Better Together: Psychedelic Therapy for Couples and Families
by Mark Haden
As psychedelic therapies are a topic of significant research interest authors are exploring the opportunities for psychedelic work with groups (Dolce, 2023; George & Sol, 2023; Jacobs, Banbury, & Lusher, 2022; Neubert, Anderson, & Mason, 2023) and couples (Trope et al., 2019).
Historically, psychedelic therapy has primarily focused on individuals seeking treatment for specific diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Often overlooked, however, is the significant impact these issues have on the entire family dynamic. Viewing healing as solely an individual endeavour fails to grasp the interconnected nature of the problem.
Family members are usually deeply impacted by mental health challenges in siblings, parents or children and it is helpful to understand that everyone in the constellation could benefit from healing. Both the individuals and their relationships could improve with greater understanding and enhanced bonds between people.
How do family dynamics integrate with psychedelics?
Indeed, the misconception that only the afflicted individual needs healing overlooks the ripple effect they have on their loved ones and the contextual impacts on their healing.
Returning from a profound psychedelic experience to an unsupportive or unchanged family environment post-treatment can hinder progress. Therefore, considering the family context in psychedelic therapy offers numerous advantages.
By involving the entire family, each member's potential diagnoses, such as anxiety or depression, can be addressed holistically. This inclusive approach fosters a supportive environment and enhances understanding among all participants. Thus, the healing process becomes more stable and enduring, shifting the entire matrix of the individual's experience.
Ensuring the family's buy-in is crucial for effective psychedelic-assisted therapy. While not everyone may partake in the psychedelic experience itself, their involvement in the process, particularly during integration sessions, remains valuable.
In cases where only one individual undergoes therapy, involving their partner or adult children can still create an ideal healing environment, recognizing that mental health issues affect the entire family constellation.
Switching gears to couples, how can psychedelic-assisted therapy benefit them?
Couples often fall into communication patterns that may lead to repetitive conflicts. A psychedelic experience can offer a fresh perspective on these dynamics, enabling couples to explore new ways of relating to each other.
Fundamentally, psychedelics facilitate access to unconscious thought patterns, allowing individuals to identify and modify ingrained behaviours. This newfound awareness empowers partners to take responsibility for their role in conflicts and initiate meaningful change. Accepting responsibility is pivotal for healing within relationships. Blame only perpetuates conflict, whereas accountability fosters growth and reconciliation.
Often psychedelics can act as empathogens and can enhance feelings of closeness and empathy between partners, further facilitating conflict resolution and deepening emotional bonds. In essence, psychedelics serve as a tool for illuminating blind spots and strengthening bonds within relationships, paving the way for profound healing and transformation. Empathageons can also help build feelings of safety, improve access to unconscious material and enhance self disclosure all of which can strengthen relationships.
How you can support a loved one through a psychedelic experience
There are a number of different ways the family members can participate in psychedelic experiences and these exist on a continuum of involvement.
Educate Yourself
At the very least families can be given information sheets which explain the process and have suggestions for how they can support the individual after treatment.
Join Preparation and Integration Sessions
The next level of involvement is where families would be involved in the preparation and integration stages but not during the psychedelic experience itself.
Compassionate Witnessing
At the third level of involvement, family members could be witnesses to the psychedelic experience but not ingest anything themselves.
Low Dose Involvement
At the fourth level of involvement, family members could take a lower dose during the psychedelic experience to enhance empathy and understanding of the main client taking a transformative dose.
Full Participation
At the final level of involvement, all family members take a full dose together. Different dosages and different medicines produce very different family experiences. For example, a medium dose of MDMA or 3-MMC would result in significant conversation during the process. A higher dose of psilocybin and or LSD would result in internal experience being debriefed at the end but no conversation would be encouraged during the process.
Psychedelic Assisted Therapy For Families
The concept of family members ingesting psychedelics together is not new, in fact indigenous communities had been doing this for centuries. Ayahuasca communities in the Amazon can include family members with children of all ages, the Native American Church who use Peyote involve children as they mature into puberty and this is a way of honouring the transition to adulthood.
In summary, healing as an individual could be enhanced with a larger view of the family context and psychedelics, if skillfully managed in the therapeutic process, could facilitate, listening, conflict resolution, general communication, self disclosure, bonding and building healthier relationships between all family members.
Further Reading
Dolce, A. D. (2023). Facing Shadow in the Eyes of the Lover: A Ceremonial Approach to MDMA-Assisted Couples Therapy: Pacifica Graduate Institute.
George, A., & Sol, W. (2023). Potential Benefits of MDMA-Assisted Conflict Transformation Informed Couple Therapy: Transpersonal Roots and Future Promise.
Jacobs, L., Banbury, S., & Lusher, J. (2022). Micro-dosing psychedelics as a plausible adjunct to psychosexual and couple’s therapy: A qualitative insight. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 1-14.
Neubert, J. J., Anderson, K., & Mason, N. (2023). Psychedelic Intimacy: Altered States of Consciousness in Romantic Relationships.
Trope, A., Anderson, B. T., Hooker, A. R., Glick, G., Stauffer, C., & Woolley, J. D. (2019). Psychedelic-assisted group therapy: a systematic review. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 51(2), 174-188.
Mark Haden
Mark is the Clinical Supervisor of Psy-Qi, our Ketamine Assisted Therapy Program. An industry leader in Psychedelic Therapy, Mark served as the Executive Director of MAPS Canada and can be found presenting at various conferences on the topic.
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