Weheroichearts

Mariya Garnet, Ayahuasquera

Personally all the ayahuasca ceremonies I have attended or conducted have not resulted in anything so serious and it is because we do screen people for potential mental illness, history of psychosis, medication and supplements interactions. Working slowly with an experienced facilitator is the key to safe work. I don't want to go into all scary scenarios of the worst possibilities, but yes, strong plants and substances can trigger psychosis and latent mental illness. "Shrooms" are sacred plants and medicine, which are being misused even sometimes with the best intentions.

Joe Tafur, MD

I have seen some pretty bad outcomes. I myself work within a shamanic context with advanced healers, our work is based in Peru, where we use ayahuasca in a ceremonial context. Within that expertise it is possible to help people through difficult experiences, and help them beyond those experiences

Shima Espahbodi, PhD

I think each case needs to be looked at individually - what was the experience of the 'bad trip' ? What did you see, hear, feel, experience? What i have seen is that often when people talk about/have bad trips they are referring to experiences of troublesome, unconscious memories for which they had no preparation or support. Hence my earlier point about unpredictability and importance of having trusting, experienced healers/facilitators. Some say there is no such thing as a bad trip, and those 'journeys' which are difficult are doing the deep work needed to face ones shadow, surrender and release what is not serving you. The 'worst' outcome i know of was somebody who took lsd recreationally and during the journey many repressed memories of deeply traumatic childhood events came flooding to conscious awareness. these memories had been buried for many years until the trip. It was a kind of re-traumatisation as this person had no idea this would happen and consequently needed medical attention. Unconscious memories, emotions, and fears can often be released during psychedelic journeys - that is why preparation, integration and context is very important

Ideally we will get to a spot where the two worlds work closely together. The actual psychedelic experience is only one piece of the puzzle. Talk therapy can be extremely helpful in preparation as well as keeping the person on the right path. Integration and community are key for this work

Heroic Hearts Project

This was an honest mistake by our team when we erroneously copy pasted Mariya's answer to another question too. We coordinate responses from Jesse on the road and our guests and sometimes "the wrong window" mistakes do happen. Our sincere apologies, this was not Mariya posting the same answer twice

We are seeing success across the board. MAPS MDMA trials have shown a 67% success rate with PTSD. Anecdotally we are seeing a lot of vets get tremendous healing from ayahuasca and ibogaine as well. I think it will be more about where the person is at in their healing journey and which substances fits them where they are at instead of one psychedelic is better than another

Jesse Gould

It all happens without anyone going anywhere. For now I’m running all by my lonesome and everyone else are in comfy computer chairs