by Numinus
Jul 07, 2021Psychedelic assisted-psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that involves the use of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for the purpose of facilitating therapeutic breakthroughs and insight.
It is a broad term that encompasses a number of different approaches and protocols using psychedelics, and which has been practiced in the Western medical model since the 1950s. Though psychedelics like LSD showed promise as therapeutic agents in those early years, a period of prohibition starting in the 1960s and through the early 2000s significantly hindered the research and development of these modalities.
The last decade has seen a significant body of encouraging research supporting the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for a number of mental health issues, especially depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD. Though most psychedelics are still regulated substances, the legal and medical landscape is changing quickly, and more treatment options are starting to become available to the general public.
