Basics of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy

Explaining Psychedelic Experience, Psychedelic Integration, and Psychedelic Healing:

A psychedelic experience is the process of incorporating psychedelic substances (e.g., psilocybin, MDMA, or ketamine) into a controlled, clinical, psychotherapeutic setting for the purpose of assisting with psychedelic integration (i.e., the process of identifying, understanding, processing, and incorporating psychoemotional content) that has come up during a psychedelic experience, which ultimately leads to psychedelic healing.

A common misconception is that psychedelic healing is only engaged within the psychedelic experience (session) and that the client / patient will be healed subsequent to this psychedelic experience. In reality, much of the psychedelic healing process continues in the weeks and months following a psychedelic (or mystical) experience, wherein the client / patient puts into action the lessons that were gleaned during the psychedelic session.

“Where do I start?”

Psychedelic integration is a deeply personal process. The content brought up during which is different from client to client and from experience (“trip”)  to experience and therefore will elucidate different areas of focus for each client.

You may be asking yourself, “Where do I even start?” For this, you are encouraged to engage in self-directed curiosity toward your natural healing awareness / intelligence. Natural healing awareness / intelligence posits that our body and mind will naturally gravitate toward the process of healing, much in a similar way one’s body heals physical wounds naturally: Our bodies and minds will instinctively know a good place to start when beginning the process of healing emotional, mental, and spiritual wounds. 

As you approach your own psychedelic integration process, begin with asking yourself what feels right for you then follow that instinct as a starting guide.

“Ok, I know what I want to integrate first. Now what?”

One of the “best practices” and most comprehensive resources available can be found through the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) who provides no-fee access to their Psychedelic Integration Station / Workbook that  provides an in-depth explanation of the psychedelic integration process: (https://maps.org/integration-station/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=maps.org&utm_content=integration-station&utm_campaign=2025-bau).

With this resource in mind, having a trained (preferably regulated) mental health professional provide structured guidance through psychedelic-assisted treatment is highly recommended, especially for the purpose of integrating a safe and effective use of Self through the process.  

How might psychedelic integration be experienced within a clinical setting?

Psychotherapists offer various modalities that seek to create an effective psychedelic integration process, which may include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Humanistic Psychology, Motivational Interviewing (MI), among others. In reality, most psychotherapeutic approaches offer benefits toward the integration of psychedelic experiences. As such, exploring the optional therapeutic modalities to identify which method resonates most with your personal experiences may be an aspect of your “due diligence”. 

Also worth noting: While therapists may specialize within specific therapeutic modalities (e.g., ACT, CBT, DBT, etc.) and engage effective interventions from their respective modality/ies, having a clinician who is trained in psychedelic integration is highly encouraged and recommended. One referral resource for sourcing psychotherapists trained in psychedelic integration can be found through the web service psychedelic.support (https://psychedelic.support/) and specifically through this link: https://psychedelic.support/community/?online=false&acceptingClients=false&profileType=community&size=12&s=3&pc=false.

If you are seeking a local regulated health professional, you are welcome to connect with me (spencer@cwcp.ca) as I am experienced with the practice of psychedelic integration. 

“How do you practice psychedelic integration?”

Primarily, I approach psychedelic integration with the following modalities:

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): This modality can be useful for exploring acceptance of things that cannot be changed (e.g., past relationships, life challenges, trauma, etc.) while cultivating change in areas when possible.
  • Narrative Therapy: Can be helpful for those who are looking to redefine how they view themselves and how they view their life story. This approach can also bring about a better understanding of social constructs and to explore “why we do the things we do” in the first place. 
  • Internal Family Systems (IFS): Can benefit the process of psychedelic integration through access and healing of the protective and wounded parts of one’s psyche. The client and clinician then strive to reintegrate parts into the client’s Self concept.

N.B., With the above context provided, I do not believe every lesson learned from a psychedelic session can be integrated through introspection and thought exploration alone. There are also techniques that may be beneficial in maintaining meditative states of mind throughout one’s everyday life. For example, someone who is working through anxiety may find benefits from performing activities that put them into a flow state or interrupt anxious thought patterns. Just being in a state of mind where anxious or negative thoughts diminish can be very therapeutic in making it easier to access these states of mind more regularly. Simply put: No one method will be the best for everyone.

“I had a very difficult psychedelic experience; Where are the sunshine and rainbows?”

In certain instances, individuals can have a particularly difficult psychedelic session, which is distinctly different from a “bad” session, since there can still be a great deal of healing and lessons acquired from a difficult session.

If this is the case for you, there can be numerous reasons for this: Maybe your natural healing intelligence is trying to tell you something; maybe you had a bad set or setting (N.B., Set being the mental state that you were in at the time of taking the psychedelic, setting being the location, environment, and /or people who you were with). Whatever the reason may be, this is a great moment to reflect on the experience and grow from it. 

In rare cases, one might have a traumatic experience during a psychedelic session, thereafter having a lasting impact on everyday life; an experience that can be disheartening, as one usually engages psychedelics for a healing. When the opposite occurs, the associated feeling can be one of tremendous uncertainty (i.e., that your whole world has changed over the course of just a few hours). If this resonates with you, you are not alone: There is still hope for what is called post-traumatic growth. 

Post-traumatic growth seeks to work through trauma and experiencing a number of positive changes in one’s life in the following five areas: Appreciation of life, new possibilities in life, personal strength, relationships with others, and spiritual change. Post-traumatic growth can take time and a great deal of patience. If you have experienced lasting trauma from a psychedelic experience, I encourage you to seek support from members of the psychedelic community, experienced counsellors / psychotherapists, or associated clinicians who are experienced in working with trauma resulting from psychedelic usage. If you need immediate support, The Fireside Project (https://firesideproject.org/) can be reached by phone at 62-FIRESIDE (623-473-7433). 

Bottomline: Discussing and navigating post-traumatic growth can be worrisome to an individual new to psychedelic-assisted treatment. As such, before partaking in a first time psychedelic session, please do your “due diligence” by researching the matter thoroughly and cultivating your awareness of the associated steps in preparation of the experience.

If you are looking to work through trauma resulting from psychedelic-assisted treatment or if you are simply interested in psychedelic healing and integration with a regulated mental health clinician, get in touch: spencer@cwcp.ca

Spencer (he / they) is a Registered Social Worker offering in-person and online sessions in downtown Toronto.
Learn more about Spencer at https://cwcp.ca/clinician/spencer-wheeler/