FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
And yeah, there’s a lot of them! Ask away – we’re here for it.
Questions About Oregon Psilocybin Therapy & Working With Us
Absolutely not! This is one of the most common misconceptions of Oregon’s legalization of psilocybin. In fact, we can tell you that Measure 109 is roughly 125 pages of laws and regulations around psilocybin administration. It is a highly regulated framework that is primarily for the benefit, protection and safety of clients.
Here’s the direct link to the full Oregon Administrative Rules if you care to wade through them, but in a nutshell, in order to receive legal psilocybin therapy, you must take the medicine at a State-licensed ‘Service Center’ and all psilocybin administration sessions must be facilitated by a State-licensed ‘Facilitator’. This Facilitator is not legally allowed to practice any other areas of licensure they may possess, such as psychotherapy during a psilocybin administration session. Along with this, all legal psilocybin products must be grown by State-licensed manufacturers and tested for potency by State-licensed labs.
Let’s gently dig into the root cause of why you feel nervous. It’s common to be nervous about the physical or emotional safety of therapeutic journeys. To help combat this, the universal advice for trying anything new is: “Start low and go slow.”
Types of fear can be broken down into experience-based fear (you’ve experienced something harmful and now legitimately fear it) and inexperience-based fear (which is more similar to anxiety and based on negative outcomes you imagine may happen, but in fact have not). Most new clients will fall into the latter category – the fear of the unknown.
To help increase familiarity and comfort level, we might recommend you begin with microdosing. This gives you time to learn, to get curious, to be open-minded, and to dip your toe in the water.
The only thing you are going to face along your journey is Yourself. And yes, for some of you on this journey, that very idea might be terrifying. However, we’ve got you. And so does the medicine. You can work your way up to the larger, life-changing doses slowly and in your own timeframe.
If safety is your primary concern, you can read in depth in our article Psilocybin Safety & Risk. Additionally, here is a link to a clinical trial published with the National Library of Medicine discussing the low physical & psychological risk of high dose psilocybin administration.
It really depends on what you are looking for, both in terms of an overall experience and also how you prefer to approach healing.
The clients who have jaw-dropping results with us are those who are fully committed to their healing, are willing to put in the work, and are open to new feedback and beliefs. This latter piece is important both from a health coaching education perspective and also from a psychedelic medicine perspective. You likely won’t do well here if you’re stuck in your ways or mindset and aren’t willing to change and adapt.
After all, isn’t it being stuck that’s not letting you move forward?
Although we work with clients of all ages (21+), psychedelic medicine is ideal for those in their midlife phase (mid 30’s through mid 50’s). At this point in life, you’ve established a career and family if you’ve wanted one, have likely been through some pretty challenging life experiences, and may be feeling burnt out or asking ‘what’s next’. Psychedelic therapy really helps you integrate the lessons from the first half of your life and apply them to your second half. It also helps you heal from prior grief and trauma that have kept you stuck and miserable .
It’s important to know (as detailed in our What To Expect page) that we emphasize all psychedelic therapy within the context of INTEGRATION, and the foundation of our Health Coaching is in simple but consistent daily habits. These are like small bricks in a road you pave daily that over time becomes the path to your goal.
Our overall approach is one of Balance and Holistic Integration, which means we are going to incorporate practices and beliefs from a variety of sources, and will adapt your experience to you based on what your preferences. For example, some clients are more science and research minded while others fall more on the spiritual or mystical side. We can roll with both ends of that spectrum.
What we’ll never do is force you to have one type of experience. However, we are always creating our Group Class & Workshop programming across a diverse set of interests.
Thanks for asking, and this is SUCH an important question! The State of Oregon made the explicit decision to open up Facilitation licensure to people of all walks of life (pending interview and acceptance into a State approved Training program), and not just licensed mental health professionals. We are so glad they did. We believe this will strengthen the overall Facilitator network in the state by infusing it with diversity and a variety of expertise in related areas, allowing people to access the type of therapy that is the best fit for them.
My (Kat’s) formal education is:
– Bachelor of Science Degree from George Fox University in Computer & Information Science
– Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from University of Liverpool (yes, England), and
– Master of Science degree in Business Management in Health & Technology from Oregon Health and Sciences University
I have 20 years of high tech corporate career experience which makes me uniquely suited to work with clients of that nature. You can read more on my Bio page, but I’ve led delivery, strategy and consulting work across a range of industries and geographies.
