Psychedelic-Assisted Counseling

Psychedelic-Assisted Counseling #

Many of my clients do not use psychedelics in conjunction with counseling. This is completely optional.

Psilomethoxin #

Psilomethoxin (Pm) offers soothing comfort similar to MDMA, but without MDMA’s stimulant-like effects. Pm has a one hour onset, two hour plateau, and one to three hour come down. At the recommended low dose, Pm is not hallucinogenic. You remain fully able to navigate the world and engage in ordinary conversation. The effect is mainly at the emotional level.

How to Obtain Psilomethoxin #

Consult the contraindications and decide whether you wish to proceed. If you decide to proceed, become a member of the Church of Psilomethoxin and order sacrament.1 Sacrament is delivered directly to you; I am not involved.

What does psychedelic-assisted counseling look like? #

Psychedelic-assisted counseling looks very similar to sober counseling. The only difference is that you will be in a slightly altered state of mind during our session. Strictly speaking, this is known as psycholytic therapy. Book at least one session without psychedelics so we can get to know each other and begin to develop a therapeutic alliance.

  1. Reserve a 90-120 minute session on my calendar.

  2. In your own home, ingest 300mg of dried mushroom powder one hour before our session. We may need to fine tune the dose, but the goal is to give you more access to smoothing comfort without interfering with normal conversation.

  3. Talk therapy will commence as usual.

Cost #

The Church of Psilomethoxin charges about $10-15 per gram of dried mushroom powder. Therefore, you can expect to spend, at most, an extra $6 per session for psychedelic-assisted counseling in comparison with sober counseling. My hourly rate is the same in either case.

As of 24 Feb 2023, psilomethoxin is unregulated in the United States but may be considered illegal under the Federal Analogue Act. This is a gray area! The Church of Psilomethoxin distributes sacrament using regular mail services (e.g., FedEx). Any legal dispute would likely be directed at church leaders rather than church members.2

New Clients #

Book a free consultation.

Jump to details about location and fees.

Q & A #

Do you work with other doses of psilomethoxin besides 300mg of dried mushroom powder?

Lower doses are possible. With higher doses, a client’s attention may be too firmly drawn innerward, impeding normal conversation. If there is an interest in exploring higher doses, it would be sensible to do this separately from talk therapy. For example, if a client wanted to take 1g or 2g of psilomethoxin (a medium to heavy dose) then this could be done four or more hours before a talk therapy session. Doing talk therapy immediately after a high dose is what many contemporary research studies are doing. This might be appropriate in a carefully controlled context and facilitate rapid symptom relief. However, I believe that psycholytic therapy is safer than this approach because there is no need for the client to navigate an intense psychedelic experience.

Is there any scientific evidence that psilomethoxin-assisted IFS works better than the sober version?

No, since psilomethoxin has not been studied yet. This offering is inspired by and extrapolated from MAPS studies with MDMA.3

Why psilomethoxin? Do you work with any other substances?

MAPS has put enormous resources into making MDMA an FDA approved medicine for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.4 I suspect psilomethoxin may be even better than MDMA for this application. I am not aware of any potentially superior substance.

How does your service compare to Oregon Psilocybin Services (OSP)?

  • Psilocybin can only be used at a state licensed facility. Psilocybin cannot be ingested at home in a telehealth context.

  • Compared to MDMA or psilomethoxin, psilocybin is not an ideal, entry-level substance for the psychedelically naive.

  • OSP requires the continued presence of a sober facilitator during the administration session. Even if the facilitator is a licensed psychologist, the facilitator can only act in the capacity of a facilitator and cannot engage in talk therapy during the administration session.

How does your service compare to ketamine telehealth?

  • Ketamine telehealth became legal the United States in part because of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency. After the emergency ends in May 2023, the legal status of ketamine telehealth will depend on state law.5

  • With ketamine, talk therapy happens after, not during, an administration session. Talk therapy may not be given much emphasis. Some low cost providers omit talk therapy.

  • Compared to MDMA or psilomethoxin, ketamine is not an ideal, entry-level substance.

Notes #

  1. This is how I proselytize my sincere religious belief that the sacrament (i.e., psilomethoxin) can support spiritual progress, spiritual healing, and life optimization. ↩︎

  2. Meet The Founders - Church of Psilomethoxin ↩︎

  3. MDMA and PTSD Studies ↩︎

  4. The journey from ecstasy to medicine: Rick Doblin’s long, strange MDMA trip ↩︎

  5. Bad News for Ketamine Telehealth ↩︎

Calendar March 24, 2023