Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program

(AUGUST 25, 2023) Findings from a new study conducted by the University of Vermont’s Conversation Lab and therapeutics cancer firm Sunstone Therapies show the feasibility of trained human coders to identify observable markers of therapeutic connection during psilocybin administration within Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PAT), Benzinga reports.

Published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the research analyzed audio and video data from a Sunstone-led Phase 2 open-label study of psilocybin therapy’s effects on patients with cancer and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). 

According to the researchers, these results indicate the viability of observing the frequency, distribution, and overlap of markers to identify and define moments of therapeutic connection, thereby laying the groundwork for future work into a direct-observation coding system of therapist-patient interactions in PAT studies.

The UVM research team included Vermont Conversation Lab members Robert Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., principal investigator and professor of family medicine; machine learning investigator Donna Rizzo, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering and computer science; StoryListening investigator Francesca Arnoldy; conversation science investigator Elise Tarbi, Ph.D., M.B.E., APRN, assistant professor of nursing; and health psychology investigator Maija Reblin, Ph.D., associate professor of family medicine; as well as Logan Hegg, Psy.D., M.D., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and pediatrics; Jon Porter, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine and director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health; and Susanna Pratt, CCRC, clinical research coordinator in the Office of Clinical Trials Research.