The Future of Psychedelic Therapy: The Shenedelic Process

Right now, we are on the cusp of the psychedelic revolution. Already, we have Oregon preparing to allow therapists to administer psychedelic therapy using psilocybin. Other states will soon follow. There doesn’t seem to be much organized resistance to this process the way there was for cannabis legalization. MDMA will probably require FDA approval, although already a province in Canada is legalizing this substance along with psilocybin. The push won’t come necessarily from veterans, who would benefit from enhanced PTSD treatments but from the research on Autism. As the research builds that MDMA can help individuals on the spectrum, the parents of these individuals will organize and rally for full approval. And this is a group who have a good track history of organization and political pressure.

The field of psychology will be slow to change. Might take a few years for the stigma to start lifting, generally in much the same fashion as cannabis. 

Fortunately, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy is already available, it’s what I have my formal training in and it can be used for what I believe will be the three main types of Psychedelic Therapy.

The first type will be the classic psychedelic process, the second will be psycholytic process, and the third, a new type, will be the schenedelic process. Let’s go over them briefly, one by one.

The First Type: The Classic Psychedelic Process

This is the classic type, where you take a substance and go inward. So, you might take a substance, put on a sleep mask, have music playing, and lie on a couch.

There you explore yourself, your universe, you have a transcendent experience. Allow the trauma to be there, rise above it.

This can occur with psilocybin, magic mushrooms. Under the influence of psilocybin, your ego dissolves and you’re just shown certain truths. Just a roller coaster of intense experiences and feelings. The results is often this sense of oneness with the universe. And you’re forced to confront certain truths, without your usual defenses.

Ketamine can also produce a similar effect, although less intense and also taking less time. Depending upon its administration, you may just feel the psychedelic effects for 15 minutes up to an hour.

Now, this can be extremely useful. It can be very healing. But if you fight it, if you resist it, there can just be a lot of anxiety. And this can deter future experiences. I know someone personally who was super interested in psychedelic therapy until having a very difficult experience with LSD, which has a similar effect to psilocybin, albeit the effects are longer. After that experience, not only did he discontinue his personal work with the substances, he ended up going into a different field altogether.

Fortunately, steps can be taken to reduce the chances of these “bad trips.” If you go slow, have a modest therapeutic dose, with someone you trust, in a comfortable setting, it’s likely you’ll feel a bit off, a bit unsure, but then relax into a great experience. There are also grounding techniques, which we explore as part of the Pentabelt program, to help center yourself, which can also help ensure you remain calm and comfortable.

Many people describe their psilocybin experience as being among the most meaningful experiences in their life. And the substance shows great promise in treating depression and addictions. I think most people would much prefer a 4 to 6 hour mystical psilocybin experience over trying to quit smoking cold turkey.

Still, most people are usually happy to have a small handful of psilocybin experiences and then move on from it. There’s a saying, “if you get the message, hang up the phone.” In the future, as part of an adult initiation ritual, young adults might take psilocybin a few times to resolve some addictions they picked up along the way and to figure out what they want their life to be about. What’s important to them? What are their values?

But then, in the next stage the emphasis will be on taking active steps to realize these values. To bring your vision into reality. This may involve active processing, again, with a therapist. For that we turn to the next type of Psychedelic therapy: the Psycholytic process.

The Second Type: The Psycholytic Process

After a deep dive into the subconscious, some introspection, some work with a therapist, we really get to see the important values a person has in life. The next step will be to develop the strategies to act upon these values. And that, might just be where both MDMA and lower dose ketamine comes in. I would argue, in fact, that it is these substances that will be the poster child, the future of psychedelic therapy.

First, with MDMA and lower dose ketamine, there’s just a greater sense of control. Most people with significant trauma in their past have issues with control. Especially bodily control. With MDMA, you feel good, you feel connected, you can break through and do healing, but you tend to feel in control the entire time. The chances of having a “bad trip” are much, much smaller, compared to psilocybin.

That’s not to say an MDMA therapy session will be easy. It’ll still be a challenging experience. But the challenge will come from processing emotions. There may be tears. But you’ll still feel in control. So most therapy clients will probably prefer MDMA.

And so will clinicians. I think most clinicians, if given the choice between working with psilocybin vs. MDMA, will choose MDMA. The best setting for psilocybin tends to be in nature. The therapist can help prepare for the experience and help process the results. But during the session, the therapist mostly just holds space. Some psilocybin sessions just involve 3 to 4 hours of sitting with a sleep mask and headphones. With MDMA, there is much more of an active dialogue during the session. The session can take place in a therapy office. There can be more of a structure. The session can be more predictable. This is all very appealing to the clinician. Lower dose ketamine is also quite helpful with individuals concerned about losing control. And as the entire experience can be completed in about 2 hours, there is a much greater flexibility in terms of scheduling and working with a therapist

And that is what the psycholytic process is. Taking a substance, such as MDMA or a lower dose of Ketamine, going inward for a period of time, but then having a dialogue with the therapist.

