Psychedelic Trauma: Power and Paradox

This is a topic of great concern and importance to me, and something I have wanted to speak more to for a while now. Although I am not a psychedelic therapist, I have studied both psychedelics and trauma for over 20 years. I believe the two intersect in both the most beautiful and horrifying ways.

When people are deeply suffering, there’s a yearning and need to turn to something greater than ourselves for hope. Without faith and belief in something powerful, loving and good in the face of uncertainty and loss, the despair can sometimes feel unbearable.

Collective Trauma: Searching for Hope With Psychedelics

Now, in the year 2021, we are still in the midst of a global pandemic, a climate crisis, political polarization, isolation and continued uncertainty. The unpredictability and chaos, devastation and division has activated, amplified and added to the traumas we’ve lived earlier in our lives. Personally, and collectively, we are “triggered.” We are in a collective dark night of the soul. A true reckoning with our personal selves and the fate of humanity.

In a time of such massive suffering and fear, psychedelics are gaining rapid traction in the media as the magic molecules that will save us from ourselves. I do believe psychedelics can be sacred tools for healing in certain circumstances, but I also believe their power can be exploited, contaminated, misused and dangerous. In my psychotherapy practice where I specialize in trauma and helping people process psychedelic experiences (psychedelic integration), I have seen both profound trauma healing and further traumatization (sometimes catastrophic) come from psychedelic use.

Bad Trips

If anyone reading this has experienced a “bad trip,” or been harmed while in the realm of psychedelic experience, the first thing I want to convey is IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. There are so many complex factors playing into why or how this might have happened to you. These might include, but aren’t limited to: cultural misinformation and general lack of understanding/safety/proper support, need to go underground or engage in “illegal” activity due to the drug war, a toxic social or cultural environment, general lack of predictability related to the psychedelic experience itself or unforeseen factors that influence it, human error of all variety, previous unconscious trauma stored in the psyche, and/or being taken advantage of or abused by another person or organization.

In my office, I have seen very experienced “psychonauts” who have had terrifying “bad trips” after many years of use without a problem. I have worked with people who saw an experienced shaman in a legal ceremony but felt unable to bridge a cultural or language gap and were left feeling isolated and confused. I have gotten many calls from folks desperate for someone to help their loved one who wasn’t able to “come back” from a difficult trip, and I had nowhere to send them other than to recommend hospitalization (which has its own issues). I also know of horror stories where people were terribly violated, harmed and gaslit by renowned psychedelic guides and healers.

Psychedelic Use Comes With Risk

When engaging in psychedelic use, paying attention to “set and setting” is truly important. Preparation, attention to safety, support (before, during and after) a journey can all make a huge difference in having a positive experience. However, there are no guarantees. There is always risk when ingesting a substance that dissolves boundaries, induces incredibly vulnerable states (on every level of being), and alters perception of reality in extreme and unpredictable ways.

I do believe in the healing power and potential of psychedelics. I also believe in their equal potential to harm. When there is so much excitement and hope and momentum being funneled into psychedelic therapy/research/healing, few people want to look at or see the dangers lurking behind the headlines. I can understand wanting to have a mind-blowing experience, but sometimes minds get blown-up. It’s incredibly difficult to recover from an experience like that. We don’t have the social/cultural resources to help people through that level of fragmentation and trauma. Some people end up worse off than where they started.

Since I advertise myself as a psychedelic integration provider, I often get mistaken for providing psychedelic therapy. I get regular calls from people asking if they can have a journey with an illegal substance; or sometimes, it’s for their teenage child. Many people are desperate, in very sad and tragic circumstances, and looking for a hopeful solution. This also scares me, because it’s this very desperation that makes people more vulnerable to potential harm.

Understandably, it’s often the most traumatized, grief-struck, vulnerable, spiritually curious, and trusting people who seek out psychedelic therapy and healing. Yet psychedelics also attract ego and profit driven individuals and entities looking to gain power and to exploit those in need. Sometimes these darker forces are cloaked in shiny packages and charisma, and there can be a dangerous mix of the needy and the greedy. This is not at all dissimilar from what can happen with religion, cults, and other spiritual circles and communities.

I don’t believe psychedelics themselves cause harm. They are powerful amplifiers of human consciousness. As such, they will amplify both the best and worst of human nature and human experience. At such a desperate time, when a collective sickness goes beyond COVID and is revealing a collective madness, it makes sense to want to believe that psychedelics will save us from ourselves. Yet I am more skeptical, perhaps cynical, when it comes to believing that anything can save us BUT ourselves.