The main danger I see is that I have seen people who see the positivity without nuance and start to see it as a miracle treatment
For many it is a miracle treatment.
or who think that when we talk about it it’s more like taking most medicines as opposed to the reality that there’s a good chance it’s gonna be fuckin rough and part of how you get positive results comes from having a background in healthier coping mechanisms and practices
Not sure how you define “rough” but for me my breakthrough trip involved a lot of laughing, crying, talking, quiet contemplation, enjoyment, love, pain, and eventually a form of acceptance. Bad trips are only bad because the driver chooses it to be so. The steering wheel analogy is often used when describing psychedelics: you can steer the “wheel” wherever you want, but theres no brakes on this ride until its out of your system. Also not sure why youre saying theres a “good chance” it will be rough, most people have positive experiences when taking psychedelics.
CBT techniques for example are something that really helped me get through the rough parts of my last challenging trip.
CBT is great, and ive been using it in conjunction with psychedelic introspection, healing, and growth.
I did research on lsd before I tripped, but I didn’t get much warning of the fact that the healing would involve confronting the trauma
It often does, whether youre on psychedelics or going through traditional therapy.
But yeah I know people who did psychedelics for years and recommend against them because of bad trips
Tbh, this sounds like fearmongering, especially considering modern medicine is adopting psychedelic therapy left and right these days. Pharma cos are making new drugs out of them, and institutions like Johns Hopkins are performing amazing research in the field. On top of that, everyone ive ever known personally who has taken psychedelics has only ever said good things, barring one person. They had a couple of bad experiences and are hesitant to try again, sounded a bit like temporary psychosis from what they described and I can totally understand that, but psychosis isnt a common side effect.
It’s an effective and powerful tool, but I’m grateful we’re pursuing other tools as well as destigmatizing and refining it.
IMO, usage of psychedelic medicines combined with an open minded therapist can do amazing work on healing the soul.