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Time to talk about Psilocybin therapy.
as background, let me say a little about myself and my experiences.
I had my first experience with mushrooms about 17 years ago and it was eye opening. About 5 years ago I returned to psychedelics after a 10 year hiatus and have been an advocate for them ever since.
I had my first experience with mushrooms about 17 years ago and it was eye opening. About 5 years ago I returned to psychedelics after a 10 year hiatus and have been an advocate for them ever since.
About 4 years ago I decided that I was interested in doing psychedelic-assisted therapy to help me with personal development as well as mental health stuff (depression and anxiety were/are my main issues). I found an underground therapist and we worked together for about 2 years.
We used 2 different treatment protocols, but both were done in the context of an ongoing therapeutic alliance that involved regular talk sessions as well as both guided medicine sessions and solo medicine sessions with integration assistance afterwards.
A guided session involves going to a designated space and spending all day with the medicine and the guide. A mushroom trip lasts 4-6 hours, and we decided a 2-3 hour cooldown period after the end of the trip was important too, so this was an all day affair.
In the work we did together the guided sessions were secondary to the solo sessions. One of the reasons for this is just that in my specific case I had enough experience as a psychonaut that I could handle myself solo and go really deep that way.
I found the guided sessions to be worthwhile but my attention was generally more on the guide (I'm sometimes just a bit gregarious when tripping) and I would have more powerful breakthrough-type experiences while solo.
that said, there are dose levels that I refuse to do solo and I was very thankful to have a guide for "heroic dose" sessions. My solo limit is about 3.5g of mushrooms. Hero doses are 4g and up (5g is typical, and that's a REALLY powerful trip).
For people with less experience (or none!) I think a guided session is by far the most reasonable way to approach this. My own case is probably not a good general model.
One of the questions that comes up is "what will it feel like?" and there's almost no way to give a straight answer. But I can give an approximate answer. A therapeutic "full dose" is not a casual trip. It's not some swirly colors and a Grateful Dead album. It's a commitment.
My most typical dose for a medicine session was 3.5g of a typical variety (P. cubensis, for example). This dose produces a degree of otherworldliness and disorientation that it's really not recommended to do anything but stay put in a safe and controlled environment.
As with all psychedelics, mindset and physical setting are profoundly important. The physical setting can be controlled much more easily than mindset. At bare minimum the confidence that comes from knowing you're physically safe is invaluable.
Some trips are scary. Some trips are disappointing, poignant, or even heartbreaking. Some trips are cosmic and will blast open your heart and mind like someone took a diamond-tipped drill to your psychic armor plates. Some trips are almost duds. High variance.
The variance can be controlled somewhat by setting intentions. Managing your mindset. Developing a few personal rituals and joining my medicine work with my spiritual practices was a crucial element of this for me.
The main pitfall I worry about for guided sessions is that it asks the journeyer to adopt many of the ritual elements of the guide. A good guide should be able to work with you to make it more your own, but this is still hard to do even with a very strong relationship.
In a situation where the guide doesn't have much time to get to know the journeyer there will undoubtedly be more pressure for the journeyer to just adopt and work with what the guide has in mind.
Many journeyers will come to this kind of guided therapy BECAUSE they have no prior experience and want help in doing it safely. Ironically, this might undermine the potential effectiveness of the therapy.
For myself, I needed the fear to be present. I needed my courage.
For myself, I needed the fear to be present. I needed my courage.
My solo sessions (with integration afterwards) were much more valuable for me because the fear that went with them opened up the possibility of real breakthrough experiences.
Those breakthroughs are where the healing potential lives, in my experience.
Those breakthroughs are where the healing potential lives, in my experience.
I never had a breakthrough that didn't shake me to the core. Called into question my entire view of what mind is, what reality is, and what my experiences were. The otherwordly strangeness is a feature not a bug.
There are physical correlates of breakthrough experiences. We can talk about serotonin receptors, we can talk about the "default mode network" getting disrupted, or whatever. But let's not. Let's use a psychospiritual model instead.
What is happening when a breakthrough experience occurs during a psilocybin trip?
