PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY
Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy is a therapeutic modality using various medicines that can help you address and work through issues that might be difficult to access or work through using traditional talk-therapy alone.
Psychedelics produce non-ordinary states of consciousness. In a non-ordinary state, we can often see things from a different perspective; we can let go of our ego or rational/thinking mind and see alternative answers, creative solutions, and our lives from a broader perspective. In these states, we might gain insight or clarity into our patterns, issues, relationships, and/or traumas, and find novel ways to heal.
There are many different psychedelic medicines and each can provide a unique experience and therapeutic benefit depending on the issues you are facing.
In my practice, I offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and cannabis assisted therapy. If you choose to use other psychedelic medicines, I can help you prepare before those journeys and/or help you integrate and process your experiences afterwards.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
Ketamine is a dissociate and anesthetic medicine. The anesthetic part can produce feelings of sedation or relaxation and the dissociative aspect can often result in having an out of body experience and alteration of consciousness. Everyone’s experience is unique but often times people are able to see challenges, relationships, or symptoms in a new, more compassionate way and develop greater ease at letting things go.
Ketamine is often very effective for people struggling with symptoms of depression although it can also be useful for a number of other issues, such as symptoms of PTSD, substance abuse, and anxiety.
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Resources:
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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2147/JPR.S360733#abstract
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9207256/pdf/jpr-15-1691.pdf
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4933765/pdf/aps20165a.pdf
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Cannabis-Assisted Psychotherapy
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Cannabis is not often thought of as a psychedelic. Many people are not aware of the therapeutic benefits of cannabis because it is so widely used recreationally and has a long sociopolitical demonization and has been viewed as the "gateway drug," and for people with little direction or motivation.
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Personally, I questioned the therapeutic effectiveness and alleged psychedelic effects until I took a level 1 training in psychedelic cannabis, and I experienced how profound psychedelic cannabis can be for myself and for others.
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Cannabis is a medicine with hallucinogenic, stimulant, and depressive qualities. It can mimic many different psychedelics, so a medicine session might feel like MDMA, psilocybin, LSD, and/or ayahuasca. Sometimes, elements of each in one particular session.
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Cannabis is an ideal psychedelic medicine because you often have a lot more agency and control in the session. You can go as deep as you would like and work through significant issues, trauma, and/or grief, or you can choose to be light and playful, or just feel the effects of cannabis and not do deep work.
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Cannabis-assisted psychotherapy can be helpful for a number of different issues, including trauma, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and other compulsive behaviors, chronic pain, and life transitions.
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Resources:
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9947284/
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