Psilocybin-Assisted Trauma Treatment, Part II
We might be only a year or two away from legalizing psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, for therapeutic use in the United States.1 And just in case you missed our first blog post in this series, “therapeutic use” means you won’t be getting caught in 4k while you’re a whole different world of hammered in a hammock on some NPC’s lawn. You’d be going through a medical intake, a therapist’s intake for your goals in treatment, and working with them to reach those goals. And for trauma therapy treatment, that looks like intentionally connecting more deeply with yourself while feeling better and becoming more insightful and mindful.1,3,4
But how does psilocybin do that during a session with a therapist? It doesn’t heal your trauma instantaneously when you’re camping out at Joshua Tree, right?
You’re right to be skeptical. I’m going to explain how this medicine hits differently with a therapist trained to help you make those connections you’ve been struggling with ever since Things Went Wrong.
The Research Behind the Magic
Psilocybin does a couple of things.
It reduces reactivity in your amygdala, an important emotional processing center that codes things as dangerous with the aid of your memories, learning, or senses, and can cause unnecessary fear or aggression when you see something that reminds you of your trauma.1 Psilocybin even boosts your ability to learn in certain ways by reducing that reactivity.2
It reduces avoidance, specifically of difficult emotions.1,3,4
It can decrease existential distress.1
It can shift your default mode network activities, or change how your mind wanders when you’re not thinking of anything in particular (read:passively remembering the worst things you never wanted to happen to you, trying to imagine what the future might be like, scanning your surroundings for danger, trying to gauge what everyone else is thinking, etc.).1,3 It specifically seems to increase free-flowing association and functions related to mindfulness.1,3
It makes you feel more open, connected, and accepting of yourself, others, the world in general, and situations in your life.2,4
It increases your access to insight and changes your perception and perspective.2
Sounds pretty good, amirite? This is one of the reasons integration therapists are so passionate about enhancing the strengths of psilocybin in a trusting environment: it can change how you think about things enough to help you see patterns in how you’ve been relating to the world around you, work with certain emotions without triggering yourself upside down and inside out, and make you feel connected to yourself and others while doing it. But what does that look like in a therapy session?
The Magic Behind the Research
Your mileage with psilocybin in a dosing session (i.e., session where you take it) may vary, but it will probably include some of the following things:
You’ll feel better (i.e., less anxious or vulnerable), united with something important, and connected, to yourself, others, and the world around you.2,4,6
You’ll be able to focus better.2
You’ll feel more distance between you and your trauma while feeling better overall, so you’ll feel more power and choice over what’s happened to you.2
Since past trauma that taught you to associate fear with certain triggers may feel more distant, you’ll be able to detach fear from those experiences. This means you’ll feel less afraid of things that remind you of trauma and able to connect with them in different, more healing ways.4,5,6
The introspection, self-acceptance, and compassion that get lost in the sauce of your trauma memories will be available to you, which will not only impact how you think about them (with the help of a trained professional), but how you relate to yourself today as a human being who’s struggled for so long.3
When you consider all of the potential benefits of psilocybin, it’s no wonder it can be such a helpful adjunct to trauma therapy treatment.
What about ego death?
For those of you who haven’t heard about this interesting experience, it’s a state of consciousness some people go through at higher doses of psilocybin that encompasses a sense of loss of self or self-importance.4 It can feel a bit like you’re one with everything, just as important as anything else around you, or like your inner voice is gone.4 It can be peaceful, jarring, profoundly meaningful, and everything in between. For some people, it changes how they fundamentally value things and see themselves.4 And for a lot of people, it never happens at all.
Everyone’s hallucinogenic experience is different. You may have new insights and relate to yourself differently, and when that happens with thoughtful intention in a trusting environment, healing can be more accessible to you. The important thing is to be open with your therapist about your concerns, what you want to gain from the experience, and what might arise, knowing someone will be there to guide you no matter where you go in the process.4,5
Tl;dr: ego death happens for some people, it’s not the goal of treatment, and wherever you go with intention and trust will be valuable to you.
What is the goal of treatment, then? In the long run?
In the last installation of this blog series, we’ll be discussing the long-term therapeutic benefits of psilocybin in trauma treatment. Until then, it might be difficult to hear about all of these potential benefits without a therapeutic environment to legally experience them in.
My advice? Isolate which benefits would be game changers for you in your healing process, and focus on achieving them in new ways.
Healing from trauma can seem like a terrifying labyrinth with the same thought loops, dead ends, lonely void–even when you’re right next to someone who cares–and helplessness around wounds that never seem to get better. This might mean your focus needs to be more on trust and connection with your therapist and community right now. Or on how to navigate those thought loops with tools we do have, like Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy. Or on how far you’ve come in an FFA journey you never wanted to take in the first place. You deserve to feel ownership over your story and how it unravels while the world makes more forms of healing accessible to you.
I wish you the most intuitive, connected, intentional path to healing possible.
Next Step: Are you interested in taking a step deeper into trauma healing, with someone who focuses on attuning to you and your goals through talk therapy or hallucinogenic treatment? Check out how Woven does Ketamine-Assisted Therapy at https://woventraumatherapy.com/ketamine-therapy. You can also reach out to Ocean for a free consultation at ocean@gideonpsych.com or (310)361-5538.
Are you interested in taking a step deeper into trauma healing with hallucinogenic treatment? While psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy isn’t legal yet, Ketamine, a dissociative hallucinogen, is available and can help. Check out how Woven does Ketamine-Assisted Therapy here. You can also reach out to Ocean for a free consultation at ocean@gideonpsych.com or (310)361-5538, or book a therapist matchmaking session with our therapist matchmaker below.
Interested in learning more about our unique approach to trauma therapy?
These blogs talk more about the basics of EMDR:
You can read more about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy here:
References:
1. Averill, L. A., & Abdallah, C. G. (2022). Investigational drugs for assisting psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): emerging approaches and shifting paradigms in the era of psychedelic medicine. Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs, 31(2), 133–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/13543784.2022.2035358
2. Smith, F., Neill, J., & Wainwright, V. (2022). An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the use of psilocybin by veterans with symptoms of trauma. Drug Science, Policy and Law, 8, 205032452211241. https://doi.org/10.1177/20503245221124117
3. Biscoe, N., Bonson, A., Slavin, M., Dr Walter Busuttil, MacManus, D., Cox, A., & Murphy, P. (2023). Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD in UK Armed Forces Veterans: A feasibility study protocol. European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 100359–100359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejtd.2023.100359
4. Smith, W. R., & Sisti, D. (2020). Ethics and ego dissolution: the case of psilocybin. Journal of Medical Ethics, medethics-2020-106070. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106070
5. Turkia, M. (2022, April 25). Underground small-group therapy of treatment-resistant depression and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) with psilocybin—A retrospective case study. ResearchGate. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.24250.06089
6. Miller, C. (2023). Effects of Psilocybin on Context-Based Fear Learning, Extinction, and Reinstatement. Honors Capstone Enhancement Presentations. https://digitalcommons.onu.edu/honors_presentations/25/
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