In terms of non-accredited professional coursework, I have studied and received completion certificates from:
– Entheogen Institute Psilocybin Facilitator program, which is 160 hours of direct hands-on training to facilitate psilocybin sessions. This program is approved by Oregon Health Authority and Higher Education Committee.
– Global Summit on Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, which was a 100 hour training summit with world leaders teaching on a variety of psychedelic related health topics including Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, Paul Stamets and dozens of others
– Trauma Informed Therapy Summit
– Trauma Super-Conference by Informed Psychology (UK based)
– National Institute for the Application of Clinical & Behavioral Medicine – I have graduated from several courses including The Advanced Master Program for Treatment of Trauma, Working with Clients who are Stuck, and Working with Core Beliefs of Not Good Enough
– Certified holistic health & nutrition coach through Precision Nutrition
– I am also an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church and can perform a variety of spiritual ceremonies
In addition to this formal coursework, I have been a lifelong student of self-healing and have read over 100 books on a variety of topics surrounding mental health, childhood wounds, emotionally unavailable caretakers, generational trauma, romantic partnerships, grief, depression, and addiction. Some of my favorite authors are Nicole LePera, Brene Brown, Gabor Mate, Bessel van der Kolk, and Lindsay Gibson.
In terms of my own direct life experience, I understand firsthand what it is like to go through a number of challenges and traumas. From abuse, divorce and child loss, life has brought me many joys and challenges. A combination of psychology books and psychedelic medicine have helped me do my OWN work, and I know firsthand what it is like to walk through the darkness. While I am a lifelong student (we all are, Life is just one big Practice), I am comfortable in emotional darkness and have no hesitation about getting down in the trenches with you. Not as your ‘therapist’, but as your advocate and guide.
I hope this information helps you determine whether or not to entrust your vulnerability and healing to my care. Your trust is the most important thing to me. If I’m not the right fit, let’s find someone who is! I have a growing network of other psilocybin professionals.
As Fractal Soul grows, we will be bringing other Facilitators who specialize in different things. So check back as we grow our Staff!
The only thing you truly need to prepare yourself for any psilocybin work is to be willing and open-minded. Psilocybin can work wonders but it does very little if you pay for it and then are resistant to it. Of course, you don’t have to have the capability of opening to it fully on the first try (this comes easier to some of us than others). But the willingness and courage to TRY, and be open to the outcome, is paramount.
Beyond that, our philosophy is that Knowledge is Power. If you know what to expect, the fear of the unknown is minimized and you can relax into the experience. This is why we have a standard Onboarding & Orientation experience for all of our clients.
There is no such thing as a dumb question! Please ask away either directly to our Staff, or within the Community.
Sure! We break our psilocybin administration sessions into three dose ranges: Microdoses, Low Doses, and Full Doses. Here’s a good way to think about them:
CONNECTING: Microdoses are Connecting doses in that they help you reconnect with your inner self and listen to your inner needs and emotions. They are subtle and ‘sub perceptual.’ You can take them in the morning or at lunch time and not be significantly impacted during the work day. You are not intoxicated and can still drive a car, work out at the gym, attend meetings, even give presentations at work. They subtly reduce anxiety and fear, subtly lift mood (easing depression or downward spiral days), may result in a mild euphoric/happy feeling, and may increase the type of focus associated with ‘flow’ or being ‘in the zone’.
The main impact that can be contextually undesired is in their opening effect: If you need to have a difficult conversation where you maintain careful wording and/or a ‘facade’, a microdosing day may not be the best day to do that, as you’ll feel much more authentic and more likely to say what you really think. 🙂 Because they encourage balancing in the body and mind, if you have been chronically burning the candle at both ends, you are going to experience resistance to doing so on days you microdose, until your body has rebalanced its energy levels.
We define a Microdose as .05 to .2g of dried mushroom, with the ‘Standard’ that works best for most clients being .1g.
CALMING & CREATIVITY: Low to mid doses are heavily Calming, and this can facilitate deep gratitude and creativity as well as intense stress relief. While they can be disruptive to the work day, they are great for social occasions. They can increase empathy and listening skills. You will have stronger symptoms than with the microdose – a more intense calm, opening up, lack of fear/anxiety, and potential moderate euphoria or general feeling of happiness and well-being. This is not a dose to do something that requires heavy willpower, as it tends to relax you.
Doses of .5g to .8g more tend to feel like a muscle relaxant and are great for deep relaxation, stress relief and reflection.
