Psilocybin treatments?
We use psilocybin treatments primarily for clients with depression, but also for clients with anxiety. Anxiety is often deeply linked to depression, as stress indirectly lowers serotonin levels. Low serotonin is an indicator of anxiety and depression and can worsen the situation through a negative spiral. Psilocybin, which converts to psilocin, is a psychedelic that perhaps most closely resembles serotonin and can therefore directly alleviate feelings of depression. Furthermore, during psilocybin sessions, insights can emerge, new brain connections, a connection with the divine, empathy, sympathy, and self-love can be experienced. All these properties of psilocybin can help people with PTSD.
Tripping and PTSD?
Let's start by saying that psychedelics and PTSD can also cause a bad trip, where all the fears can surface in a negative way. For people with PTSD, this can worsen the situation. Therefore, it's crucial to make the right preparations, create the right conditions during the trip, and have an experienced trip therapist/guide nearby. If all these things are in order, you significantly minimize the risk of a bad trip.
The preparation of the treatment
Medication check
Certain medications commonly prescribed to suppress the symptoms of PTSD are definitely not compatible with most psychedelics.
Antidepressants (SSRI, MAO inhibitors, TCAs) or other psychoactive medications cannot be combined with psilocybin for health reasons.
People with serious heart problems and/or medication for cardiovascular function (Tramadol, etc.) unfortunately cannot undergo psilocybin treatment.
Disclaimer: Always consult with your prescribing doctor about whether and how to safely reduce your medication. Never stop taking your medication suddenly!
Improving neurochemistry
Based on the intake and neurotransmitter test completed during registration, we will provide a neurochemical recommendation. This means we will recommend supplements, nutrition, and activities to balance neurotransmitters before the psychedelic session. Low levels of the neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin are fairly common, if not almost always, in PTSD patients. Low GABA levels in PTSD patients should always be brought back to normal first to ensure the best possible psychedelic session.
Read more about it here GABA/glutamate and bad trips
Map the triggers
When using psilocybin for PTSD, it's helpful to create a list of the triggers that cause stress. These can be sounds, situations, people, or other things. It's also helpful to write down your primary response. By primary response, we mean the automatic reaction of the body/thoughts, which is often related to the fight/flight/freeze response. You can also write down your secondary response, which means the conscious choice you make after the trigger and primary response. For your convenience, create a table that looks something like this:
| Triggers | Primary response | Secondary response |
|---|---|---|
| Sound | ||
| Neighbour | ||
| Swear word |
If you are unsure what your triggers or responses are, fill in as much as possible and leave the unknowns blank.
The psilocybin session for PTSD
The psilocybin session for PTSD treatment is slightly different from other sessions. The pre-session discussion, the buildup to the session, and the peak of the session are not directly related to PTSD treatment, but rather to the antidepressant properties of a psilocybin trip. It's precisely the coming down that we'll focus on anxiety symptoms, triggers, and responses. During the coming down, we use the insights, satisfaction, and other positive feelings to discuss PTSD-related issues so the brain can store these concepts differently. With a very strong sense of satisfaction and acceptance, subconscious processes can be changed because associations are altered while the brain is in a state where it's easier to make new connections.
Read more about it here psilocybin therapy