I believe psilocybin is capable of changing perception on a radical level. Perception is both an external and an internal experience. Radical shift of internal perception is a breakthrough.
I believe psilocybin is capable of changing perception on a radical level. Perception is both an external and an internal experience. Radical shift of internal perception is a breakthrough.
In order to change we must see ourselves differently. In order to see ourselves differently we must develop a view that affords us direct sight of something not normally accessible: that the phenomena of the mind are inherently empty and contain no essential qualities.
This is the classical insight of Buddhist meditation, by the way. There's proof that drugs are not needed to realize this insight. If they're not needed than why bother?
Because our lives are short and psychedelic rocket boots are an efficient method.
Because our lives are short and psychedelic rocket boots are an efficient method.
I phrased the contents of that insight in a way that is associated with a particular psychospiritual model that has worked well for me. But there is no essential way of expressing this insight. It can be framed differently and be the same insight.
Why does this insight open the potential for change in notoriously stubborn psychological traits (like personality, or emotional response to triggers)?
Because it helps us self-conceptualize in a way where our model of self is not constrained by false beliefs.
Because it helps us self-conceptualize in a way where our model of self is not constrained by false beliefs.
In other words: this is a liberatory insight. It cuts away psychic shackles that you have grown accustomed to living in. The shackles aren't, like, structural components, they're just habits. The habits formed for reasons but the reasons might be gone and the habits remain.
Or maybe the reasons are still present and the insight helps you see what the causes and conditions of your suffering are and can help you understand what you might have to do to address those conditions directly.
This is HARD HARD HARD work. Necessary for change though.
This is HARD HARD HARD work. Necessary for change though.
The medicine doesn't do the work for you. The best you can hope for is that the medicine shows you what work you actually need to do. The medicine shifts perception. Perception identifies patterns of suffering. Applied energy is needed to achieve improvement though.
Does this replicate?
Yes, apparently. Just as insight meditation replicates, so too does psychedelic insight. That's astonishing to me, actually. The fact that these two paths have this much overlap is astonishing proof for both of them.
Yes, apparently. Just as insight meditation replicates, so too does psychedelic insight. That's astonishing to me, actually. The fact that these two paths have this much overlap is astonishing proof for both of them.
How can it be replicated?
that's what the Oregon ballot initiative seeks to develop. in the next several years there will be therapists and journeyers in Oregon doing this work and taking notes. May all beings benefit from it.
that's what the Oregon ballot initiative seeks to develop. in the next several years there will be therapists and journeyers in Oregon doing this work and taking notes. May all beings benefit from it.
But if I had to take a guess I'd point to a handful of crucially important elements:
1. strong therapeutic alliance
2. deep commitment from the journeyer, not relying on the medicine alone
3. trust the Mushrooms. they're here to help and will help if treated with respect.
1. strong therapeutic alliance
2. deep commitment from the journeyer, not relying on the medicine alone
3. trust the Mushrooms. they're here to help and will help if treated with respect.
therapy is a mess in the U.S. system. I fear that the most obvious failure point is going to be in the therapeutic alliance part. Time and money are deeply scarce and most journeyers won't have the surplus of them that I did for my own medicine path.
commitment is really up to the individual. one of the horrifying things about depression (one of the targeted maladies of this therapy) is that it drains you of the the ability to care about anything. depressive apathy might undermine the therapy, since it can be very hard.
and yes, I really do think that the Mushroom is a third participant here. We utterly do not understand what the world is like to a Mushroom or why psilocybin does what it does to the phenomena of human consciousness. I'm inclined to think the Mushroom itself is on stage.
we have a culture that struggles with sacredness. there's a huge difference between religiosity and piety (common) and sacredness and reverence (rare). The mushroom must be treated as a Sacrament in order to provide the write set and setting for effective therapy.
I benefited enormously from my work with Psilocybin. I'm enthusiastic about the possibilities this creates for our society, but I'm also deeply cautious and wary of ways things could go wrong.
We have a chance to do something good here though. Let's do it!
We have a chance to do something good here though. Let's do it!