Doses of .3g to .5g are an excellent range to paint or draw, write creatively, or spend time in nature. Unlike other substances like alcohol or cannabis, psilocybin does not shut you down or make a ‘zombie’ out of you…rather, it opens you up and expands your awareness. Anything under 1 gram is NOT a consciousness-altering dose.
Our Calming & Creativity doses are used in our various Small Group Classes & Workshops. We use .3 to .8 grams for these Classes, depending on the purpose and intent of the session. In 2024, we will introduce a 2g Ceremony for advanced clients only.
CONSCIOUSNESS: We call our full doses Consciousness doses. This is a therapeutic dose that will alter and expand your Consciousness, and is associated with what we call a typical ‘journey’. During this journey you will experience the typical effects – loss of sense of time, partial loss of sense of self (in particular, superficial labels and harmful beliefs), bubbling up and releasing of difficult emotions (namely, sadness, anger), shimmering or geometric visuals, and a deep inner calm and connection with the Universe that simply cannot be described in words. You may also feel intense Love, originating either from yourself or some external ‘Universal’ source.
After the first hour or so, for the next 2-3 hours, you will *probably* not want to be standing up, and you will also be unable to operate technology (eg, typing on phones) without great difficulty. Serotonin impacts muscle coordination, so this is a time to lie down and relax. The prefrontal cortex is suppressed during this time, so it is not a time to Think, but rather to simply Be. You will still have thoughts, intuitions, and insights during this time but they will come from other areas of the brain. They will not be critical or analytical thoughts.
Many people state they can physically feel the increased connections throughout their brain that psilocybin induces. They are able to remember things they couldn’t before, or draw conclusions and meanings between events or info that they couldn’t see before. You may lift partially or fully out of your body (mentally, of course – not physically) and experience yourself, past events, or the world from a outside perspective.
Our full dose journeys (Phoenix Sessions) are dosed at 2-3 grams. We do not offer journeys over 3 grams for 1:1 sessions.
We understand the sentiment, as microdoses are often provided in capsule form. And we DO encourage viewing psilocybin as a ‘medicine’ – an Earth-provided medicine which humans are highly attuned to, suggesting an evolutionary symbiotic relationship. This is in opposition to how many people now view it, which is as nothing more than an illegal recreational drug.
However, we do NOT encourage clients to think of their psilocybin microdose as equivalent to a prescription medication. For modern usage, we want to get our clients out of the Western Medicine mentality of mindless pill-popping, and instead to go about their microdose practice with intention. We highly recommend co-practices of meditation, journaling, vagus nerve strengthening, and healthy eating and movement as practices of synergistic self-care.
It is also helpful to view your microdose as providing a glimpse into the truths and insights of the Universe (those same truths and insights a full dose provides in spades). It can open up messages to you, increase your creativity, improve your calmness by infusing you with Universal abundance energy, etc.
But these things will always feel more prevalent if you spend time focusing on them with intention. Do not just swallow your pill and go on about your day, but take a moment to ground yourself, open your heart, and ask the medicine to show you what you need. You will find you develop a symbiotic relationship with your psilocybin microdosing practice that never existed with prescription/big pharma medication.
We know that many clients will come to us who are acutely suffering, and we want to help as many as we can. This is why we have the Phoenix Session program. However, even with Phoenix Sessions, we require preparation to ensure that you have a safe, comfortable and beautiful experience that truly does relieve your suffering.
Our preparation framework involves working with you to assess where you are, engage in any helpful exercises, spend time reflecting through meditation and journaling, take good care of yourself physically and emotionally (including detox from harmful relationships, news or social platforms) and ideally, microdosing as well. This may take as little as one week or as much as one month, depending on your comfort level and readiness for your session.
This prep work will help you achieve the best result possible from your investment.
We do not just take in the general public for an immediate full dose journey. It would be unethical and irresponsible for us, not to mention potentially harmful for the client.
** Full dose journey is defined as 2-3g of dried cubensis mushroom, equivalent to 20-30mg of pure psilocybin/psilocin analyte.
There are no known contraindications to microdosing. For mid to large dose sessions, we are unable to serve clients with any of the following health conditions:
– Personal or biological parent history of psychotic disorders (eg, schizophrenia)
– Diagnosed Bipolar with manic episodes (Bipolar I)
– History of seizures (eg, epilepsy)
– Serious heart conditions
(These clients are still able to enroll in ELEMENTALS Microdosing on a trial basis.)
