Ayahuasca and Psychotherapy: Beyond Integration

The Psychedelic Integration Scales: Tools for Measuring Psychedelic Integration Behaviors and Experiences

“…As such, it is reasonable to predict that many unintegrated experiences will result from the hundreds of millions of total psychedelic journeys that will likely occur in the coming years. Within Western and urban cultural containers that have individualistic, consumerist, and performance-oriented values and social structures, the challenges of integrating profound psychedelic experiences may be particularly acute ( Diament et al, 2021 ). It is imperative that the scientific community better understands the processing of these powerful experiences in their aftermath, so that facilitators and users may both maximize the sustainable benefits of psychedelic experiences and minimize irresponsible harm (see Yaden et al, 2021 ) caused by inducing these experiences without a sufficiently supportive frame.…”

‘Everybody’s creating it along the way’: ethical tensions among globalized ayahuasca shamanisms and therapeutic integration practices

“…Matthews 2017; Hill 2016; Degan 2016). This is also promoted in research and clinical practice where there has been an effort to legitimize ayahuasca as a therapeutic tool (Thomas et al 2013; Diament, Gomes, and Tófoli 2021; Ruffel et al 2021). Medicalization tends to detach ‘medical’ issues from the domain of the spiritual, religious, economic, and political, while further privileging a certain philosophical understanding of illness and wellness rooted in bioscientific claims to epistemic authority.…”

“…It would also privilege Indigenous concepts of ethical behaviour, practitioner responsibility, training procedures, ways of receiving and conferring knowledge, and of course land repatriation. In this iteration, both practitioners and clients are beholden not only to the principles of beneficence and justice, but also to what Diament, Gomes, and Tófoli (2021) refer to as the plant third party. Further, it is recognized that a sufficient period of apprenticeship is necessary for proficiency as a practitioner.…”

“…When ayahuasca itself is not being lionized for its ability to accomplish 10 years’ worth of therapy in one night, 4 psychotherapists, wellness coaches, integration coaches, guides, and facilitators are considered important therapeutic resources to fulfil the needs of those who drink ayahuasca in a globalized context 5 . Such therapeutic resources that draw from psy-disciplines are intended to prepare as well as to guide drinkers in integrating ayahuasca-induced psychedelic experiences (Lewis 2008; López-Pavillard 2018; Diament, Gomes, and Tófoli 2021). There is a budding literature on psychotherapy in the use of psychedelics (e.g.…”

“…There is a budding literature on psychotherapy in the use of psychedelics (e.g. Cohen 2017; Schenberg 2018; Quevedo 2009; Walsh and Thiessen 2018; Diament, Gomes, and Tófoli 2021) as well as a growing number of training programmes for facilitators, guides, and integration coaches. For decades, authors have supported the integration of psy-disciplines with shamanic practices and processes in which they either encourage the adoption of shamanic techniques into psychotherapeutic practice (i.e.…”