Psychedelic Crisis FAQ
This will be developed into a FAQ for dealing with crisis situations involving psychoactive substance use.
The Varieties of the Psychedelic Crisis
Different substances have different effects and variances of these effects will occur in different people.
It is important to know how long certain drugs may last and what certain interactions may be when drugs are mixed.
Most Common Issues
- Psychological issues
- Emotional issues
- Physical symptoms
- Spiritual Emergencies
- Past traumas
These may go beyond one’s capacity of understanding or current worldview and can be quite shattering.
Supporting Someone through a Psychedelic Crisis
Reassure them and assist them in feeling safe
- This experience was brought on through the ingestion of a substance
- This will pass, it is a process
- This is an experience other people have had
- There is support available
Response-ability
- Once you decide to engage in the process or assist, be prepared to follow through
- Pay attention to your own process
- Evaluate your role, if you you don’t know what to do, find someone who does
- or acknowledge that you don’t know what to do and make an effort to support in whatever way you can (just be present)
Post-experience Grounding Techniques
- Movement, stretching, dancing
- Light massage, Reiki or other simple bodywork
- Art
- Journal or creative writing
- Breathwork
- Making music, singing, chanting
- Meditation
Re-integration and Follow-up
- Post experience dialogue
- Encourage writing or creating art/music either for themselves or to share with others and as an aid in reflection and reconsolidation of learned experience
- Provide resources for information and venues for further communication and feedback
Supporting Team Members
- Process time for facilitators
- Peer-counseling
- Re-integration
- Checking in
- Being attuned to eachother, keeping grounded
- Feedback forum
Recommended Resources & Links
- Erowid.org's Psychedelic Crisis FAQ
- An excellent primer on helping someone through a bad trip, psychic crisis, or spiritual crisis from The Vaults of Erowid.
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- Crisis Intervention in Situations Related to Unsupervised Use of Psychedelics
- by Stanislav Grof, M.D., 1980
- Crisis intervention in psychedelic sessions and treatment of the long-term adverse effects of unsupervised self-experimentation are issues of such medical and social relevance that they deserve special attention. This article briefly review the most pertinent information that is essential for understanding the problems involved and for an effective approach to this area.
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- Code of Ethics for Spiritual Guides
- by Council On Spiritual Practises
- Spiritual practices, and especially primary religious practices, carry risks. Therefore, when an individual chooses to practice with the assistance of a guide, both take on special responsibilities. The Council on Spiritual Practices proposes the following Code of Ethics for those who serve as spiritual guides. CosmiKiva facilitators do not act as guides per se, rather they are less directive and serve more to facilitate the present experience that a subject is having.
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- Psychedelic Effects Scale
- This Microsoft Word© document describes the psychedelic effects scale that can be used to attempt to "standardize" or make comparable reports of experiences with psychoactive substances.
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