Though not contraindicated, we will review your medication and alcohol use during Intake and may request your healthcare professional’s approval (the person who prescribed you this medication) to conduct any full dose journeys. If possible, you should wean yourself off your medication, or to a lower dose, prior to the journey. Alcohol is required not to be consumed for three days prior, and we prefer 1-2 weeks of detox.
A final note on heart conditions: If you have any history of heart conditions, you’ll need your doctor’s approval before taking a full dose journey. If you have had a significant heart condition you should not take a full dose journey. Psilocybin can moderately increase blood pressure for the first hour or so of a journey, and your doctor needs to provide us your approval that this will not impact your treatment or put you at risk in any way.
It is possible, yes.
However, this is highly individualistic, so it would be irresponsible to make any blanket promises.
If you are under the care of a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist, we will want to partner with them on your psilocybin therapy, which is different from traditional Western ‘therapy’ in the sense that it is more directly about the relationship between you and the medicine, with me or a member of the Fractal Soul Staff acting as a facilitator and guide to ensure your safety, comfort, preparation and integration.
It bears repeating: This is not about a third party ‘treating’ or ‘curing’ you. It is a self-healing, holistic-healing modality.
Nevertheless, it is also extremely powerful for many people. We’ll want to get your healthcare professional (whoever is treating you for mental health, whether a family doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist/counselor, etc) support before embarking on this journey and come up together with a plan for gradually reducing prescription medication over time.
Please also know that some medications (SSRI’s) and other substances (ie, alcohol, cannabis) will deaden or desensitize serotonin receptors and result in your needing a larger psilocybin dose to feel the same level of effects as someone not on those substances. Serotonin receptor re-sensitization is another goal that we can aim to achieve over time, with you weaning off the desensitizing drugs. Going cold turkey is not recommended unless your doctor supports it.
While it is best that at least one close family member or friend (eg, your partner, a sibling, a parent or a best friend) knows about your journey and is supportive of it, please repeat after me as many times as it takes to sink in:
You do not need anyone else’s permission to heal.
Making the decision to engage in psilocybin therapy is a highly personal one, akin to any other medical decisions you may make. It’s not your family’s business what medications you are taking or any procedures you may choose to undertake, unless you choose to tell them. So utilize your best judgment, but don’t feel obligated to share this decision with anyone you feel would be judgmental or unsupportive. If they are simply lacking education, feel free to send them to our website or to the website of an internationally acclaimed medical research facility such as Johns Hopkins.
We DO need an Emergency Contact on file for you. If you are uncomfortable with putting down any names you know, let’s talk about that and come up with a solution for you. Someone who knows you will need to be informed in the unlikely event you experience a medical emergency and need to be transported.
As awareness and familiarity with psilocybin therapy spreads – and as more people tell their stories of healing – the stigma will fade. But there is no getting around the fact this is a new industry and not everyone is going to understand. A lot of people are still under the misconceptions leftover from the 1960’s and Nixon’s so-called ‘War on Drugs’ in the 1970’s.
Therapeutic psilocybin is not as stigmatized as it was, say, 20 or 30 years ago. But those of us who grew up in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s will still have these cultural-political messages in our minds and that messaging will need to be deprogrammed with more accurate and up to date medical/scientific information.
Legal Psilocybin Therapy in Oregon follows alcohol and cannabis age laws. Therefore, it is only legal for adults age 21 or over.
For adults age 18 to 20, please check out our non-psilocybin health coaching program, and we encourage beginning the practice/study of meditation, which over time, produces similar results in the brain to psilocybin therapy (psilocybin is just a shortcut of sorts).
Common Objections & Concerns
We dedicate this section to fighting misinformation and stigmas surrounding Legal Psilocybin Therapy in Oregon for Mental Health and Entheogenic/Spiritual Wellness.
Absolutely!
The definition of a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance is: no known medical use and high potential for abuse.
When the federal government, under Richard Nixon, passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1971 and included psilocybin on that list, it directly defied extensive scientific research. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, 40,000 patients were treated with psilocybin in over 1,000 clinical trials. These trials overwhelming spoke to psilocybin’s potential for treating mental health and addiction afflictions, as well as its very low potential for abuse.
