The psychotherapeutic use of psychedelics

Psychedelics are gaining renewed scientific respect as evidence shows they can treat anxiety, depression, addictions, and PTSD in ways not seen before in psychiatry. Researchers are carefully distancing the field from past associations with figures like Timothy Leary, yet the therapeutic claims remain substantial. A growing body of data supports high-dose psilocybin for anxiety and depression. The term 'integration' describes the sense-making process sometimes needed after a powerful psychedelic experience. Just as psychotherapy can become dogmatic, so can the stories and norms in some ceremonial circles.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Psychedelics are newly respectable. Evidence suggests that a variety of ills, from anxiety and depression to addictions and post-traumatic stress disorder, respond to them in a way hitherto unseen within psychiatry. The researchers involved have been careful to clean up the reputation of a class of drugs that, despite a wealth of promising evidence for their therapeutic effects in the 1960s and 70s, met with a moral panic that stigmatised them for decades after. Current researchers, in a drive to clean up previous Learyesque associations, are more circumspect, but the claims remain big. There is a growing and convincing body of data to support the use of high-dose psilocybin to treat anxiety and depression. Integration is the term used within the psychedelic community for the processing and sense-making that is sometimes needed after an impactful psychedelic experience. Just as psychotherapeutic modalities have the potential to lapse into dogma, so do some of the stories and norms in some ceremonial circles.