Music centered psychedelic integration

The authors of this recent MAPS Bulletin article write: "The idea for Music Centered Psychedelic Integration (MCPI) came about through the slow accumulation of insights and practical ideas based on our clinical training and practice from 2017 up to the present. We found that in our psychedelic psychotherapy training, music was at times emphasized as a supremely important aspect of this modality, while at others, it was also referenced as somehow secondary; a kind of adjunct to the power of the psychedelic medicine itself. This notion of music being secondary ran counter to an instinct that we both held from the very beginning of our acquaintance with the process of psychedelic therapy. Conversely, we had always suspected that music was just as important to the process of psychedelic healing as the medicine itself: that the music and medicine amplify one another, leading to a synergistic potential for personal transformation beyond which either could achieve alone.  Our work providing ketamine assisted psychotherapy has confirmed this. This came via the recognition of the importance of effective music selection and song sequencing for psychedelic experiences. We found that if we did this well for our patients, they reported deeper experiences and better outcomes for symptom reduction after their psychedelic sessions. Of course, psychedelic medicine offers so much more than symptom management but these effects were dramatic and measurable evidence of the power of correctly facilitated musical psychedelic experiences."

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