Today, there are a number of lawmakers trying to rectify this by removing psilocybin from the Schedule 1 drug list. Even the FDA has fast-tracked psilocybin for approval in therapeutic treatment of major depression. Perhaps there is no stronger evidence that the Federal Government admits psilocybin’s medical use for mental health treatment. This in and of itself disqualifies it from the Schedule 1 definition.
Psilocybin has been proven in many clinical trials to have high potential efficacy in the treatment of mental health issues, and new research is expounding into other areas from chronic pain to dementia. You can see our Latest Psilocybin Research page for more info, or simply do any Google search on Psilocybin Research! There are currently over 100 registered clinical trials with psilocybin, and that’s not counting the thousands that have been conducted in the past.
Psilocybin also has the lowest potential for abuse of any known or common ‘drug’ – see a toxicity drug chart in our article on Psilocybin Safety. In fact, psilocybin is anti-addictive, in the sense that if you try to use too much of it too often, it simply stops working in the brain. It won’t let you get addicted to it. Many people have tried to take a full dose journey a day or two after their prior one, and experienced nothing. This is why we recommend 1-3 months between large journeys, and we never have our microdosers take their doses on consecutive days. The medicine lasts for 2-3 days anyway. There is a beautiful afterglow effect!
There are bills in over two dozen states that either already have, or are proposing, the decriminalization or legalization of psilocybin for medical/therapeutic use. Many of these bills have been introduced by Republican lawmakers, which means its potential is being recognized on a bipartisan level. You can read more details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin_decriminalization_in_the_United_States
Psilocybin was fully legal in the United States until October 24,1968, when the Staggers-Dodd bill passed which made possession of it illegal. However, it wasn’t seriously enforced until 1971, with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, which marked the beginning of Richard Nixon’s (some would say disastrous) ‘War on Drugs’.
As we now know, the War on Drugs was not a war on *all* drugs, but rather a war on street drugs. While many street drugs are indeed addictive and dangerous, it must be acknowledged that many pharmaceutical drugs can be just as addictive or dangerous, such as prescription opioids. Interestingly, alcohol remained legal during the War on Drugs, though it has had disastrous effects across society, is highly addictive, lethal at relatively low doses, has no known medical use, and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths per year.
In 1971, psychedelics became internationally illegal in most countries due to the Convention of Psychotropic Substances, which was a treaty developed by the United Nations that made the manufacture, distribution, and possession of all psychedelics illegal. More than 180 countries have signed this treaty. Until this point, there were hundreds of research studies conducted at top Universities and privately funded.
Unfortunately, psilocybin along with LSD become wrapped up in the mid-1960’s counterculture, where evangelists such as Timothy Leary pushed for irresponsible use. This ended up causing a moral panic around it and other drugs.
Nixon’s War on Drugs was nevertheless highly controversial. In 1994, John Ehrlichman, who was Nixon’s domestic policy advisor and Watergate co-conspirator, told journalist Dan Baum that the War On Drugs was really an attempt to disrupt and oppress the president’s political enemies.
His quote: “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
Of course, we can’t change the past, and casting blame holds no benefit. Starting in the early 2000’s, psychedelic research began to start again. Today, it is even more promising than before, especially with medical advances that allow us to measure changes more accurately such as brain scans.
Some people may be wanting to do that, but no – that is not the purpose of the modern psychedelic renaissance, nor of Fractal Soul’s business goals, mission or vision. Nor is the purpose to undermine America’s values or patriotism, but rather to experience wholeness as a part of humanity, and within humanity as part of the whole of all there is.
As stated on our home page and in Oregon Revised Statute 475A, the purpose of psilocybin therapy in Oregon is to provide an alternative program to addressing mental health and addiction crisis in the State through which no doctor referral is needed. Though many may still use psychedelics purely for recreational use, we are now playing in a much bigger arena with much bigger potential.
It bears repeating: Psychedelic therapy has huge potential for treating a variety of mental health conditions. Its potential really cannot be understated.
The current mental health model in the United States is not working. It does not reach over half of people who need it, and psychiatry today is based mainly on prescription medications which mask symptoms and can lead to dependence over time.
Hallucinations (visual distortions) are NOT the primary reason to take psychedelics – INSIGHTS are.
Remember, you are here for mental, emotional and spiritual wellness and healing. Psilocybin physically changes your brain structure and chemistry in positive ways. It causes neurogenesis, creating new neural pathways in the brain, and temporarily disrupting deep ‘ruts’ or pathways of thinking, so clients can experience the opportunity to approach various beliefs and memories differently. Visuals are a small portion of the therapeutic experience.
