Changing the Story we Tell Ourselves
by Mark Haden
Clients who seek assistance at Qi Integrated Health Psychedelic Program face a wide range of unique challenges. Understanding why our approach is effective is a key aspect of our work. Often, individuals come to us with labels such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. They engage with our process and, by the end, experience improvement. But what does "feeling better" truly entail?
The creation of stories about ourselves
It's intriguing to delve into the workings of human psychology. We all accumulate experiences throughout our lives and create narratives around them, often repeating these stories to ourselves. These narratives shape our perception of ourselves and our relationship with the world, influencing our thoughts, behaviours, and interactions with others. Essentially, we construct an image of ourselves based on these stories.
As psychedelic research evolves some researchers observe that narrative therapy (which is based on retelling our personal story) can be enhanced using these medicines (Gashi, Sandberg, & Pedersen, 2021; Marie, 2024; Pedersen, Copes, & Gashi, 2021; Webb, Copes, & Hendricks, 2019)
Commonly, individuals adopt narratives like "I've experienced something terrible, I'm depressed, and I'm alone in the world." However, our approach introduces a psychedelic experience that provides the opportunity to adopt a different perspective. This experience allows individuals to realize that they are actively shaping their self-perception and worldview. As we keep telling ourselves the same story this process reinforces our anxiety, depression and PTSD. We need to find a way to first see that this is “just our story” and then we can tell ourselves a different narrative of who we are. Psychedelics can help as, if used wisely, they can increase brain plasticity and facilitate a rewiring of our brain. This enables us to reconsider our narratives in a new light.
Rewriting our story
Some may refer to this process as neuroplasticity or unconscious thought patterns, but ultimately, it grants us the opportunity to rewrite our stories. The integration process, which occurs the following day, plays a crucial role. Therapists guide individuals in articulating their new narratives in detail, which are then practiced until they become the individual's reality. This transformation extends to their thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and relationships, in the journey toward healing.
No magic bullet - but a useful tool of change
It is important to stress that this process does not happen automatically as some clients believe that psychedelics offer a magic bullet which offers sudden healing without any need to do the “work” of learning to use this tool. Psychedelics are not like taking your car into the garage to get it fixed. With a mechanic you can leave and come back later and find your car fixed – you weren’t involved in the process. With psychedelics, you need to be both the mechanic and car driver and learn how to use the tool of this medicine. Learning to tell yourself a different story is challenging but with persistence this skill can be learned.
This is the essence of how psychedelic healing operates — a journey where individuals deeply reflect with a new sense of insight, rewrite their story and then practice the new story frequently until the new story becomes automatic or natural and this changes feelings, thoughts and behaviours.
Mark Haden
Mark Haden is the Clinical Supervisor of Psy-Qi, the Ketamine Assisted Therapy program here at Qi Integrated Health. A major figure in the field of psychedelic medicines, Mark has published numerous articles in respected Journals, has presented at conferences and training events around the world.
Additional Reading
Gashi, L., Sandberg, S., & Pedersen, W. (2021). Making “bad trips” good: How users of psychedelics narratively transform challenging trips into valuable experiences. International Journal of Drug Policy, 87, 102997.
Marie, S. (2024). ‘Psychedelics are no magic pill’: the narrative and embodied dimensions of psychedelic integration in Denmark. Anthropology of Consciousness.
Pedersen, W., Copes, H., & Gashi, L. (2021). Narratives of the mystical among users of psychedelics. Acta sociologica, 64(2), 230-246.
Webb, M., Copes, H., & Hendricks, P. S. (2019). Narrative identity, rationality, and microdosing classic psychedelics. International Journal of Drug Policy, 70, 33-39.
