“I don’t think anybody can truly describe the [psilocybin] experience. One can use phrases and words that are common – ineffable, mystical, powerful. All I can say is it was the most powerful experience of my life that I have gone through ever.”
“We had another CAT scan in September of last year, in 2021, and it showed another small nodule. My oncologist said, ‘Don’t worry, we don’t know what it is, it’s very small.’ But a part of me as a physician and as a cancer patient now thought ‘On no, we’ve got another nodule – that means I am stage 4 again’. Before my experience with psilocybin this would have been terribly devastating – to have been given that hope six months ago with no nodules, and now again Stage 4. But now I say ‘Ok, if I have cancer again, it’s alright we will deal with it’. While I was somewhat anxious and I was a little bit low in spirits but it wasn’t a gut punch.”
Episode Description: Pradeep shares with us his journey from initial symptoms of what was diagnosed as a stage 1 cancer to its return as a stage 4 metastatic cancer. Faced with a disturbing depression he entered a clinical trial using one dose of psilocybin in a carefully monitored research setting. He shares with us the “indescribable nature” of his 8-hour psychedelic experience. He then reports on the profound life changes that have remained with him over one year later. His approach to life is characterized less by highs and lows and more by a dependable sense of equanimity even in the face of his ongoing cancer. Though now retired, his wish to share his experience with others is testimony to his ongoing commitment to healing others.
Our Guest: Pradeep Bansal, MD is a recently retired gastroenterologist from Long Island. He is originally from India and was in practice in the New York area for over 25 yrs. Apart from being a physician, he is an avid nature photographer.
Further Listening:
Episode 2: Psychedelic Medicines in a Therapeutic Context with Jeffrey Guss, MD
Episode 23: Psychedelic Psychotherapy for PTSD: New Research with Ingmar Gorman PhD
Episode 107: A Psychoanalyst Administers Ketamine with Gita Vaid, MD
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Remarkable description of both the journey of cancer patient before and after his psychedelic experience from terror and depression to serenity and acceptance. His description suggests that he experienced death and rebirth several times as well as a sense of a reunion with dead relatives that convince him there was life after death and nothing to fear and real sense of transcendence.