Distorted visuals will be mild at the 2-2.5g dose, and are usually present only for ~2 hours of the 6 hour journey. You are likely to see shimmering colors in light, gently rolling patterns (the wall may seem like it is rolling), or fractal patterns behind closed eyes or on blank surfaces like a ceiling.
Strong visuals typically happen at very strong, heroic doses such as 4-5g+, which are not dosages that we administer at Fractal Soul. In general, there is a sliding scale where the larger the dose, the more ‘somatic’ the experience becomes, and the less mental/emotional it becomes. At some point an overly large dose will cause a client to bypass the therapeutic reflective benefit, which is something we wish to avoid.
An ‘overdose’ is definitely defined differently than a ‘bad trip’, the latter of which usually involves challenging emotions or pushing past resistance to opening up and letting go.
From a physical toxicity standpoint, psilocybin is listed as the lowest toxicity drug/substance on a chart of common legal and illicit drugs. For all intents and purposes, no – it is physically impossible to overdose on psilocybin in normal, healthy individuals.
Please note: People with serious heart conditions should not take psilocybin, as it can mildly to moderately increase blood pressure or heart rate for the first hour or so after administration. This has no impact on healthy individuals and is only a risk factor for those with serious cardiovascular diseases. If you take a large psilocybin dose and have a heart condition, you increase your risk of cardiac arrest.
You can read about this topic in-depth in our article on Psilocybin Safety & Risk. But in general, psilocybin has less acute toxicity than caffeine (or even water), and has less dependence potential than alcohol, cannabis or even cold medicine.
In the United States, more than one million people have used psilocybin mushrooms without fatalities. Similar outcomes have been reported in Europe, which makes psilocybin mushrooms a safe substance at different doses, from micro-doses to so-called heroic doses (5g+). Please see the following PDF resource for detailed info. https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/11/2/148/pdf
Compare this with the 140,000 people who die each year in the United States alone from excessive alcohol use.
For more information on safety, you can do a Google search or read this article at The Guardian.
For more information on ‘bad trips’, read our below questions on ‘people doing stupid things’. 🙂
This claim was part of standard drug education in the 1980’s and 90’s. It was made about LSD, not about psilocybin, in a phenomenon called The Acid Panic during that timeframe. I remember that, because I am a Gen X’er and was told this in high school in the mid 1990’s. I remember being told nothing about magic mushrooms, but an entire segment was dedicated to LSD and my class was told that it embeds itself in your brain stem and that even after one use, regardless the dose, you could have a debilitating flashback 20 years later. It terrified all of us, naturally. It is also wildly misleading.
Despite the fact that this claim was made about LSD which is not relevant to our treatment, let’s discuss it within the context of psilocybin as they are both classic psychedelics (though LSD is orders of magnitude stronger, effective at microgram doses).
The behavior being referenced and exaggerated during 70’s, 80’s and 90’s drug education programs is a very rare phenomenon called HPPD (Hallucination Perception Persisting Disorder). It is a treatable condition, but best when prevented to begin with. Though studies are incomplete, the data collected so far has shown that roughly 4% of all people (regardless dosage, underlying health issues, etc) who have used hallucinogens in the past have experienced HPPD but that 100% of the instances occurred in conjunction with other substances.
There are two types of HPPD. Type 1 HPPD is a random, brief and mild visual distortion that occurs and causes little emotional distress. Type 2 HPPD is ongoing or persistent, more likely to involve related emotions that surfaced during the trip, and is more rare than Type 1 (1% vs 3%).
The term ‘flashback’ is sometimes associated with reliving traumatic events (eg, Post-Traumatic Stress flashbacks). The type of ‘flashbacks’ with in HPPD typically involve visual distortions of colors, halo, patterns, etc and are not in any way related to terrifying and unwelcome prior traumatic memories. Emotions that come up during HPPD Type 2 are still very different than traumatic memories and more related to any resistance experienced during the journey itself.
Whether HPPD occurs is highly dependent on three factors:
#1: The amount of psychedelic taken. Large, ‘hero’ doses of 5g+ are much more inclined to produce HPPD than lower doses
#2: Underlying mental health of the individual (predisposition to psychosis, bipolar, panic disorders are more common).
#3: Substance use/abuse of other substances. Heavy alcohol and cannabis use have strong correlation among those with HPPD.
