The clinic for psychedelic difficulties: where people go when the trip never really ends

This useful, well-informed Guardian article comments: "For those who can’t make it to Berlin (to the Ambulanz psychedelische Substanzen, a psychedelic outpatient clinic that is part of Charité, a university hospital in Berlin.), Jules Evans, director of the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project, runs an online peer support group for psychedelic difficulties. Fireside Project is a psychedelic peer support hotline for anyone having difficulties with psychedelics, either while on the drug or later, and there are a number of groups dedicated to psychedelic integration – the way people process their experiences and make sense of them in their daily lives – in-person or online. The International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service has a support center that offers six free therapy sessions for those struggling after a psychedelic trip.  But psychedelic integration is not a well-defined construct, and there is huge variability in what support exists and how hard it is to find. Majić thinks that psychologists and psychiatrists need to be more informed about psychedelics. There are a number of training programs for therapists who want to learn more about psychedelics, but these vary in content matter.  Overall, there aren’t many satisfying options for people with psychedelic difficulties. “If they go to their conventional psychiatrist, they will be told to go to the addiction clinic and get sober, but this is not the problem,” Majić said, since typically a person’s problems are not specifically related to continuing psychedelic use or substance use disorder.  Majić has often found himself between two poles: those who say that psychedelics are safe because they are non-addictive and nearly impossible to overdose on, and those who say that psychedelics are only dangerous. In addition to running the clinic and seeing patients, he conducts other psychedelic research: for instance, a study on psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, and another on 5-meO-DMT. “They can be beneficial,” Majić said. “But they’re also harmful for some.”

For more psychedelic news and research, visit the psychedelic health professional network homepage.