How to Talk to Skeptics about Psychedelic Therapy
If the holidays taught me anything, it’s that people are generally disappointed and confused when they find out I work as a psilocybin facilitator. They look down at me with pity and seem to silently lament my wasted potential, while a little golden halo of superiority buzzes above their heads like an old florescent bulb. They quickly change the subject—didn’t you used to be a Fulbright scholar or weren’t you the creative director for an award-winning travel company?
Yes and yes, but those questions are oh-so clearly misdirection. A lot of folks are plain desperate to avoid any actual conversation about psilocybin therapy and immediately dismiss its status as medicine.
Maybe it’s because they’ve adopted a very rigid version of reality and they see a more nuanced alternative as a threat to a tidy existence. Or perhaps they’ve been unwittingly influenced by its 50+ years on our government’s big bad drug list. Whatever the case, I’ve put together a road map to help us navigate their trepidation and encourage real conversation about this breakthrough therapy.
The Family Man/Woman Skeptic
I get it. You’re raising three children, navigating two jobs and life rarely slows down enough, so you can sit somewhere, relax and invite a few cathartic exhales. You’ve lived the last ten years abiding by one general, lovely rule—the less disruption to the household the better. Consequently, all things are better in black and white. So when a novel treatment comes along—with its tie-died baggage and Nixon’s luggage tags—your first instinct is to wave that shit away, for it seems too controversial and accepting this treatment as a legitimate therapy will peremptorily warp your perspective on Western medicine and healing. That’s a lot of vibrant doubt to let through the blinds, and I absolutely get why you’re hesitant to learn more about psilocybin.
All this said, it’s unfair and may even betray some of the foundational truths that hold up your household. You’ve taught your children to be good stewards of the community and unconditionally love and support their friends—does this come with an asterisk like, as long as the sad ones are taking Prozac. You’ve preached the importance of disciplined reading and learning, but since psychedelics come with such an awkward stigma, you’re going to declare this puzzle too dangerous to unravel?
Forgive me for getting so personal, but this resonates on a very human level. Let me give you a few facts that might help you consider this therapy as actual viable medicine.
Did you know that despite being a schedule 1 substance, psilocybin is actually approved as a breakthrough therapy by the FDA?
Did you know that the Mazatec people in the highlands of Oaxaca have been using these mushrooms for years, most commonly in community settings to solve very earthly problems?
Did you know that several peer-reviewed legitimate studies—from places like Johns Hopkins University and the Imperial College of London—have proven psilocybin therapy to be a startlingly effective treatment for depression, addiction disorders and PTSD?
The Religious Skeptic
Yep makes sense. Life is a very difficult thing, and you’ve found faith in religion and made it the very bedrock of your existence. Your job, your household, your status in your community all revolve around this abiding belief and its built-in morality. Most belief systems tend to categorize things as good and evil, and mushrooms—according to most spiritual and political authorities—are decidedly evil. So, when psilocybin therapy emerges as a viable option for your community, you jerk that old knee and shut down the conversation before its benefits can be uttered aloud.
I get it. Why invite a breakthrough therapy with all this baggage into the community, next to your schools and in your neighborhoods? I would argue the answer lies in the fundamental tug-of-war between good and evil. Studies have proved that psilocybin therapy in a controlled and deliberate setting can improve the lives of folks in our communities. This includes veterans with PTSD, who served overseas to protect our morality. This includes the dozen of folks you regularly rub elbows with who are suffering from treatment-resistant depression. This includes those folks you’ve known for years with alcohol use disorder who never quite made it through all steps of AA. And just another FYI: unlike opioids or alcohol, there is no known lethal dose of magic mushrooms.
Additionally, did you know that the spiritual component of a mushroom journey doesn’t, in any way, invalidate your beliefs? In fact, it often fills us with a newfound reverence for the universe, which sits nicely beside the core truths of most organized religions. Furthermore, the original keepers of this medicine often use it in context with modern religion and many curanderos adorn their walls with images of Christian saints to facilitate safe passage during the journey.
The Psychonaut Skeptic
I get it. You’ve done mushrooms and LSD dozens of times, and those experiences have expanded your consciousness and shown you new ways to perceive the world. You’re damn near evangelical about their “magic” and you regularly cite a particular mushroom trip as one of the most poignant experiences in your life. I don’t need to convince you that these things reveal insights and hidden truths about ourselves. That said, you’re very skeptical about this therapy unfolding under the Western medical model and worry that without the abiding wisdom of nature, a spiritual element will be lost. You also scoff at the price tag and dismissively declare that people can go to the woods and do mushrooms for less than 20 dollars and have an experience that resonates for their rest of their lives, as you repeat once again the story of your transcendent mushroom trip.
I agree; this medicine was meant to be taken outdoors, far away from the generated hum of cul-de-sacs and leaf blowers. But despite your profound experience with the medicine, you’re missing a whole lot of context. First of all, psychedelic therapy is not just about spirituality and the universe. While that sacred perspective is a significant component of healing, folks who seek out this medicine our often seeking respite from nagging conditions like PTSD and TRD. Often, these conditions make it scarier to go out into the woods without support and depart from your ordinary state of consciousness for 7 hours. Even if that woodsy experience went well, without proper preparation and integration, these people will most likely fail to make significant inroads against those aforementioned conditions.
Likewise, once you realize how comprehensive psilocybin therapy really is, you’ll see that it’s actually cheaper than medication and traditional psychotherapy. A recent study shows that even 12 months after a patient’s last psilocybin session, they are reporting sustained improvement in mood and well being. Meeting a therapist twice a month over a year will cost you around $3,600, not to mention the prescription drugs on top of that. Right now in Oregon, you can book a completely supported session (including multiple prep and integration meetings) for $2200 (cost of mushrooms and space rental included).
Conclusion: Keep on Squawking
Okay, rant over. Hopefully, the stereotypical dramatizations above help you talk about psilocybin therapy. More than anything, in the last year—during dozens and dozens of screening calls—I’ve learned that we need to educate each other about what this therapy entails.
Unfortunately, magic mushrooms come with a lot of baggage. It’s on us to dispel those silly myths and promote this schedule 1 substance as the actual medicine it is.