Many of the mental health struggles（ 努力） that we see in our world come from a loss of connection. A loss of connection to ourselves, to each other, to our communities, to the Earth. This loss of connection is so profound（深厚的） that the United States Surgeon（外科医生） General has called it a public health crisis（危机）. Tick-naught（零） Han said, "We are all connected. When you touch one thing, you are touching everything. Whatever we do has an effect on others. Therefore we must learn to live mindfully, to touch the peace inside each of us." Psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms, is an emerging（显现） treatment that is about reconnection. As a psychiatrist（精神科医生） at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute（研究所）, I have been running clinical（ 临床的） trials（试验） with psilocybin-assisted therapy（治疗）, working（使工作） specifically with two groups.

  Patients dealing with symptoms of depression（沮丧） associated（交往） with a cancer（癌症） diagnosis and frontline healthcare workers experiencing burnout and depression（沮丧） related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These two groups appear very different on the surface, but their suffering（ 痛苦） is related to a loss of connection. Each person dealing with a cancer diagnosis（诊断） is unique（唯一的）. However, patients face some common challenges, the uncertainty（无常）, the treatments, the impact on family and friends. This can result in symptoms of loss, grief（悲痛）, depression（沮丧）, anger（怒）, feelings of hopelessness and isolation. The COVID-19 pandemic（全国流行的） has heightened（提高） burnout in frontline healthcare（ 卫生保健） providers who feel disconnected from their work, disconnected（断开） from their patients and their suffering（ 痛苦）.

  They feel overwhelmed and inadequate（不充分的）. There are clear distinctions（区别） between these two groups, but there is overlap（重叠） in this sense of disconnection. Psilocybin is considered a classic（ 经典的） psychedelic, one of a group of chemicals that acts on the serotonin system in the brain. The term "psychedelic" comes from the combination（结合） of the Greek word "psychee" or "mind" and "dalos" to reveal（显示） or make manifest（证明）, so mind manifesting or expressing this idea that these chemicals can reveal aspects（方面） of the mind that we otherwise（另外） don't have access to. These chemicals cause significant（重大的） changes to consciousness（意识）, including experiences that are referred to as mystical（神秘的） or spiritual（ 精神的） in nature, experiences characterized（描绘…的特性） by a deep sense of connection to oneself, to others, and to the world. And in recent years, there has been a renewed（使更新） interest in the study of these compounds（[化学] 化合物） for therapeutic（治疗的） purposes.

  Using psilocybin in the context of a clinical trial looks quite different than it does in other settings, such as recreational（娱乐的） use. For one thing, while classic psychedelics are remarkably（非凡地） safe from a medical standpoint（立场） and don't have the same potential（潜能） for abuse as other substances, they nonetheless（尽管如此） cause powerful changes to consciousness（意识） that can present risk, in particular for people with a risk of psychosis or mania（[医]颠狂）. This is not a treatment for everyone. Our studies employ a rigorous（严格的） screening（放映） process to ensure（保证） that this is safe both medically and psychiatrically. We also embed the dosing session（会议） within a therapeutic（治疗的） protocol（草案） with preparation and what we call integration sessions（会议） following. There are two qualities to this form of therapy that I'd like to emphasize（强调） that distinguish（区别） this intervention（干涉） from anything else in psychiatry.