Past traumas might be explored. Issues of connection, forgiveness, sadness, anxiety, much like a traditional therapy session, albeit with a much, much greater sense of trust & connection.

And there’s room for practice. You may practice saying “no” to your somewhat overbearing mother. Might practice eye contact. Or you may just explore the barriers in life. If the message from the psychedelic process is to start painting again, well, with MDMA, you might explore the thoughts that keep you from starting. You might explore What’s leading you to always find other things to do? What changes do you have to make to really bring this passion back into your life?

If the deep journey with psilocybin is a transcendent experience, then the psycholytic process is that of catharsis. Feeling the emotions and releasing them. Having a good cry and forgiving yourself. Noticing the barriers in your life and practice breaking through them.

So then that leaves us with the third and final type of psychedelic therapy: the Schenedelic Process

The Third Type: The Schenedelic Process

As the years go on working with clients, I’m seeing more and more that the depressions, anxieties, and addictions I see in my clients are, well, rooted in trauma. Clinicians will often divide something like depression into Endogenous or Exogenous. If the depression was due to a trigger: say losing a job, or a loved one, or incurring some sort of trauma, it’s considered exogenous depression. If it’s seemingly come out of nowhere, with no apparent outside cause, it’s endogenous depression. Well, I’m coming to realize that most depression generally does have an outside cause. Most depression might just be exogenous.

And so it’s not enough to just target the symptoms of depression. You also have to, you know, heal the trauma.

And it may very well be that the best treatment for trauma, is connection. Connection with the self, with values, and with other people.

Now, the substances we’ve discussed so far, psilocybin, MDMA, Ketamine, all involve connection to some extent. The word “psychedelic” means mind-manifesting. The idea is that you’re connecting with the universe. With a sense of oneness. A sense of spirituality. And indeed, when they look at using psilocybin  for treatment, those who felt the most spiritual, the most oneness were the ones who had the best results, the strongest reduction in depression.

I would argue that MDMA is slightly different. You’re connecting more to others. Using the same word origin, and getting some assistance from the “Greek” subreddit, I got the term “schenedelic” meaning connection manifesting.

And this connection could be incredibly important, just by itself. You can take 100 just married couples. Have half of the couples have a “schenedelic” experience twice a year. Take MDMA or low dose ketamine in the context of family therapy, just to work out any of the usual struggles that come up in any relationship. Hash out any fears or concerns without that usual fear, without that usual hesitancy. Or just to remember what brought them together in the first place. It’s likely that those couples would be less prone to separate or divorce, compared to the couples who didn’t have that experience or went over their issues over a bottle of wine.

And this can have profound implications. For the couple, for the overall family system. After all, divorce is a deeply traumatic experience. That is now shockingly common. Perhaps, with all the disconnection that is happening, between couples, family members, the general community, we should start to focus our interventions on prevention rather than treatment. If one or two “schenedelic” experiences per year can heal and restore relationships, it’s certainly worth exploring. 

Now, that’s not to say that MDMA doesn’t have its own drawbacks. For one, there appears to be more conflict with psychiatric medication, especially with SSRI’s. For many people taking MDMA while on SSRI very much diminishes the effects of MDMA. There’s also something called serotonin syndrome which could possibly be fatal. It’s very important to speak with your doctor if you’re taking medication and plan to take MDMA. Your doctor may have you take a break, a “vacation” from the medication for a short time before and after.

Also, taking excessive doses of MDMA for extended periods of time have been associated with heart valve problems. Though these individuals all seem to take doses much beyond the therapeutic amount. Doing 2-5 times a month rather than 2-5 times a year. At very frequent doses, there’s also a risk of a crash in mood starting a few days after taking MDMA that can lead to ongoing mood problems. Again, as with the physical health risks, this is associated with very much an excess in usage of MDMA. While on this substance, it’s also very important to stay cool and hydrated. There are cases of overheating and dying from kids taking MDMA and again, not drinking water, not allowing their body to cool down.

Taking MDMA in a therapeutic or clinical setting, in a group setting where everyone is sitting, having some water every so often, really hasn’t been associated with any health conditions. Additionally, low dose ketamine may be a valid alternative, with a different safety profile and tolerability. Plus it has the advantage of being available now in many states (including California).

