Although your trip ended, your adventure has only just begun. Psychedelics are well-known for the peculiar visions, puzzling shenanigans, and mind-bending encounters they may produce. These different states of awareness can have profound meaning and even provide difficulties for certain people. Therefore, how do you interpret your adventure once it's done? Whether you're aware of it or not, the time after a psychedelic experience provides a window of opportunity to reflect on and understand what happened, expanding knowledge that will help you in the long run. This procedure is now referred to as "psychedelic integration," since more mental health practitioners pursue psychedelic training, it has found a place in therapeutic procedures. The subject of psychedelic integrative therapy is quite complicated. In this article, we aim to provide you with a general overview of integrative therapy, its principles, and a look over how psychedelic integration therapy works.
What is Integration therapy?
Integration therapy is a theoretical school of psychology that influences the methods certain psychologists, therapists, and other mental health practitioners apply in their daily work. It is also known as integrative psychotherapy or integrative therapy.
Different types of integrative psychotherapy
Integrative psychotherapy can address various physical and mental health issues and disorders, including anxiety, stress, depression, pain, sleep issues, and trauma. The approach is comparable to other talk treatment approaches in that it begins with a discussion and is then shaped by the provider's skill and the client's or patient's requirements. In further text, we will state out few types of integrative therapy.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy Relates your life's impact on your ideas, feelings, and behaviors.
- Gestalt Focuses on being present and being aware of oneself
- Psychodynamic Concentrates on the factors that underlie your behavior, such as your personality, attitude, and emotions.
- Family systems Address the dynamics of the family.
What is the difference between psychedelic-assisted therapy and integrative therapy?
What, therefore, is the precise distinction between integration and psychedelic-assisted therapy? A specific psychedelic substance will be used in psychedelic-assisted therapy, which is often provided by medical professionals and/or psychologists who are available during the entire experience. Psychedelic integration, on the other hand, refers to psychotherapy, counseling, or coaching that occurs in combination with the psychedelic experience; before, during, or after the psychedelic experience. Many individuals are looking for a psychedelic integration specialist to assist them in making sense of their experience and integrating those lessons into everyday life, with the key distinction being the lack of the actual psychedelic chemical. As a result, psychedelic integration frequently takes place outside of a therapeutic environment.
Psychedelic Integration: What is it and why is it important?
Some therapists and counselors know the power of particular psychedelic substances to promote new thought patterns and awaken repressed memories, ideas, and emotions since they were first used. These characteristics inspired psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond to use the name "psychedelic," which derives from Greek and means "mind-manifesting." Psychedelics may be effective in terms of therapy because they help people learn more about their bodies and minds. However, these abrupt shifts of perspective and peeks into the insights of the mind can occasionally be difficult for a person. These encounters might occasionally leave us unsure about how to relate to our perception of reality. Traumas might occasionally come to the surface and cause anxiety brought on by unpleasant recollections. This is the main reason to have integration therapy. However, by integrating psychotherapy with our psychedelic experiences, we may start to make sense of them, internalize whatever realizations we may have, and turn challenges into worthwhile chances for personal development with the guidance and support of a therapist. Scientists contend that after using psychedelics, the brain experiences a period of increased neuroplasticity during which thinking and behavior patterns are simpler to reprogram. Given this moment of opportunity, integration may also help us live better every day by encouraging us to give up unhealthy behaviors and incorporate integrated better ones. Integrating a psychedelic experience may be done in a variety of ways. For instance, although some people opt to self-direct, others may look for assistance from integrative therapists or coaches. Some people could feel content after just one or two integration sessions, while for others, it might be a hard adjustment. Additionally, because psychedelic experiences are so incredibly diverse, you can integrate one trip quite differently from another.
Goals of psychedelic integrative therapy
Psychedelic integration's goals are depending from one individual to another and from trip to trip, different steps will be taken to incorporate an experience. However, all of these approaches are brought together by a few universal integration goals:
- To investigate your visual, bodily, and psychological psychedelic experiences to obtain an understanding of your past, present, and possible future
- Adapting what you learned from a psychedelic experience to improve your daily life
- Coping with any altered perceptions of reality or of one's relationship to oneself and others that may result from a psychedelic experience
- Developing coping mechanisms for the trauma of challenging psychedelic experiences
- Making sense of anything about the psychedelic experience that was particularly perplexing
What should you expect?