According to a 2020 study, 100% of participants who experienced HPPD had previous substance abuse issues, in particular with cannabis, alcohol and sedatives such as Xanax.
We help ensure clients avoid any chance of HPPD by not administering doses greater than 3 grams, ensuring proper time span between journeys, and screening for mental health and medication history.
Of course it’s true, just as people can do very stupid things on alcohol, or on anti-depressants (some of which can cause suicidal impulses). Really, people can do very stupid things completely sober and not on any drugs at all.
Therapeutic psilocybin sessions are much different than recreational ‘trips’. We have already established that psilocybin by itself has extremely low toxicity. During recreational use there is a much higher risk of secondary safety issues arising, through factors such as:
– Taking a larger dose than intended or being unprepared for the effects of a large dose (people rarely weigh mushrooms in a recreational environment, and potency between strains can vary wildly)
– Being in a potentially unsafe location while on psychedelics, with no one to watch over you if you do experience panic or anxiety – eg, outdoors, up high with open windows, around unsafe people
– Knowingly or unknowingly mixing other types of drugs with psilocybin (alcohol, MDMA, cocaine, opioids, marijuana, etc) which is more common in party environments such as raves and festivals
Let us be very clear that taking psilocybin in and of itself does not cause individuals to want to kill themselves, to want to jump out of a window, etc.
Beyond this, taking psilocybin in a safe and legal environment will greatly increase your safety. All product will be tested for purity and potency. You’ll take an accurate dose with predictable effects, and will have been prepared and educated beforehand. You will be in an environment that is state inspected and licensed for safety, as well as decorated for comfort, warmth and coziness. You’ll not be allowed to wander off, even if you wanted to (most people prefer to lay down during their journey, not be up and about). You’ll have a trained facilitator with you the whole time to help ensure your physical safety and support you through emotional distress during challenging journeys. Our facilitators are trained to be able to distinguish a true medical emergency from a perceived emergency.
Especially if one is out and about, such as at a concert or someone else’s house they do not know well, this can lead to feelings of not being safe. It can lead to panic, a sense of ‘what is happening to me’ if you were unprepared or took more than you thought. This is why dosage and a safe environment along with preparation, intention, and an experienced guide, will help ensure you are not taken off guard.
Panic is what we are trying to avoid during any ceremony. If you begin feeing panic, please reach out to your Facilitator right away so they can help calm you and guide you through. It is panic, combined with unsafe environments and lack of knowledge, that cause people to do ‘stupid’ things while on strong doses of psychedelics.
Please keep in mind psilocybin is not going to give you obnoxious or dangerous personality traits, BUT it does show you various truths and insights. It tends to reveal what is truly important in life, and what is not.
It can help you sort out toxic relationships, for example, or make you care less about superficial things (social media, getting likes, work promotions, attention, getting that guy or girl to notice you who never has before, and other ego recognitions) while caring more about important elements of human existence such as belonging, love, connection, community, giving back, etc.
You may be less willing or able to tolerate toxic behavior in the workplace after your journey, for example, and this can be disruptive to your overall work stability. In the long run it is good for you, but in the short run it can be something that you’ll need to think about beforehand and be willing to honor and deal with if necessary. One thing it did for me is show me how irrelevant alcohol was. This feels profound in the moment, but when much of your social life is built around drinking at bars with friends, integrating this new Truth into Practice can feel disruptive.
This is all part of the crucial integration work that helps you ‘Ascend’ to the next level of your human experience.
In terms of personality traits, psilcoybin overwhelmingly makes ‘nicer people’. In general, it is going to make you more empathetic, more honest, more caring, and less angry (if you are willing to process stored anger during a session), which will result in less frustration and passive aggressive behavior. It tends to ease your need to control things as well. These are outcomes you should anticipate. If you have no desire to become less angry or controlling, for example, then taking psilocybin therapy is probably not for you. 😉
In terms of religious beliefs, as stated earlier psilocybin shows you foundational and universal Truths. If the Truths that are revealed to you (ie, love for all mankind) are at odds with your religious or political beliefs (ie, one group of people is superior to another) then you will indeed have a conundrum on your hands. As psilocybin is a highly suggestible drug, it tends to work within people’s existing frameworks. We have heard of people from all walks of life and religious frameworks taking psilocybin successfully. One such example is a Catholic cancer patient in her 70’s who was interviewed in Michael Pollan’s documentary ‘How to Change Your Mind’ (available on Netflix, Episode 2).
