it, right?

You feel something come over you.

You turn it up. Close your eyes.

Feel aglow with memories.

Maybe you even dance a little.

This is how a good trip works sometimes. Psychedelics take certain ideas we know (love is all

that matters, we are all interconnected, death is not an end, etc.) and convert them into

something we also feel. Revelations we now understand on a much deeper level.  

Imagine the Possibilities

When we are dying, we lose our sense of self. If this has never happened to you before, the idea of such an ego death can be frightening. It can lead to depression and existential angst. With the right set and setting, psychedelics can give people a new perspective. They feel the death or disillusion of their ego and recognize it as awe-inspiring.

Psychedelics show us that we can enjoy this mystical experience. When we come back from the trip, we integrate what we’ve learned into our daily lives and live out our remaining days with less fear. After a trip, many people report feeling deeply positive, freed from time and space, and unified with all living things. A renewed sense of purpose and meaning comes over them.

“People in the psychedelic trip often experience being at one with the world or even the

universe. It’s as if they have died or have gone out to another place. They exist beyond their

body. That experience can give them a sense of perpetuity, of permanence, of being part of the cycle of life, which of course we all are,” said Professor David Nutt.

Difficult Trips Aren't Always Bad Trips

Not every trip is pleasant. I encourage my clients to trust themselves, let go, and be open. Only when we turn and face our fears can we sometimes conquer them...

(Click here to read the entire article on A Death Doula’s Substack. It’s free!)