older adults & psychedelics
Boomers and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
Boomers and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy (PAT)
As a longtime Marriage and Family Therapist focused on serving midlife and older adults, I noticed early how few therapists specialize in working with these populations.
This is similar to the medical field where there are very few geriatricians, for various reasons I won’t go into here.
In the last few years, as I began to work in the field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAT), I noticed the same phenomenon. That is, a community of practitioners not much interested in older people. At least, not enough to really study aging, with its inherent challenges and opportunities.
Many therapists, doctors, and researchers have mistakenly assumed that older people are the same as younger people – an ageist approach in my opinion. Older folks experience unique developmental tasks – check out Erik and Joan Erikson’s book, “The Life Cycle Completed”, especially the brilliant 9th chapter. Society-based pressures, shifting physiologies and often misdiagnosed and pathologized emotions push on folks in their third season of life.
Fortunately, things appear to be changing. An acknowledgment of how older people have been underacknowledged and invisible in our Western culture for the past decades is beginning to surface.
Here are two articles, one I wrote and one in which I am quoted:
“Older Adults and Psychedelics”
https://psychedelic.support/resources/older-adults-and-psychedelics/
“Older Generations Are Reclaiming Rites of Passage”
A Recent research study out of UCSF called “Effects of Psychedelics in Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study” puts it like this:
“Importantly, a recent review found that among 1,400 participants enrolled in 36 psychedelic trials since 1967, only 19 participants (1.4%) were 65 years or older. The safety and efficacy of psychedelic treatments in older populations thus remains largely unknown, although several authors have argued for the potential of psychedelics to loosen cognitive habits in old age generally as well as more formally as treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, including mild cognitive impairment and even health cognitive decline and age-related affective changes.
Other studies are publishing results on the clinical use of psychedelics for existential anxiety and depression at the end of life and in palliative care situations.
Here is one from Johns Hopkins called “Psychedelics May Lessen Fear of Death and Dying, Similar to Feelings Reported by Those Who’ve Had Near Death Experiences”:
My opinion about the growing amount of attention on older adults and research is that it’s about time! And, much more is needed! As usual, boomers are exploring and pushing outdated boundaries.
For the past year, it is my privilege to lead two groups – one for PAT practitioners who are serving this population. We focus on the topics of aging, palliative care, and end-of-life. Our small group includes a psychologist, therapist, social worker, hospice nurse, death doula, somatic sound healer, chaplain, and more.
The second group is called EPIC which stands for Elder Psychedelic Integration Café. Participants’ ages range from 67 to 90. Each individual has experienced PAT and this setting is a place to mutually learn from and support each other’s paths of exploration.
In my private practice I work in connection with a licensed clinic, using ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). KAP can be very effective in mitigating depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and end-of-life fears. The treatments I provide are given in my home office.
I also help clients to prepare for and integrate sessions with psilocybin and MDMA. I do not provide the substances. When people have solid preparation before and integrative support after an experience, the benefits are often profound.
It is heartening and exciting to see older people finally be included in this burgeoning field of healing!
Older Adults & Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy
As a longtime psychotherapist and specialist in the field of aging, it has been exciting to follow the groundbreaking research being conducted by institutions such as the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research and the NYU Center for Psychedelic Medicine at the NYU Langone Department of Psychiatry. Many more studies are being conducted and research published throughout the USA, Canada, and Great Britain about the positive results experienced by patients in these studies.
One article, among so many, about the Johns Hopkins research is entitled “Hallucinogenic Drug Psilocybin Eases Existential Anxiety in People With Life-Threatening Cancer“. “In a small double-blind study, Johns Hopkins researchers report that a substantial majority of people suffering cancer-related anxiety or depression found considerable relief for up to six months from a single large dose of psilocybin — the active compound in hallucinogenic “magic mushrooms.”
In another article, again among so many, is from the biannual print magazine and media company Double Blind which covers the expansion of psychedelics around the globe. The article is entitled “Can Psychedelics Help Us Face Our Fear of Death?”“After coming to a halt in the late 1970s, the study of psychedelic therapy for end-of-life anxiety was eventually resumed by investigators at UCLA, NYU, and Johns Hopkins, among others, and continues to this day. … Even without a fatal illness, every one of us has a terminal diagnosis—death—and anxiety over its inevitability is the ultimate existential crisis. Whether we approach our inevitable demise with fear and angst, spiritual reverence, or simply a healthy curiosity, there is strong evidence that psychedelic therapy can help us reach that milestone with equanimity and grace.”
A few months ago, I was interviewed by the website Psychedelic Support for an article entitled “Older Adults and Psychedelics“. Psychedelic Support is the leading online education and therapeutic platform in the psychedelic space advocating for mental health and well-being worldwide. “How can psychedelics play a role in healing for older adults? Guided and supported psychedelic experiences, with integration, typically create a fluid environment. In this environment individuals are able to soften their ego defenses or “armoring.” They are able to take a look at life experiences, challenges, and/or fears that they have compartmentalized or closed away over the years. We all have those experiences. With the help of a compassionate and competent psychotherapist and guide, many individuals are able to explore parts of themselves and their lives. They begin to develop new, wider perspectives that often include forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others. In older life, a healing process called “Life Review” naturally occurs when encouraged. This process can be greatly facilitated by psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.”
To summarize, in our midlife and older years, there are many daunting challenges and rich opportunities that arise. We can dive in and explore our inner selves, make changes, and move forward in more balance, or we can lock up, try to resist parts of ourselves, and be in despair. It’s not black and white. But it is this profoundly important, I believe. Accessing altered states – through a variety of paths e.g. meditation, breathwork, vision quests, prayer, fasting, music, art, yoga, dance, and/or, for the right people, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy – can unlock our hearts and minds and lead to great peace and creativity.