A new study has shown how trained human coders were able to identify observable markers of therapeutic connection during psilocybin administration in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
The study analysed audio and video data from a Phase 2 open-label study looking at the effect of psilocybin therapy on patients with cancer and major depressive disorder.
The Phase 2 study, published in JAMA Oncology earlier this year, was conducted by Sunstone Therapies at the Bill Richards Center for Healing, a building specially designed for the delivery of psychedelic-assisted therapies in a medical setting.
The current feasibility study has also been carried out by Sunstone Therapies in Collaboration with the University of Vermont, and published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.
The authors write: “Measuring therapeutic connection during psilocybin-assisted therapy is essential to understand underlying mechanisms, inform training, and guide quality improvement.”
Moments of connection
From the 2,074 minutes of video analysed, the three coders in the study recorded 372 moments of therapeutic connection.
Of these, 83% were identified by at least two coders, and 41% were identified by all three, using a combination of audible and visual cues approximately half the time, and exclusively audibly or exclusively visual cues 33% and 16% of the time, respectively.
Sunstone Therpies states that the results indicate the feasibility of observing the frequency, distribution, and overlap of cues and qualities used to identify and define moments of therapeutic connection.
This will lay the groundwork for further work into a direct observation coding system of therapist-patient interactions in PAT studies.
CEO and Co-founder of Sunstone Therapies and Co-author on the study, Manish Agrawal MD, commented: “Discussion around psilocybin therapy is often focused on the drug. However, the support provided by the therapists who are present throughout the psilocybin session is arguably just as important.
“While a relatively small study, these findings provide a foundation for further research to refine, scale and implement a robust model for therapeutic support in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
“This will have implications for training and quality measurement, and ultimately for how we deliver psychedelic therapies responsibly and safely.”
