On the topic of psychedelics, hallucinogens and plant medicine, also commonly known as LSD, MDMA, mushrooms or psilocybin, peyote, Ayahuasca, and other natural or lab-made medicines, I have two types of clients: those who make changes right away and those who get stuck in the romanticism of the experience (spiritual bypassing).
While it is not the primary objective of my practice at this moment to help the integration of this medicine in order to heal addictions, PTSD, and profound trauma; it is my prerogative to support my clients into deeper healing, and sometimes methods other than psychotherapy and coaching are required.There are wonderful studies and centers that specifically use plant medicine to deal with trauma, such as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and in New York, the Center for Optimal Living.
With that said, my approach to the medicine mentioned above is exactly that, to use it as medicine. And personally it is quite satisfactory when a client trusts the therapeutic alliance enough to share the visions, feelings, hallucinations, invocations, “demons,” and messages that they received during their “trip.” The sharing of these profound and clarifying moments with the self and the soul, is called “integration.” Integration can be done with a therapist, or a coach who can accompany the client as they make sense of how the plant medicine is helping their current life.
In a recent session, integration took place with a client who had been struggling with leaving a “toxic relationship.” As you know, in psychotherapy we delve into childhood, attachment styles, patterns of behavior, fears, and insecurities. And if you are willing to do the work, you challenge yourself to make the necessary changes. Yet, you and I know that it is not that easy.
Needless to say, my client had gone out of the city with the intention of gaining clarity on this matter. Intention is aligning the heart and the mind for a particular purpose. In this case, the intention was their relationship. After an experience with plant medicine, in a safe and controlled environment, the necessary clarity rose to the surface of my client’s consciousness and so did their fears. My client was able to verbalize the fear of being alone, fear of failure, as well as the pressure from society to “keep a relationship.” As I mentioned above, I have clients who make changes right away and those who get stuck in the romanticism of the experience (spiritual bypassing). My client mentioned above made a rapid and profound change in less than a week. While tears and discomfort were present and expected, all the work that they had been doing in therapy made much more sense to them now. They had spoken to another part of their psyche — inaccessible to talk therapy -, and decided to leave the relationship once and for all.
If you take anything from this letter, let is be that intention and integration are extremely important, so that your chosen experience can serve you in many more ways. But first and foremost, do it with enough research and preparation as possible.
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