About Psypal
What is Psypal?
Many individuals with life-limiting conditions face existential problems and distress. Innovative solutions are urgently needed to support individuals to meet their spiritual and emotional needs while receiving palliative care.
PsyPal seeks to explore whether psilocybin therapy (also known as psilocybin-assisted therapy/treatment or psilocybin with psychotherapeutic support) in palliative care settings may help to alleviate experiences of existential distress for individuals with the following life-limiting conditions:
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis/ Motor Neurone Disease (ALS/ MND)
- Atypical Parkinson’s Disease (APD).
Existential Distress
Individuals with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses can often experience a deep-seated unease when confronted with the incurable nature of their condition and the search for meaning in their lives. This experience is common and understandable, yet it is often unaddressed for individuals receiving palliative care. Existential distress can also spill over into relationships—with family, friends, and caregivers, as the fear of burdening others can weigh heavily. Patients want to shield their loved ones from pain and fear, even as they grapple with these experiences themselves. If unaddressed, existential distress can lead to intense feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, or depression, as well as heightened perceptions of pain.
Palliative care isn’t just about managing symptoms; it’s about tending to the whole person. When existential distress is met with compassion, individuals with incurable conditions can find solace. In this way, their suffering can become less isolating, less unbearable. The PsyPal project aims to ensure that individuals suffering with existential distress are better supported to address their spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs.
Psypal Work Packages
WP1: Project coordination and management
This work package will conduct the overall planning, coordination and management of PsyPal activities to ensure we meet our project objectives. WP1 comprises several management bodies and workgroups that will collaborate to ensure all aspects of the project are effectively managed.
WP2: Multi-site clinical trial implementation
This work package is responsible for running the PsyPal clinical trial, where we will investigate the effects of psilocybin therapy. The trial will take place in a clinical setting with 100+ participants experiencing symptoms related to existential distress (depression, anxiety) related to their life-limiting or life-threatening illness.
WP3: Mechanisms of change
This work package concerns creating outputs on a range of topics related to PsyPal data. This includes the effects of psilocybin therapy, underlying mechanisms that may contribute to any change in participants’ experiences of distress, potential biomarkers of neurobiological change, and the diversity of spiritual experiences that may arise from psilocybin therapy.
WP4: Therapy manual & training and continued care with patient involvement
This work package is responsible for ensuring that psilocybin therapy is delivered in a standardised way across all of our study sites. This involves providing ongoing training to therapists for the study, facilitating patient and public involvement in the study process, and providing participants and their loved ones with a model of continued care when the clinical trial ends.
WP5: Dissemination & coordination
This work package will ensure project activities and results are widely communicated to key audiences and stakeholders using public-facing online platforms, networking opportunities with related projects, and scientific and policy events.
WP6: Exploitation, Policy Recommendations, Societal implications
This work package will work with the results generated from WPs 2, 3 and 4 to explore how findings from PsyPal can contribute to clinical practice, business opportunities, and policy across Europe.
