Can Psilocybin Help Break Alcohol Addiction?

An impressive double-blind, randomized control trial contains revolutionary implications for treatment of alcohol addiction.

69-year-old Mary Beth Orr overcame her alcohol addiction through two sessions of psilocybin in conjunction with talk therapy.

Last week, I was amazed by an impressive, new study examining the efficacy of psilocybin combined with talk therapy in treating alcohol use disorder. In the study, 93 patients struggling with alcohol addiction were assigned to take a capsule of either psilocybin or antihistamine (placebo) and lay on a couch with eye shades, listening to music on headphones.

All addicts participated in two of these sessions, a month apart, combined with 12 sessions of talk therapy. The results are astounding:

More than 80% of those in the psilocbyin treatment group had drastically cut their drinking eight months after the study began. Comparatively, 50% of the placebo group did the same (also peculiarly significant). By the end of the trial, half of those who took psilocybin quite drinking alcohol, compared to a quarter of those who took the placebo.

In the media coverage of this new study, I was amazed by the story of 69-year-old Mary Beth Orr residing in Burien, Washington. A retired museum art technician (I wonder what that entails), she enrolled in the study because of her strong alcohol compulsion which lead her to drink five or six times every evening. “The quantity was unacceptable and yet I couldn’t stop,” she said. “There was no off switch that I could access.”

The New York Times and Seattle Times’ profiles of her journey are incredibly moving. I selected some quotes from both pieces below. The visions of Mary;s experiences were described as the following:

[She] said her psilocybin-induced hallucinations — flying over breathtaking landscapes and merging telepathically with creative people throughout history — taught her she wasn’t alone.

…

“It was like a gorgeous show, with jewels and the sense of rushing through a tunnel with deity figures looking down at me from niches in the walls,” she said. Two therapists served as her guides as she lay on a sofa, her eyes masked while soothing music was piped into her headphones.

Her deceased father seemed pivotal in the first experience:

During her first psilocybin experience, she saw a vision of her late father, who gave her a pair of eagle eyes and said, “Go.” She told the therapists monitoring her: “These eagle eyes can’t see God’s face, but they know where it is.”

…

The psilocybin sessions, she said, were at times unnerving but ultimately illuminating. The mystical, dreamlike journeys included vivid splashes of color, fantastical creatures and an emotional encounter with her deceased father.

The second session, seemingly more powerful, was about letting go of pain she had suffered from another family member. She learned to extend forgiveness and compassion towards this person:

Though less colorful and exhilarating, the second session was anchored by a pivotal, underwater conversation with a family member who she said had caused her immense pain over the years. At the end, she wished the relative well, and they parted with a kiss.

The takeaway message, she said, was one of forgiveness, understanding and love, both for others and herself. “I’m no longer afraid of feelings, and I’m living a deeper life,” she said.

After her two sessions of psilocybin, Mary broke free from her alcohol addiction:

She stopped drinking entirely for two years, and now has an occasional glass of wine. More than the talk therapy, she credits psilocybin.

“It made alcohol irrelevant and uninteresting to me,” Orr said. Now, “I am tethered to my children and my loved ones in a way that just precludes the desire to be alone with alcohol.”

….

More than three years after her last session, Ms. Orr said that she seldom drinks but allows herself the occasional glass of wine. “It’s not that I monitor my drinking, it’s just that I don’t think about it, which is the glorious part for me.”

That her compulsion became powerless and “uninteresting” with the help of psilocybin is mind-blowing. Addicts of any drug — smoking, drinking, porn, work (yes, that counts) — wish to overcome the overwhelmingly unassailable force of their addiction. It’s often the most gratifying experience available to them.

Interestingly, Mary discovered greater connection with those around her. She points to the pathology of loneliness that drove her addiction. Alcohol was replaced with familial love and bonding.

She was able to arrive to this state through spiritual connection with her deceased father, letting go of pain inflicted by another family member, forgiveness, and overcoming fear of dark, unresolved feelings.

This is of course an unjust dilution of her expansive 10+ hours on psilocybin across two sessions, paired with 12+ hours of talk therapy to discuss, integrate, and apply the “gold” she acquired in the inner worlds. I can only imagine what the deeper nuances of these experiences must’ve been.

Part of why this story really hit me was the profile of this woman: in her late-60s, residing in a small town in Washington, with a career in “museum art.”

This is not exactly the kind of person you’d imagine tripping balls on shrooms.

Whatever stereotype exists for psychedelics — young, progressive, radical, chaotic, unstable, utopia-fantasizing — doesn’t apply to most cases like these with clear intentionality, structure, and open-heartedness.

Someone in Mary’s shoes with a fear of feeling feelings, chronic alcohol use, unresolved pain from past relationships, and loneliness may be inclined to think “fuck it, I’m going to die drinking my sorrows away.” But something in her said, “no, there’s something more.”

Even at the age of 65 — when she enrolled in the study.

This attitude of complacency and pessimism — of “I am this way and I’m never going to get better” — is the prevailing view in our society. It’s more prevalent the higher you climb the age ladder, when toxic patterns of thinking become the biblical truths of our unconscious minds.

When talking to my grandpa (in his early 70s) about his chronic insomnia of many decades, restlessness, stock-buying addiction, loneliness, and lack of meaning of his life, he stated,

This has been going on for over 50 years. How could it change now, in my 70s? I will forever stay like this.

Perhaps my grandpa should meet Mary.

Perhaps he should meet the mysterious psilocybin mushroom (with a counselor) that can unlock decades of pain and trauma.

Few people have the courage and inner adventurousness that Mary exemplified in her incredible journey, travelling from a place of escaping her dark, lonely reality to finding unconditional love and connection in her immediate surroundings.

Hopefully as psychedelics become more accessible (and scientifically supported) and stories like Mary’s reach larger audiences, tens of millions of Canadians and Americans suffering from the inescapable hell of addiction, PTSD, and depression can begin to recognize the real possibility of inner transformation.

And eventually try these revolutionary therapies themselves — in the right set and setting, with great patience and care.