Truth be told, more research is desperately needed to determine the full extent of any health issues. If magic mushrooms can help with depression, could it be helpful for post-partum depression. Or might some of the psilocybin end up in breastmilk? Can MDMA be safely taken every other month, once a season, twice a year? Could certain strains of cannabis create the “schenedelic” experience if MDMA is not a viable option? And what about Ketamine? How can it best be administered in a group setting to bring about a sense of connection in that group?

Part of the problem is simply that because these drugs have been restricted for so long, there are excessive barriers to conducting the very necessary research to help answer these questions. To give an example, when it comes to cannabis, the only way researchers could study the effects of it was to get it from one facility located in Mississippi. It was the only place approved to provide the cannabis for study. And they would only provide it if the researchers were studying the negative effects. The only ones providing grants were providing grants to show how addictive or terrible it was. And so you had medical associations saying for years there was no known health benefits of cannabis. Not because that was the case, only because no research was even feasible. This barrier to research was only lifted a few years ago.

This leads to what’s known as a “prohibition bias,” where researchers are more prone to find negative effects simply because the substance is a controlled substance. A famous example of this was when they found that in monkeys, a single administration of MDMA lead to these catastrophic brain injuries. Turns out, the researchers accidentally used meth instead. This was part of a 1.3 million dollar study that claimed, before being retracted, that a single dose of MDMA would lead to permanent brain injuries. Yet we see in more recent studies that none of the participants in studies of therapeutic MDMA appear to have any long term physical damage. And even when used recreationally, there haven’t been many deaths reported from MDMA or psilocybin. When thousands, perhaps millions of people were experimenting with psilocybin and LSD, there wasn’t a corresponding increase in schizophrenia. Likewise, during the height of the ecstasy craze, there were a handful of deaths directly attributed to MDMA, usually again due to overheating—dancing too much without hydrating. Again, keep in mind that Tylenol sends about 2,000 people to the hospital each year and kills about 500 people.

So taking any substance, alcohol, tobacco, Tylenol, psilocybin, MDMA, it’s important to know how to take it safely and effectively. Hence part of the reason I advocate for restricting the usage of psychedelics to a medical or health setting at least until a certain age in young adulthood.

There are potentials for combining substances. Again, more research is needed. Could taking a small amount of MDMA and then psilocybin help reduce that sense of losing control? Or If the experience is a bit too intense, could CBD, a component of cannabis, be used to help produce a centering effect. It might make sense to have these new substances as a new category: NLS, or newly legalized substances.

With more research, I suspect they may find that many of the benefits from psilocybin such as for depression or addictions, can also be gained from MDMA therapy, Ketamine therapy and vice versa, with psilocybin being helpful for trauma. It might just depend on individual preference.

The Processes in the Pentabelt Program

A big theme of Pentabelt is that of transcendent vs. catharsis processes. In the program, you start with a transcendent process. That is, you’re finding your place in your world, in the universe. What are my values? What’s my purpose? That can help lift you from sadness, regret, trauma, addictions. You’re acknowledging your scars, letting them be there, but focusing on what’s important. Not letting your scars define you.

Then, once you know your “why” you focus on your “how.” That’s where catharsis comes in. When you’re trying to be assertive, what emotions come up? What traumas come to the surface? In releasing those emotions, it then becomes much easier to take action. Start to make meaningful changes in your life.

So it makes sense to first have a transcendent experience. Maybe a few sessions with a higher dose of Ketamine. Just to learn what the universe has to teach you. Just to learn the reason you’re put on this earth. And those few sessions may be all you need. Once you get the message, hang up the phone, as they say. Then becomes the process of processing what keeps you stuck. Once you have your purpose, what are the fears that keep you from taking those first few steps. From that, we have the cathartic experience. That might involve more ongoing sessions. Perhaps with a therapist one-on-one at first and then, later on, in a group therapy setting with your partner, with those in your tribe, with those in your community.

Truth be told, the substances I’ve mentioned here, Ketamine, psilocybin, MDMA, can produce all three of these experiences. All depends upon the dose, the intentions and the setting. The future of psychedelic therapy will likely emphasize Ketamine and MDMA. Ketamine is a shorter experience. MDMA will have more of an appeal to those who have issues of control, such as those with a complex trauma history.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t end with how they are all similar. And that is they all work best with healthy intentions. As with any substance, the question you want to ask yourself is: am I taking this to open my eyes, or close them. After all, there are many people who have taken both MDMA and psilocybin without much growth or development to show for it. If your intention is to laugh and have fun as a means to escape your life, you simply won’t get as much out of the experience compared to going in with the intention to learn and grow.

With that out of the way, let’s explore some of the key reasons that psychedelic therapy should be undertaken with a trained therapist on a 1-to1 basis, especially for the first few experiences. 

On to Section 8