Avoiding Stigma and Sensationalism in Therapeutic Psilocybin Communications: Considerations for Reaching Older Patients

Abstract

Psilocybin’s efficacy as a treatment for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) has led to a wave of new legislation permitting its usage in medical settings. Older adults are affected disproportionately by TRD and may be especially good candidates for this promising treatment. However, due to the drug’s past (and present) illicit status and exposure to historic antidrug messaging, older prospective patients may hold more stigmatized attitudes towards this treatment than those who are younger. Stigma and sensationalism pose special challenges for the dissemination of effective, accurate information about therapeutic psilocybin, with recent “hype” around the drug treatment possibly further alienating these individuals. Because current clinical communication strategies may be inadvertently reinforcing negative attitudes about psychedelics rather than reducing them, we offer some general communication guidelines for therapeutic psilocybin geared towards the older patient profile.