Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and an apparent expansion of consciousness. They are under strict government regulation in most countries and are used for a variety of purposes; and perhaps, most interestingly, in therapy.
Although many people are inclined to believe that psychedelic therapy began with Albert Hoffman’s discovery of LSD, the history of these drugs actually goes back thousands of years. In Aztec culture, for example, people used psilocybin mushrooms known as teonanácatl in religious ceremonies in order to communicate with their Gods.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the use of LSD as a form of therapy boomed. In 1953, American psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond began using the drugs on his patients who had been diagnosed with alcoholism. This prompted several other psychiatrists across America to adopt this method, with some reports stating that as many as 40,000 patients were prescribed LSD over the course of the decade. They also began being administered to patients suffering with schizophrenia, especially during the Spring Grove Experiment in the early 1970s, which sparked a lot of controversy in the media.
Nowadays, the world is seeing a so-called psychedelic “resurgence”. As more and more countries are beginning to legalize psychedelics in the context of clinical trials, people are starting to become more interested in the use of these substances for therapeutic purposes. Several studies have shown that the use of psychedelics, (especially ayahuasca and psilocybin) have proved effective in threatening alcoholism as well as reducing anxiety related to terminal illness. However, this has inevitably sparked controversies, with some claiming that these studies have a bias for positive outcomes. An ethnographic study published in the “American Anthropological Association” focused on a group of patients from Denmark proved that the use of psychedelics in therapy does not work wonders for some people. The study specifically focused on the “integration” part of this therapy, which is usually ignored in others studies, meaning the period after the psychedelics’ effects have worn off, where some users take on the task of making sense and use of the experience in the context of their everyday existence. For many patients, the “real work” began only after the ingestion of psychedelics, and often had to be accompanied by other activities such as meditation and reading. Some patients also experienced feelings of derealization and dissociation, which only furthered their already existing anxiety.
Although there is still much that is unknown about psychedelics, their shortcomings shouldn’t be ignored. The therapy landscape will continue to change and adapt in accordance with such trends, but it is important for all of us to realize that what works for someone might not be suitable for us.
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