Psilocybin-assisted Therapy for Phantom Limb Pain

This double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study (n=20) conducted by the University of California, San Diego aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of psilocybin (25mg) in treating chronic phantom limb pain (PLP).

Participants, aged 18 to 75, with amputation of one extremity and experiencing PLP of at least one month’s duration and intensity of at least 3 out of 10 on the VAS, will be included. They must be fluent in English and willing to refrain from certain medications and psychoactive drugs during the study period.

The study will employ psychophysical and fMRI testing to assess pain symptoms and other mood, attitude, and behavioural changes. Primary hypotheses include the safety of psilocybin administration and its potential to reduce pain scores.

Participants will be randomly allocated to receive either 25mg oral psilocybin or 100mg oral niacin. Outcome measures will include changes in phantom limb pain intensity, visual analogue scale pain ratings, cerebral blood flow, and the Brief Pain Inventory.

The study began in January 2022 and is expected to be completed by June 2024.

Topic Pain
Compound Psilocybin Placebo
Country United States of America
Visit trial

Trial Details



Trial Number

Sponsors & Collaborators

University of California San Diego
The Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative (PHRI) at UC San Diego conducts novel basic and clinical research on the use of psychedelics.

Data attribution

A large set of the trials in our database are sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (CTG). We have modified these post to display the information in a more clear format or to correct spelling mistakes. Our database in actively updated and may show a different status (e.g. completed) if we have knowledge of this update (e.g. a published paper on the study) which isn't reflected yet on CTG. If a trial is not sourced from CTG, this is indicated on this page and you can follow the link to the alternative source of information.