What Psychedelics Are Teaching Us About Healing

Let’s get one thing out of the way: I love this field. Psychedelics and mental health. The science, the healing, the heart of it all, it’s endlessly fascinating to me. Not just because it’s “cool” or trendy, but because I truly believe this work is changing lives.

And no, this doesn’t mean I think everyone should go on a mushroom vision quest and call it therapy. But I do want to spread awareness about what’s possible when we start thinking outside the conventional toolbox, especially when it comes to trauma, depression, and anxiety.

Because here’s the truth: the traditional approach isn’t working for everyone.

Let’s look at the numbers for a second (I promise to keep the nerd out short):

• Up to 30% of people with depression don’t respond o antidepressants even after trying two different medications. And nearly 7 out of 10 don’t feel full relief after their first go at treatment (Dodd et al., 2021).

• Only about 60% of people with PTSD respond to common medications like SSRIs — and just 20–30% actually reach full remission (Saeed, 2023)

• Anxiety disorders are the one of the most common mental health concerns in the world, yet treatment resistance is real and under-discussed.

  
  

So what happens when you’ve tried all the usual things, the meds, the CBT, the deep breathing apps, and you still feel stuck?

That’s where psychedelic-assisted therapy enters the chat.

So… what even is psychedelic therapy?

It’s not just “taking mushrooms and seeing what happens.” It’s a structured, intentional process, combining a psychedelic experience (like psilocybin, MDMA, or ketamine) with professional therapeutic support before, during, and after the session.

The goal? Not just to feel good for a few hours, but to open up the brain and body in ways that help us process what we avoid: the grief, the trauma, the stories we’ve been telling ourselves for decades.

And the research? It’s kind of amazing.

Let’s start with PTSD:

One of the most exciting breakthroughs has come from MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD.

In a recent Phase 3 clinical trial published in Nature Medicine, 67% of participants no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis after three sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy (Mitchell et al., 2021). That’s after decades of many people trying everything else.

Let me say that again: two-thirds of people in the trial were no longer diagnosed with PTSD. That’s huge.

And depression?

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, has shown incredible promise for treatment-resistant depression.

Several studies have found that a single dose of psilocybin, paired with therapy, led to significant reductions in depression symptoms for up to 12 weeks (Aaronson et al., 2025). Some participants described it as one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives.

And unlike traditional antidepressants, psychedelics aren’t something you take every day. It’s not about “numbing” symptoms, it’s about getting to the root, feeling it, processing it, and maybe… finally letting some of it go.

What about anxiety?

Whether it’s generalized anxiety, end-of-life anxiety, or existential “what am I even doing with my life?” spirals, psychedelics have shown real potential here too.

In multiple studies, psilocybin significantly reduced anxiety in patients facing terminal illness (Petros et al., 2024). Participants often reported a greater sense of peace, meaning, and connection — even months later.

And ketamine (which is already legally used in some clinics) has also shown rapid results for people struggling with severe anxiety and suicidal ideation (Derkhshanian et al., 2021). Sometimes within hours.

But let’s be honest for a second…

Psychedelics are not magic pills. They won’t fix everything, and they’re definitely not for everyone. As a matter of fact, there are some dangerous, even deadly, contraindications. So before diving into the deep end, please make sure it’s actually the deep end.

Integration, the therapeutic work that happens after the journey.  is just as important as the experience itself. For those who’ve explored psychedelics recreationally and wondered why the big life shift hasn’t happened, it might be because the insights weren’t fully integrated into everyday life. Without that grounding, it’s easy to feel confused, overwhelmed, or even destabilized. The real transformation comes in what you do after,  in the slow, intentional weaving of what you learned into how you live.

These medicines have opened a door that other approaches simply couldn’t. They’ve helped folks reconnect with themselves, reprocess trauma, and feel again, sometimes for the first time in years.

So where do we go from here?

We keep learning. We stay open. We get curious.

We advocate for safe, ethical, trauma-informed access to these treatments, and we hold space for the many ways healing can look.

Because whether it’s through nature, meditation, talk therapy, psychedelics, or (honestly) a well-timed dance break in your kitchen, healing isn’t linear. And it isn’t one-size-fits-all.

But it is possible.

And that’s what I want you to know.

If nothing else, let this be your reminder that there are always new paths to explore. There is science behind the softness. There is hope in the work.

And when you’re ready, there are people, like me, walking that path too.

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."

~Allan Watts

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below. I invite all comments with an open heart.

References :

·      Aaronson, S. T., van der Vaart, A., Miller, T., LaPratt, J., Swartz, K., Shoultz, A., Lauterbach, M., Suppes, T., & Sackeim, H. A. (2025). Single-dose psilocybin for depression with severe treatment resistance: An open-label trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 182(1), 104–113. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20231063

·      Derakhshanian, S., Zhou, M., Rath, A., Barlow, R., Bertrand, S., DeGraw, C., Lee, C., Hasoon, J., & Kaye, A. D. (2021). Role of ketamine in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Health Psychology Research, 9 (1). https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.25091

·      Dodd, S., Bauer, M., Carvalho, A. F., Eyre, H., Fava, M., Kasper, S., Kennedy, S. H., Khoo, J.-P., Lopez Jaramillo, C., Malhi, G. S., McIntyre, R. S., Mitchell, P. B., Castro, A. M., Ratheesh, A., Severus, E., Suppes, T., Trivedi, M. H., Thase, M. E., Yatham, L. N. & Berk, M. (2021). A clinical approach to treatment resistance in depressed patients: What to do when the usual treatments don’t work well enough? The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 22(7), 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1080/15622975.2020.1851052

·      Mitchell, J.M., et al. (2021). MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 study. Nature Medicine, 27, 1025–1033.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01336-3

·      Petros D. Petridis, Jack Grinband, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Connor J. Kinslow, Richard J. Zeifman, Michael P. Bogenschutz, Roland R. Griffiths, Stephen Ross. Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy improves psychiatric symptoms across multiple dimensions in patients with cancer. Nature Mental Health, 2024; 2 (11): 1408 DOI: 10.1038/s44220-024-00331-0

·      Saeed, S. A. (2023). Treating PTSD: A review of 8 studies. Current Psychiatry, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.12788/cp.0324