Psychedelics as a Training Experience for Psychedelic Therapists: Drawing on History to Inform Current Practice

Abstract

The therapeutic use of psilocybin in psychedelic-assisted therapy models is currently being tested for a variety of indications, necessitating the training of hundreds of therapists. At present, training programs do not include the provision of a psilocybin experience for therapists, and the last time such an experience was offered with a similar compound was through the Spring Grove LSD Training Study between 1969 and 1974. This article explores archival Spring Grove data to inform training programs and efforts to establish or provide training experiences with psilocybin or otherwise include experiences with nonordinary states of consciousness in the training of psychedelic therapists.

Keywords

psychedelic therapist training psilocybin LSD

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