The Highly Sensitive Person, Cannabis and Psychedelics
Understanding the Highly Sensitive Experience
If you’re a highly sensitive person (HSP), you process information and sensory input deeply and intensely. Your environment has a profound impact on your level of comfort, and you often notice subtle details and how things feel to each of your senses. You may be more likely to pick up on—or even absorb—the moods and energies of others.
It can be wonderful to be this attuned to life, but it can also be overwhelming, intense, and extremely uncomfortable—or, at its worst, unbearably painful and traumatic. Like many highly sensitive people, you may have pushed yourself beyond your limits to fit into a harsh world that devalues and pathologizes your gifts. This can lead to burnout, depression, anxiety, and chronic pain.
The HSP and Mind Altering Substances
When it comes to substance use, some highly sensitive people gravitate toward substances that dampen their sensitivity and allow them to tolerate environments they might otherwise find overstimulating—like consuming alcohol at crowded bars or concerts. Cannabis is sometimes used to numb emotional states, and this is where things get complex. For HSPs, cannabis use can be nuanced, with both benefits and potential harms.
On the flip side, many HSPs avoid substances that amplify discomfort, such as stimulants like caffeine, or those that overwhelm the senses, like tobacco, alcohol, or cannabis smoke.
Highly sensitive systems are often more impacted by both the pleasant and unpleasant effects of mind-altering substances. This can make dosage, frequency of use, and overall tolerance more challenging. Sometimes, the unpleasant effects are so strong that certain substances are best avoided altogether.
Cannabis and Psychedelics: Amplifiers of Sensory Processing
Cannabis and psychedelics are known for amplifying sensations and breaking down mental barriers. They heighten awareness of both internal and external realities, dissolve personal boundaries, and facilitate deep emotional processing. For HSPs, who already experience the world intensely, these substances can magnify emotions, perceptions, and energies.
Depending on factors such as dosage, setting, and personal preparedness, these experiences can be transformative and healing—or overwhelming and traumatic. An HSP taking a psychedelic or cannabis might feel a heightened sense of bliss and connection, but they are also at greater risk of sensory overload, panic, or distressing revelations.
Cannabis and Psychedelics as Healing Agents for HSPs
Cannabis is now legal for recreational use in California and has been used medicinally for some time. If you’re an HSP who has struggled with depression, insomnia, anxiety, chronic pain, or other ailments, perhaps you’ve turned to cannabis to help manage symptoms—especially when psychiatric medications didn’t feel like a good fit for your body. Or, if you’re a sensation-seeking HSP, you may have used cannabis recreationally.
Psychedelic therapy has also reemerged in recent years. Many people struggling with PTSD, anxiety, depression, chronic illness, and death anxiety are seeking it out, hoping for a breakthrough. HSPs might be especially curious—especially if daily life feels like a struggle. Psychedelic plant medicines such as psilocybin (mushrooms) and ayahuasca have been decriminalized in Oakland, making them seem more accessible and leading more people to explore their potential.
Risk Considerations for HSPs
Based on my professional experience, I believe highly sensitive people need to proceed with great caution and awareness when it comes to these powerful substances. There is a greater risk of adverse effects and even trauma if cannabis or psychedelics are used without adequate education, preparation, and safeguards.
Have you heard the story of the canary in the coal mine? Coal miners once carried caged canaries underground to alert them to toxic gases. If the canary became ill or died, the miners knew it was time to get out. Highly sensitive people are like the canaries of the human race—first to sense when something is off, toxic, or dangerous. HSPs have incredible superpowers that are worth listening to.
Both cannabis and psychedelics amplify sensation and deepen processing. They can break down defenses, heighten awareness of the inner and outer world, dissolve boundaries between self and other, help access unconscious or repressed material, and catalyze intense emotional or mystical experiences.
But when you’re already deeply sensitive, these substances can be like turning the volume up on a stereo that’s already loud. Depending on the dose, the environment, and how safe and prepared you are, your experience can range from exquisitely healing to terrifying or traumatic.
Although cannabis and psychedelics are often considered physically safe, they aren’t always energetically, psychically, or emotionally safe. Always consult your medical provider to check for contraindications, especially if you’re taking other medications or supplements. Consider your environment carefully—make sure it supports your physical, emotional, psychic, and spiritual safety.
Practical Guidance for HSPs
If you’re a highly sensitive person who feels drawn to cannabis or psychedelics, here’s my best advice: start with the smallest dose possible and wait. Research your source carefully. Learn how to measure a microdose and avoid doubling up in a single day. Choose a day without external pressures or demands, where you can feel safe and at ease.
Solitude can be supportive, as can the presence of someone you trust deeply (pets count too). If anxiety arises, breathe deeply and let yourself feel what’s happening. Shake, stretch, hum, cry—move the energy however your body asks. Music, nature, and gentle movement are wonderful allies. Listen deeply to yourself. You already have the gift of perceiving subtlety—there’s no need to rush or intensify the experience too quickly.
I strongly advise against large doses of cannabis or psychedelics without an experienced guide, a trusted ceremonial container, or participation in psychedelic-assisted therapy. These substances can dismantle your usual boundaries and expose your nervous system in ways that can be profoundly disorienting if not handled with care. I’ve seen HSPs (and non-HSPs) experience trauma from intense, uncontained journeys—especially when the environment, dosage, or facilitator was not right.
HSPs Considering Psychedelic Therapy
For those considering psychedelic therapy, working with a trained and trustworthy facilitator is crucial. Psychedelics place individuals in highly vulnerable states, much like a child’s openness to the world. Before engaging in any guided experience:
• Thoroughly research facilitators. Choose someone with experience in both psychedelic therapy and working with sensitive individuals.
• Trust your intuition. If something feels off about the setting, guide, or process, listen to that inner knowing.
• Prepare emotionally and mentally. Engage in self-reflection, meditation, or therapy beforehand to create a stable foundation for the experience.
While psychedelic therapy has shown promise in treating PTSD, depression, and anxiety, it is not without risks—especially for those with heightened sensitivity. HSPs are naturally attuned to shifts in energy and perception, making it essential to approach these experiences with awareness and preparation.
Your Sensitivity is Sacred
No matter what, self-care is the number one priority for highly sensitive people. You need you. And the world needs you—now more than ever. Cleansing, restoring, and protecting yourself isn’t optional; it’s essential.
If you’re looking to deepen your healing, consider practices like yoga, dance, hiking, journaling, therapy, prayer, cooking, gardening, making art or music. Do what you love. Do what makes you feel alive. Honor your sensitivity and protect your boundaries. Be gentle with yourself.
In Summary: Respect the Power of Your Sensitivity
To safely and wisely explore the potential benefits of cannabis or psychedelics as an HSP:
Use discernment and discretion when putting yourself into vulnerable states.
Ensure your safety—physically, emotionally, psychically, energetically, and spiritually.
Start slow and small.
Make your environment safe, beautiful, and peaceful.
Do what you love. Move your body. Feel your feelings. Let them move through you.
Listen deeply to the wisdom that arises and integrate it with care.
When you cultivate a loving, protective, and respectful relationship with your sensitivity, these substances are far more likely to do the same. If you don’t honor your sensitivity, cannabis or psychedelics may teach you the hard way.
Be your own best ally—and you may find powerful allies in these medicines too.
I offer psychotherapy for highly sensitive people and empaths in Oakland, CA, and virtually throughout California. Contact me today to explore working with me.