In recent years psychedelic therapy has seen a major resurgence, and it’s gaining mainstream popularity, even though the law has been slow to catch up. As different treatment techniques emerge, so do the stories of patients having breakthrough success. One such new therapy, PSIP therapy, uses either cannabis or ketamine help people process past trauma, and it’s showing such positive results that the minds behind it are training new therapists to expand its reach.
What is PSIP Therapy?
PSIP stands for Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy. It’s a revolutionary therapy that uses psychedelics or cannabis in conjunction with psychotherapy to help people access the emotions and suppressed memory of past trauma and work through it. [1]
Saj Razvi, the director of education at the Psychedelic Somatic Institute, started out researching MDMA for treating PTSD. Razvi found that most traditional therapies weren’t that effective in getting to the root of psychological issues and theorized that therapy should take a bottom up approach instead, getting to the body’s more primal responses to trauma, rather than the more conscious conceptual ones. Psychedelics were the answer to do just that. [1]
How Does it Work?
The theory behind PSIP is that the body can process the emotions and trauma better than the person undergoing the therapy can consciously. Therefore, the best way to treat the patient is to stop suppressing those emotions and allow the body to process. [1]
PSIP works with several different psychedelics, but is most commonly done with cannabis, since it’s more widely available, takes effect quickly and reliably, and the high doesn’t last very long. The psychedelics suppress the brain’s usual processing, and allow greater access to the subconscious. Emotions and memories bubble to the surface. According to the team behind PSIP, cannabis stops the mind from censoring itself, allowing access to feelings and thoughts that were typically numbed out by the brain. [1]
The therapist can then guide the patient through the source of their trauma, helping them process their emotions and understand their own reactions. The therapist also works with the patient to essentially rebuild their memories in a less traumatic context, allowing them to access and understand their past in a way that’s not actively causing harm in the present. [1]
Razvi and his team have found that the effects of trauma are often deeply rooted in the body, and the feelings associated with them cannot be entirely understood or expressed consciously. Instead, its only through unlocking and unearthing that deep programming where it exists in the subconscious that someone can truly make progress. [1]
Though psychedelic therapies are only starting to gain traction again, PSIP and methods like it show that they show incredible promise for the future of mental health.
Resources:
1- https://doubleblindmag.com/psip-psychedelic-somatic-interactional-psychotherapy/
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