Can support groups make psychedelic culture safer?
Some initial thoughts, and an upcoming event on this topic
Welcome to Tuesday’s links email - links to our fave stories after the paywall. If you want to sign up for the next Psychedelic Safety Seminar on the risks and benefits of integration groups, tickets here.
We’ve started running what I think is the first online peer support group for people who find themselves in extended difficulties after a psychedelic experience. We’ve run two groups so far, and the next one is on Sunday 30th June at 6pm UK time. If you’d like to attend you can let me know here. We plan to do them on the last Sunday of every month, though we might start running them more regularly.
Some people have expressed interest in running similar groups online and offline, so I’ll briefly describe the format that we’re developing.
Basically we first announce that the group will be happening on social media, and ask people to email us if they’re interested in attending. We make clear in that announcement that this is not a therapy group and no therapist is present – it’s a peer support group. We then email attendees a few days before the group, to reiterate that point. This is the email we send out:
Dear all
Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday for our next post-psychedelic difficulties peer support group.
A few things to say in advance.
First, well done for reaching out, I know post-psychedelic difficulties are hard and frightening, and the hope is we can support each other and learn from each other’s stories.
Second, this is not a therapy group, it’s peer support. We don’t have a therapist present and is not a place if you’re looking for immediate therapeutic advice. If that’s what you want, I can share resources / lists of therapists.
Third, peer support groups are not for everyone, you’ll have to listen to yourself and whether it’s helpful for you or not. I won’t be offended at all if you decide it’s not what you need right now.
If you’re in the midst of severe difficulties, be prepared that some people might be sharing about some difficulties that have lasted a while (months or occasionally years). That doesn’t mean their situation has stayed as bad the whole time - for the vast majority of people, post-psychedelic difficulties become more bearable over time.
If you feel yourself being triggered while someone else is talking or you are talking, it is absolutely fine to take a bit of time out, step away from the zoom room, go for a stretch, whatever YOU need.
To try and reduce harm and maximise benefit, a few basic rules:
1) Everything is confidential.
2) Talk about your own experience, don’t try to explain others’ situation or offer your own solution.
3) Remember people will be at different stages of their journey - some are a few months after a difficult experience, some a lot longer. Some have largely accepted what happened to them, others are in the midst of acute difficulties. Be gentle and aware that some are in the midst of difficulties, and try to find the balance between being honest and also being constructive where possible!
The group meets on Zoom. In the first group, which was attended by 15 people or so, each person shared a bit about their post-psychedelic difficulties and what they found helpful in dealing with them – because of numbers and time constraints people only had around 3 minutes. Others could then briefly respond with questions, expressions of support and sympathy or recognitions of what was similar in their own experience.
In the second group, we gave new people some time to introduce themselves and share their stories (for about 5 minutes each), then we went into breakout groups of four people. That gives people who don’t like sharing in front of larger groups an opportunity to open up.
Timekeeping is important in these sorts of groups – you need to be firm and clear about time constraints to make sure time allocation is fair and equal.
After the group, I email attendees to ask for their feedback via an anonymous survey, and to share any resources that were requested or mentioned in the group.
Sometimes people ask to be put in touch with other members of the group directly. I ask the other member of the group if that’s OK, and then connect them by email. When people have quite similar experiences, it’s can be very healing for them to talk to someone with a similar experience. A colleague is considering starting a website to share stories of post-psychedelic recovery, which I think is a great idea.
No intervention is perfect and no intervention is suitable for everyone at all times. Some people said they found even the thought of attending the group and hearing about others’ difficult experiences too triggering. Some said it made them feel more alone, because their experience was different to other people’s (for example, it was caused by an incompetent guide). Some said they felt demoralized hearing about others who have experienced post-psychedelic difficulties for many years - that’s a scary prospect when you’re in the midst of acute post-trip difficulties and are panicking that you’ll never be the same.
There are other potential issues with post-psychedelic integration groups as a form of community support. For example:
They can end up talking about psychedelics all the time. People can feel they ‘ought’ to have another psychedelic experience to ‘renew their membership card’ as Ram Dass put it.
If the group is dominated by people who are deeply into ‘psychedelic spirituality’ or New Age culture and terminology more generally, it can be quite alienating for those who are not onboard the Magic Bus.
Integration groups can have a positivity bias (people mainly share very positive stories) or a negativity bias (if it’s a survivors group or a difficulties peer support group).
Some members or facilitators can dominate the group and take up most of the time
The group can have a particular agenda – spiritual, political – which members are subtly or not-so-subtly encouraged to adopt.
The group can encourage interventions or beliefs which are ineffective or harmful
It’s increasingly understood, nonetheless, that support and integration groups have a role in the psychedelic ecosystem. Beckley Psytech just teamed up with PsyPan (an organisation of psychedelic trial participants) to run regular integration groups for its trial participants. New EU-funded trials also have funding to run post-trial groups for participants, I understand. And we’re beginning to see research on the benefits and risks of such groups, like Katherine Cheung’s recent paper, or Eddie Jacobs’ paper.
To discuss this topic, our next Psychedelic Safety Seminar is on the role of integration groups in psychedelic industry and culture. We have Katherine Cheung (NYU Bioethics) and Kim Roddy (co-founder of Sunstone Therapies) speaking, and others talking from first-hand experience. It’s on July 11th at 6pm UK time and you can get a free ticket here.
After the paywall, this week’s links, including an Orthodox Jewish father in the US whose son was harmed by psychedelics and who thinks psychedelic culture is damaging Orthodox Judaism (where, by the by, I hear psychedelics are rife!). Meanwhile, Instagram teen influencer Alex Renko thinks tripping with his parents helped him transcend to the ‘final portal’.
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