We will definitely want to talk about your current level of open-mindedness during our initial 1:1 consult. In most instances, taking psilocybin is a beautiful experience that allows you to feel closer to your religious beliefs and the God that you worship (if any). The trait of Openness has the most influence over what kind of journey you will ultimately have.
But you need to be prepared for the possibility that your psilocybin journey may open you to new ideas and new beliefs – in particular about yourself.
There’s two questions here: One about dissociatives and another about psychosis. Let us address them separately.
Dissociation is defined as a feeling of disconnection from the body. This can be produced as a trauma response by the mind, or it can be induced by a drug.
Dissociation as a psychological term refers to a survival mechanism for coping with trauma. The individual takes themselves mentally somewhere else in order to physically survive the trauma currently occurring in their reality. For example, it is commonly reported by victims of sexual assault that they went into a happy imaginary mental place while the assault was occurring, so that they could survive what was happening to their bodies.
Dissociatives in terms of drug class are drugs which cause the user to feel disconnected from or have lost control of their bodies. These drugs work primarily by inhibiting the function of Glutamate and its receptors. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter essential for controlling emotions, pain perception and memory creation. Dissociative drugs block/inhibit the absorption of glutamate. Users of dissociative drugs, including PCP, Ketamine, and Salvia, often feel like they are floating, but effects are often very unpredictable.
Classic Psychedelics are not in the same class as dissociative psychedelics, in that they cause an altered perception of reality but do not disconnect the user from their body. Classic psychedelics do not work primarily on glutamate, but instead act primarily on serotonin via the 5-HT2A receptor. Psilocybin, LSD, and DMT fall under classic psychedelic drug category. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that acts broadly across the brain and body within 3 major classes and 15 types of serotonin receptors, but primarily influences memory, mood, emotions, confidence, sleep cycle, appetite, muscle control, sexual drive and body temperature.
The altered state of consciousness that you experience during a psilocybin journey does not disconnect you from yourself, rather it connects you more deeply to yourself. In terms of processing past grief and trauma, psilocybin actually acts on your limbic system to release traumatic memories that have been stored in the amygdala, and to many people (including myself), felt frustratingly like they existed previously in a room with no doors or windows, inaccessible through traditional talk or journal therapy relying on the prefrontal cortex to ‘make sense of’ the trauma. You can think about a traumatic event for 20 years and still not feel healed from it. It requires releasing from the limbic system.
What about inducing psychosis then? Psychosis is defined as a disconnection from reality and is often persistent in those who are diagnosed with it. As described above, dissociative drugs cause a person to become temporarily disconnected from their bodies and from reality itself. Classic psychedelics do not cause such dissociation, though they do cause an altered & expanded state of consciousness (sometimes profoundly so). This can be perceived as a temporary loss of reality, and for neuro-atypical individuals (ie those who struggle with discerning reality even in their normal state of consciousness), taking a full psychedelic dose can increase the risk of exacerbating these symptoms.
So, while it is true that psychedelic journeys put you in an altered state of consciousness, it is not as a response to trauma. For neurotypical individuals, psychedelics are typically a healing experience rather than a dissociative one, and the state is not permanent. You do return to your normal state of consciousness and at that point it is your responsibility to integrate any lessons into your daily life.
Cool! At least you’re willing to express it, so that we can talk through it. Please reach out to us on our Contact Form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you for being curious and willing to engage!
TAKE OUR SCREENING ASSESSMENT RIGHT NOW!
You don’t have to wait to book a call with us to know if you are eligible for psilocybin services. Take our 5-minute Screening Assessment right on our website.
If you are eligible (or are applying for non-psilocybin health coaching), your name will be added to our new client list. The next step will be booking an optional 15 minute no-pressure video meet and greet. If we both decide we’re a good fit, we can begin your digital onboarding!
DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND, WE ARE ONLY ONBOARDING 8 CLIENTS PER MONTH CURRENTLY. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND ADDING YOUR NAME TO THE LIST NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT IN LINE. YOU MAY BOOK YOUR PROGRAM OR SERVICE WHENEVER YOU WISH.
Fractal Soul is currently onboarding new clients for Phoenix Sessions (therapeutic journeys) and Health Coaching for Summer 2023. We anticipate to begin our Microdosing and Group Classes in Autumn 2023.
New clients can get onboarded and established now at no cost, then will have one year to select any Programs and Classes they wish to participate in.