Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy
Follow this link to the Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy (PSIP) website for resources about the autonomic nervous system and client session videos using the model.
Notice what speaks to you:
https://www.psychedelicsomatic.org/resources
PSIP and How it Works to Address Trauma at the Root
So much of life is bewildering. We do our best with our human brains to make sense of and cope with our experiences. But what if we still find ourselves in distress and caught in relationship patterns that do not serve us? Our cognitive abilities hold much power, and yet, there is something about the experience of life that words cannot quite touch. So much is an energetic felt sense, parts of us that we know impact our lives and yet remain deep beneath the surface of our consciousness. So how do we access that which touches us and still feels out of reach?
Like all animals, our physical bodies hold an intelligent trauma response technology, the Autonomic Nervous System. Most of us exist without intimately understanding this integral system of protection. Yet, it is through the ANS that we can reach the root of our traumas, and, deeply reprocess and reintegrate them so they no longer "run the show". In this work, you will be introduced to your nervous system and the ways it has operated to protect you. You will have the opportunity to experience your body as an ally and guide to the deepest parts of you. Parts of you that undoubtedly demonstrate their existence through mental health symptoms and unconscious relationship patterns. A dysregulated nervous system is the reason we become clients in therapy and seekers of various healing practices. We can spend many years misreading the cues from the nervous system and come to believe that it is working against us (depression, anxiety, panic, dissociation). What if these are indicators that our bodies are seeking to protect and heal? Our nervous systems were actually designed for our wellbeing! If we learn the simultaneously familiar and mysterious language of our nervous system, we can experience flexibility, safe connection in relationships, resilience, confidence, and the gift of trusting ourselves to depths previously inconceivable to us.
In this model of psychedelic therapy, low doses of legal medicines (cannabis and/or ketamine) are used to access the natural healing process of the ANS. Unlike other animals, humans have brains that can create many coping and distraction strategies that have blocked these pathways. This model encourages us to lay those to the side and trust your body to lead the way. This method of psychedelic assisted therapy is also effective WITHOUT any psychedelics at all, the model was developed and used for over a decade without the use of medicines.
PSIP and Attachment Healing
Widely used models of psychedelic assisted therapy tend not to include the power of the relationship between therapist and client. As social beings wired for connection, the relational component of therapy is a necessary conduit for deep healing. Although it may feel like our journey to wellbeing is a path we must walk alone, none of us ever truly exist outside of relationships. PSIP utilizes our therapeutic relationship as a tool to express, explain, and repair attachment wounds. Yes - it IS possible to rewire your attachment and reorient towards secure attachment relationships.
As your therapist, I will be present as an interactive witness, a canvas on which your nervous system will project its attachment wounds. As we begin our work together, your nervous system will tell the story of how much you trust yourself and others. With each session, we will witness your nervous system lay the tracks towards an existence rooted in the safety of connection. This is very vulnerable work, but as social animals, every aspect of our lives is impacted by our attachment. This model honors and emphasizes the importance of attachment in every session, which is another aspect that sets the interactive nature of PSIP apart from more commonly known methods of psychedelic assisted therapy.
I truly believe in this method being integral to the future of psychedelic-assisted healing because it has been developed to utilize ancient and highly effective survival tools, our nervous systems, and relationships.