Tag: psilocybin

Psychedelics and Therapy

Many people are using psychedelics without the right preparation or guidance. Integration of these experiences is crucial to helping the individual make changes and gain insights that affect their daily life and have a lasting effect (Amada, N., & Shane, J.,2022). From the aforementioned study:

Results indicated that perceived benefits to narrative self-functioning is one pathway through which integration of psychedelic experience may promote optimal well-being for both clinical and non-clinical populations.1

 From a harm reduction perspective, using substances like MDMA or psilocybin can be carefully and non-judgementally thought about and discussed with your therapist. This includes looking at minimising the possible risks and maximising the potential benefits, understanding the role of set and setting as well as working with intentions. Managing expectations is another key aspect of harm reduction, as well as discussing aspects of safety and consent. (Gorman et al, 20212).

If an individual is committed to undertaking a psychedelic experience, or has already had one, therapy that incorporates elements of preparation and integration can be valuable, always minimising risks and enhancing potential benefit in service of personal growth.

Various preparation and integration techniques may be offered in therapy, including non-verbal, arts-based approaches, journaling, mindfulness or movement practices and time spent in nature. 

Preparation sessions consist of establishing a trusting relationship with the therapist, getting to know the pieces of the individual’s puzzle, installing practices that lead to a safer psychedelic experience. Gorman et al state “…preparation for a psychedelic experience is guided by a patient’s reasons for using a psychedelic. The therapist must inquire about the nature of the patient’s motivations.” In my experience, many people find enough value in these preparation sessions so as not to consume a psychedelic, but to rather continue with the therapeutic work. 

Integration sessions offer a space for meaning-making and drawing out whatever value and insights can be learned from the psychedelic experience. According to Gorman et al,

“Psychedelic integration is a process in which the patient integrates the insights of their experience into their life, and Psychedelic Harm reduction and Integration is a method of supporting that in the clinical consultation room3.”

Furthermore, PRATI (Psychedelic Training and Research Institute) states that

“Integration provides a space for clients to gain clarity, perspective, and wisdom from their medicine sessions… can help people to understand, contextualize, and make use of their experience in a meaningful and lasting way.”4

Essentially, the approach to working with psychedelics is one of harm reduction – reducing the negative possibilities and optimising positive ones, all in the service of improving the client’s quality of life and keeping them safe and healthy. It is non-judgemental by nature and does not encourage nor discourage the individual, who has the agency to make their own choices.

To find out more contact Melissa.

References

  1. Amada, N., & Shane, J. (2022). Self-Actualization and the Integration of Psychedelic Experience: The Mediating Role of Perceived Benefits to Narrative Self-Functioning. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00221678221099680 ↩︎ ↩︎
  2. Gorman I, Nielson EM, Molinar A, Cassidy K, Sabbagh J. Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration: A Transtheoretical Model for Clinical Practice. Front Psychol. 2021 Mar 15;12:645246. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645246. PMID: 33796055; PMCID: PMC8008322. ↩︎
  3. Gorman I, Nielson EM, Molinar A, Cassidy K, Sabbagh J. Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration: A Transtheoretical Model for Clinical Practice. Front Psychol. 2021 Mar 15;12:645246. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645246. PMID: 33796055; PMCID: PMC8008322 ↩︎
  4. https://pratigroup.org/psychedelic-therapy/methods-and-approaches-for-psychedelic-therapy-integration/ ↩︎

Hallmarks of a Mystical Experience

William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience, delineated four major hallmarks of what might be described as a mystical experience.

  1. Ineffability: the individual just can’t put words to the experience, verbal description does not – cannot – do it justice or even begin to portray the authority, significance or nature of the event.
  2. Noetic Quality: the experience appears extremely significant and important for to the individual and it carries a kind of deep authority, inner knowing and personal truth.
  3. Transiency: the mystical state is not sustained as in it’s peak, but fragments, traces, parts, a felt sense and innate knowing – these do persist and are subject to ongoing development, meaning that the insights/wisdom/truths can deepen in richness and significance over time.
  4. Passivity: it is not by the individual’s active will or direction that the mystical experience occurs. Rather, the individual will is suspended for a time and it is as if the individual is ‘moved’ by something larger than him or herself (such as a higher power).

Clearly, this describes an experience that is quite enormous, powerful and outside of ordinary life experience. This is something that is remembered, owned, held tightly and nurtured. Something that becomes precious, guiding and indeed transformative in one’s life. A deep truth, knowing, reality or beauty may be revealed that is intrinsic to something ordinary, everyday and obvious. The experience of such states can be immensely powerful and transformative in one’s personal journey as well as for collective wellbeing. Does such a state have to have anything to do with religion?

It is possible but uncommon to enter such an altered state of consciousness without intention in everyday life, perhaps but not necessarily while listening to music or being in a sacred or natural space. However, there are various ways to prime for such an experience. For example, one way is through a meditation practice, another through Guided Imagery and Music, and another is through facilitated breathwork. Another increasingly acceptable and accessible way is through the use of sacred plant medicine, such as magic mushrooms (psilocybin) and ayahuasca which through their psychedelic (that is ‘mind-manifesting’) properties may occasion such mystical experiences. While mystical states and religion can seem confusingly intermingled, they are not the same thing. There are many religious people who have never had a mystical experience of this nature, while there are stalwart atheists who have. It is a human experience, not owned by any denomination, school of thought, medical practice or form of therapy. It is true that such experiences may absorb a kind of religious quality, depending on many factors such as the individual’s life experience, the place the experience occurs and even the music playing during the event.

Have you ever experienced an altered state, a mystical state or a spiritual state that relates to James’ conception?

For more information about altered states of consciousness, psychedelic integration, guided imagery and music, mind expansion, transformation and mystical states, please contact me to find out more.

References:

Griffiths, Roland & Richards, William & Mccann, Una & Jesse, Robert. (2006). Psilocybin Can Occasion Mystical-Type Experiences Having Substantial and Sustained Personal Meaning and Spiritual Significance. Psychopharmacology. 187. 268-283. 10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5.

James, W. (1902), The varieties of religious experience. New York: Longmans, Green & Co.

Pollan, M. (2018). How to change your mind: What the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression, and transcendence. New York: Penguin Press.