Deepening Psychedelic Integration: Exploring Complex Settings, Understanding User's Struggles, and Implementing Safe Interventions.

This chapter adopts a transdisciplinary approach to explore the concept of psychedelic integration, considering its various contexts ranging from clinical trials to Neo-shamanic, traditional, and recreational settings. It aims to provide a comprehensive understanding and description of integration, distinguishing between the needs of maximising potential benefits and addressing adverse reactions. Psychedelic Integration is a widely used term that refers to a variety of practices commonly employed after psychedelic experiences to help ground the benefits or address the challenges that arise from them.

Call for evidence-based psychedelic integration.

The use of psychedelics for various purposes was common in different civilizations throughout human history and has been explored scientifically for more than a century. Although the applications of psychedelics show promise in the treatment of various psychiatric and neurological indications, as well as in facilitation of well-being and personal growth, several psychedelic-related risks and challenges have also been identified. Psychedelic integration (PI) refers to various practices that serve to either minimize harms or maximize benefits associated with psychedelic use.

Restorative Retelling for Processing Psychedelic Experiences: Rationale and Case Study of Complicated Grief.

Rationale: Many psychedelic experiences are meaningful, but ineffable. Engaging in meaning-making regarding emerging symbolic content and changing previous schemas have been proposed as mechanisms of change in psychedelic therapy.

Objective: Firstly, we suggest the implementation of a Restorative Retelling (RR) technique to process and integrate the psychedelic experience into autobiographical memory, in a way that fosters meaning-making.

Psychedelics and Personality.

In the past decade, an increasing number of clinical trials are reporting evidence that psychedelics or serotonergic hallucinogens (such as lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin, and ayahuasca/dimethyltryptamine) could be effective in the treatment of mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. The mechanisms responsible for these effects are not fully understood but seem to involve changes in bran dynamics in areas rich in serotonergic 5-HT receptors and in personality. In the present text, we present a brief and critical overview of the current research in this field, pointing out both promises and limitations of these studies.

Potential Use of Ayahuasca in Grief Therapy.

The death of a loved one is ultimately a universal experience. However, conventional interventions employed for people suffering with uncomplicated grief have gathered little empirical support. The present study aimed to explore the potential effects of ayahuasca on grief.