Why We Need To Talk About Psychedelic Harm-Reduction
Psychedelics have hit the mainstream media. Highly celebrated by the various headlines, they have lent themselves to being "The Next Big Thing" with the potential to heal a broad range of mental and physical diseases. It's undeniable the psychedelic experience can be extremely healing, but psychedelics’ medicinal effects shouldn't discredit, that, like with all drugs, they can also pose serious risks. With more people curious about psychedelics, the media must give a more balanced discussion of their capabilities. Or else the whitewashed rhetoric could lead to people being unaware of their potentially harmful effects and in the dark about how to avoid or overcome them.
Uncovering the stigma
Nixon's declaration of a war on drugs, in response to the 1960s counterculture, saw the dawn of stigma against psychedelic substances. Heavy legal banning and exaggerations of their mind-altering and psychotic effects led to psychedelics being left out of scientific research for years and feared by many.
1969 Press news story about a suicide allegedly caused by LSD - an example of the scaremongering around psychedelics by the media
However, over the past decade, there has been increasing evidence showing that drugs like LSD and psilocybin are valuable tools to treat a range of various disorders. As the powerful abilities of psychedelics have hit the tabloids, their associated stigmas have started to fade, and governments are now reconsidering the laws around these substances.
There is no doubt that the progress to de-stigmatise psychedelics and inform people of their usefulness has been a triumph. Yet, the conversations we have about these substances need to be well-rounded. Myths from the counter culture like “LSD will make you jump out of a window” have been far dispelled. But this doesn’t mean psychological dangers still can’t occur. Psychedelic-induced traumatisation, and the long-lasting effects it can incur, is still very real and can be very distressing. It’s great we’ve moved past a narrative of fearmongering, but we mustn’t just stick to a one-sided story that only includes the benefits and glosses over the potential harms.
Article from New Scientist 2017, idealising psychedelics to “rebuild broken brains”
Psychedelics are non-specific amplifiers.
It is a recurring theme in the West to over glamourise new trends in health. Whether it's yoga, kale or vitamin B12, we seem to be a culture of assigning "magic bullets" that will solve all ails. Several articles have described psychedelics as a miracle cure of sorts. Yet psychedelics alone are not the solution - they are non-specific amplifiers with the potential to exacerbate both good and bad.
Woman’s Health issue highlights how the yoga industry’s blossoming led to yoga becoming sensationalised in the media - a trend psychedelics are beginning to follow.
As non-specific amplifiers, psychedelics can enhance the personality aspects and thoughts of the person taking the drug and their awareness of certain parts of their surroundings. As such, set and setting, the mental and physical space in which people take psychedelics is crucial.
The set and setting
The scientific evidence which has shown psychedelics are promising treatments for mental health disorders has paid particular attention to set and setting. The patients are well-prepared and take the substance in a pleasant, comfortable environment, under a trained therapist’s guidance, and usually have multiple therapy sessions before and after.
Psychedelic therapy - the patient lies in a comfortable position and is guided by two well-trained professionals
Yet, recent media articles appear to skip mention of these highly-controlled settings, instead portraying the drugs alone are solely responsible for the mental health outcomes. These descriptions create a picture that is simply taking a tab of LSD, drinking a cup of ayahuasca or eating a handful of magic mushrooms could alone cure anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders.
City A.M Headline - mushrooms as a “magic cure” for depression
Based on this media depiction, people self-medicating with psychedelics could face serious consequences. For example, in January this year, news circulated that a man attempting to medicate his bipolar with psilocybin mushrooms nearly died by injected the spores into his vein. Perhaps if articles gave a more detailed explanation of psychedelic medicine as a guided and thoroughly controlled form of therapy, instead of a single magic bullet cure, the situation could have been avoided.
Controlling set and setting isn’t just important when thinking about using psychedelics as a tool to treat mental health. Whether being used therapeutically or recreationally, controlling mindset and environment is also a key step in decreasing the chance of having a “bad trip”, otherwise known as a psychedelic crisis.
Set and setting can decrease the likelihood of a psychedelic crisis
The psychedelic experience can be vastly different from everyday perception, cause profound realisations, and even provoke memories that have been otherwise held deep within the subconscious. These effects can make psychedelics sometimes extremely confusing, frightening, and challenging, particularly when people aren’t aware of the drugs’ effects and go on an intense mind-altering journey. Such situations often happen when people buy psychedelic drugs as part of their party mix during festivals and music events and unexpectedly find themselves entering whole new ways of looking at their reality on the dancefloor.
Taking psychedelics in highly stimulating environments can sometimes be overwhelming and daunting, especially for first-time users.
Psychedelic crises can be traumatising and even cause long-lasting effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, going into the experience with a positive mindset in a surrounding that feels comfortable can make a huge difference in decreasing the chances of a psychedelic crisis. It’s not to say people can still have difficult experiences even when the set and setting feels right. But being prepared and feeling safe in the knowledge that challenges may arise mean it’s far less likely.
Psychedelic integration
Integration is the actions people take afterwards to help make sense of their psychedelic experience, what lessons they may have learned and how they might consider making changes in their everyday lives as a result. It can include things like talking to a specialist integration therapist, attending integration circles and journaling about the experience.
Like set and setting, integration can increase the likelihood of benefitting from the experience and decrease the possibility of a psychedelic crisis. When an incident has been particularly challenging, integration can help prevent ongoing trauma-related effects and even help transform difficult experiences into a means of self-growth.
Talking about a challenging psychedelic experience with an integration therapist can help make sense of and allow somebody to learn from their experience.
Integration support
Although many integration resources exist, the little media narrative regarding the harms of psychedelics and the chance of psychedelic crisis means people who face difficulties with psychedelics may be unaware of how and where to seek support. And with so much hype around psychedelics benefits, people may even begin to criticise themselves for having challenging experiences, wondering why these drugs are so great for so many people but not themselves. Its essential people understand psychedelic crises can occur to anybody, that integration can be vital, and there’s a host of integration support networks that exist. Such networks include the International Spiritual Emergence Network and the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy.
We need to spread harm-reduction
We are already seeing journalists romanticising psychedelics to gauge good headlines and publicity. With prospects of psychedelics legalised on a free market, perhaps we might even soon see adverts from profit-motivated corporations glorifying psychedelics for the sake of selling products.
Interest in investment into psychedelics could mean corporate markets trying to sell psychedelics over-glamourise the substances
Luckily, psychedelic welfare organisations such as PsyCare UK and the Zendo Project are making more public noise about set and setting, psychedelic integration, and other critical harm-reduction steps. But with the increasing popularity of psychedelic substances, we need to increase peoples education on the risks and decreasing them.
The media reaction to the psychedelic renaissance has marked the end of an era of stigma. It's aiding important battles to ensure people access to potentially life-changing medicines and helping unravel the myths that have potentiated our harmful prohibition laws. But the glorification, in a narrow picture that avoids the harms and harm-reduction, needs to stop.
