Speaker Bio
Dr. Houman Farzin is a physician focusing on the applied sciences of psychedelic-assisted therapies, nutrition, and lifestyle modification for trauma, existential distress, and overall well-being. His practice deals with combining emerging treatments and digital health technologies with mindfulness, music, and psychedelic medicine to improve quality of life, promote healing, and alleviate human suffering at all stages of life. He is an attending physician in the Division of Palliative Care of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. He is a lecturer at McGill University Medical School, where he earned his medical degree and completed his residency training in Family Medicine.
Dr. Farzin is trained in various psychedelic therapeutic modalities including MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine. He is a member of the training and ethics committees for TheraPsil, a non-profit organization dedicated to obtaining legal access to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. He has organized Quebec’s first psilocybin therapy training programs and has treated the first series of patients with psilocybin and MDMA through the public healthcare system in Quebec. Dr. Farzin is a researcher with current funding to study societal views on psilocybin therapy for existential distress and the use of cannabis and exercise to treat chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.
ICPR 2024 Abstract
Psilocybin-assisted therapy for cancer patients, a real-world case series
Patients with advanced cancer often suffer from isolation, demoralization, death anxiety, and existential distress. Psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) which employs the administration of psilocybin in conjunction with psychotherapy, has been demonstrated as an effective treatment for this patient population. This presentation will describe a real-world case series of patients with advanced cancer who received both individual and group PAT in Montreal, Canada. Our experience postulates the safety and efficacy of this laborious treatment process. By executing this clinical practice in the publicly funded healthcare system of Quebec for the first time, we succeeded in reducing the cost of these therapies. Having performed these treatments outside the context of clinical trials, we have been able to tailor the therapeutic frame and treatment approach to a more patient-centered and culturally informed manner. That being said, given the existing societal discrimination and stigma against this form of therapy, including by some healthcare professionals, there remain further barriers to overcome in the equitable provision of care, especially to certain segments of the population. The authors will discuss these and potential solutions to addressing them.