• Outlines 10 steps for dying gracefully with the help of psychedelics, including how to navigate the complex legal landscape and find the right guide and therapy

• Looks at clinical studies of psychedelics from UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and NYU School of Medicine that show dramatic lessening of end-of-life anxiety in terminally ill patients

• Shares wisdom from experts on psychedelic research and palliative care, including Roland Griffiths, Katherine MacLean, Ira Byock, and Anthony Bossis

Examining the evolving landscape around end-of-life psychedelic care, Dr. Richard Louis Miller, a clinical psychologist for over half a century, looks at how substances like LSD, MDMA, psilocybin, and others can be vital tools in allowing individuals in all stages of life to confront fears of dying, and in so doing, lead richer lives.

Miller shares wisdom from experts on the frontiers of psychedelic research and palliative care—including Roland Griffiths, Katherine MacLean, Ira Byock, and Anthony Bossis—and examines cutting-edge studies from Johns Hopkins, UCLA, and NYU School of Medicine that show dramatically decreased anxiety in terminally ill patients through the use of psychedelics. He explores different substances, including MDMA, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and LSD, looking at how they can help the dying overcome their end-of-life distress. He also shares testimony from researchers and patients participating in psychedelic-assisted end-of-life therapy that help convey the experience of ego death at the heart of the psychedelic experience.

Miller outlines 10 steps for dying gracefully, without fear, with the help of psychedelics. He examines how to navigate the complex legal landscape and find the right guide, dose, and therapy. He also includes reflections from key figures in the psychedelic community as well as some of his own psychedelically informed mystical and near-death experiences.

Revealing psychedelics as a portal of transformation, Dr. Miller shows how they are singularly valuable in helping individuals face the end of life with courage and serenity.

Dr. Richard Louis Miller, M.A., Ph.D., has been a clinical psychologist for more than fifty years. He is host of the syndicated talk radio show, Mind Body Health & Politics. The founder of the nationally acclaimed Cokenders Alcohol and Drug Program, he has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan and Stanford University and an advisor on the President’s Commission on Mental Health. He lives in Fort Bragg and Wilbur Hot Springs, California.

FOREWORD BY RICK DOBLIN, Ph.D.

PROLOGUE

PART ONE

THE CASE FOR PSYCHEDELICS
AT THE END OF LIFE

CHAPTER 1
Ego Death

CHAPTER 2
From Taboo to Trials: Pioneers of the Psychedelic
Renaissance

CHAPTER 3
Studies of Psychedelics for End-of-Life Distress:
Proof of Safety and Efficacy

CHAPTER 4
Mechanism of Action: How Psychedelics Help the Dying
Overcome End-of-Life Distress

CHAPTER 5
Understanding and Treating End-of-Life Distress

PART TWO

THE STEPS TO DYING GRACEFULLY

STEP 1
Confronting Death

STEP 2
Discerning Candidacy for
Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy

STEP 3
Navigating the Legal Landscape

STEP 4
Selecting the Guide, Dose, and Therapy Type

STEP 5
Managing Set and Setting

STEP 6
Surrendering

STEP 7
Integrating the Insights

STEP 8
Reckoning with the Afterlife

STEP 9
Living Fully

STEP 10
Dying Gracefully

Reconnecting in an Age of Separation

EPILOGUE
The Way Forward

AFTERWORD

REFERENCES

INDEX