Depending on the therapist's approach and the resources you select to bring to the meeting from your psychedelic experience, psychedelic integration therapy can look different. A therapist's technique for psychedelic integration will inevitably be influenced by their culture and identity in addition to their professional training. What a client contributes to the counseling environment will also affect how psychedelic integration functions in therapy. Your motivations and goals for getting therapy will ultimately determine how the treatment develops. These may include personal or spiritual growth, trauma processing, existential investigation, or controlling symptoms following a psychedelic experience. Integration therapy's gentle procedure can occasionally result in a greater appreciation for others, the natural world, one's creativity, or oneself. It may also be a tumultuous, stormy encounter that forces a problematic confrontation with one's past pain and memories. Removing traumatic and unconscious content can cause anxiety, panic attacks, depersonalization, and other disturbances. Finding experts who can handle the complexity of your demands is therefore crucial, particularly if trauma is involved.
Finding a psychedelic integrative therapist
Finding the ideal individual to assist you on your integration journey may occasionally be difficult since there are so many things to take into account. In large part, you are in control of your psychedelic experience. You may locate the greatest psychedelic integration specialist for you by researching, being diligent, and being aware of your needs. Each practitioner will come from a different background, with some having experience with more shamanic healing techniques and others having a firmer grasp of Western medical science. Some professionals could have more experience with a certain psychedelic drug than others. In the end, you'll want to locate a reputable practitioner that respects your path and your beliefs while also being qualified for positive outcomes in your spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery. We can help you find providers with a range of different skill sets and backgrounds, click here.
What to look for in an integrative therapist or a coach?
A person trained in a therapy method that aids in helping clients better understand their psychedelic experiences is known as a "psychedelic integration therapist." Participants in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy studies receive this kind of assistance. Integration therapists can help people revisit challenges that may have surfaced during psychedelic trips and lead them to understand how these challenges may provide insight and lessons for the future by using various therapies, such as eye movement desensitization reprogramming therapy (EMDR) or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
Psychedelic Integrative therapy in a group setting
Individuals have understood the value of social connection in sustaining people through altered experiences for as far as psychedelic traditions have been practiced. And some of the first psychedelic research studies conducted in the West included group settings and therapeutic methods. A psychedelic integration circle is a meeting where participants work together, and take turns listening to and discussing their personal psychedelic-related experiences, ideas, and emotions. A circle's leadership and management can be handled by one or even more integrative therapy professionals, or it can adopt a more decentralized strategy under the control of the group's members. Integration circles have limited power, especially for introverts and people with social anxiety. Both in-person and online integrative approach circles have advantages and disadvantages. An online circle, for instance, allows participants to stay in the privacy and comfort of their homes without being restricted by distance. However, being in the actual presence of a supportive group is not the same as being in an online integrative approach circle.
What sets integration therapists apart from psychedelic guides?
Although education and licensing criteria for psychotherapists vary globally, generally speaking, the term "therapist" refers to someone who has acquired a certain kind of mental health training, frequently impacted by medical and scientific practice. Standards of experience, education, and moral behavior are typically intended to be enforced through regulations on therapist licenses. In other words, there is a system of responsibility, and a therapist who hurts a client risks having their license withdrawn or suspended. People who deal with psychedelics or integration beyond the setting of conventional treatment are referred to as "guides" or "coaches." Inevitably, this function and associated initiation procedures differ among societies, especially in countries with lengthy histories of spiritual community leadership.
Conclusion
A standalone journey may develop into a lifetime process that directs whole new ways of being by analyzing, processing, and understanding your psychedelic experiences. Additionally, processing goes much beyond the use of psychedelics. To integrate, we must approach all of our life's events with curiosity, examining how they affect us both positively and negatively, where we may start to let go of trauma, and what insights we can use going ahead. There is no "best-before" date for integration, so whether you want to stay connected with a trip from years ago or have recently had a psychedelic experience, remember that any integration is positive compared to none in our opinion, regardless of the processing methods or model you choose.
Vivien Freeflow ยท 2/15/2023
