The influence of therapists’ first-hand experience with psychedelics on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy research and therapist training
This article investigates the (history of) psychedelics use by therapists. It ends with three recommendations, 1) to better investigate historical therapist' psychedelic use, 2) experiences of MAPS PTSD therapists, and 3) a new, more extensive study of the relationship of direct experience to identity formation, therapeutic alliance, and clinical outcomes by giving a course of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to therapists who work with psilocybin as a part of their training and measuring these constructs empirically.
Authors
- James Guss
- Elizabeth Nielson
Published
Abstract
Clinical research on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is rapidly advancing in the USA, with two drugs, psilocybin and MDMA, progressing through a structure of FDA-approved trials on a trajectory toward Drug Enforcement Agency rescheduling for therapeutic use. Researcher’s and clinician’s personal use of psychedelics was cited as a potential confound in psychedelic research studies conducted in the 1950s and 1960s, a concern which contributed to the cessation of this research for some 20 years. Currently, there is no empirical research on personal use of psychedelics by current academic researchers and clinicians; its influence is undocumented, unknown, and undertheorized. This paper explores the history of personal use of psychedelics by clinicians and researchers, the potential impact of personal use on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and research, and the rationale for opening an academic discussion and program of research to investigate the role of personal use. We propose that there are factors unique to psychedelic-assisted therapy such that training for it cannot neatly fit into the framework of modern psychopharmacology training, nor be fully analogous to psychotherapy training in contemporary psychological and psychiatric settings. We argue that scientific exploration of the influence of therapists’ first-hand experience of psychedelics on psychedelic-assisted therapy outcomes is feasible, timely, and necessary for the future of clinical research.
Research Summary of 'The influence of therapists’ first-hand experience with psychedelics on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy research and therapist training'
Introduction
Nielson and colleagues situate this paper in the context of a renewed wave of academic research on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, particularly with psilocybin and MDMA, and note a historical tension: in the 1950s–1960s many researchers and therapists reported direct experience with psychedelics, and critics questioned whether such first-hand use contaminated scientific objectivity. They trace how restrictive laws and a shift toward double-blind trial designs contributed to a hiatus in above-ground research and observe that, although clinical trials have resumed since the 1990s, the influence of researchers’ and clinicians’ personal experience with psychedelics remains largely undocumented and undertheorised. This paper therefore sets out to open an academic dialogue and propose a program of enquiry about the role of therapists’ first-hand psychedelic experiences in both research and therapist training. Nielson and colleagues intend to review the historical record, describe contemporary training practices and their limits, compare parallels from religious/shamanic and other psychotherapeutic traditions, and advance concrete proposals for empirical research to determine whether and how such personal experience affects therapist identity, therapeutic alliance, and patient outcomes.
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Study Details
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Nielson, E. M., & Guss, J. (2018). The influence of therapists’ first-hand experience with psychedelics on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy research and therapist training. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 2(2), 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2018.009
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