At Chacruna: Group Therapy for Psychedelic Integration

Elizabeth M. Nielson

Psychedelic experiences have an unpredictable place in psychotherapy; some therapists are openly comfortable discussing them, and others are worried by the mere thought of their patients engaging in psychedelic use. True, psychedelics have a history of use in mental health treatment, and several are currently being tested as part of psychotherapy protocols for a range of diagnoses, but there is still little precedent for integrating people’s experiences with psychedelics outside of the psychotherapy setting into the course of psychotherapy. This can be problematic for people who have had intense, difficult and/or positive, life-altering psychedelic experiences, who then feel they must gloss over, hide, or even deny these experiences in order to participate in psychotherapy. How can psychedelic experiences be invited into the psychotherapy setting in a helpful way? One way is through psychotherapy that includes psychedelic harm reduction and integration. The Psychedelic Education and Continuing Care Program (PECCP) is intended to help meet the needs of people who are seeking additional support around psychedelic use in any context, including reducing risks and potential harms of psychedelic use. The PECCP offers trainings for clinicians, individual consultations and psychotherapy, and the psychotherapy group I’ll describe in this article... continue reading.