The Potential of Psychedelics for Eating Disorder Recovery
Folks who are struggling with an eating disorder often have rigid thinking or cognitive inflexibility and perseverative behaviour – which describes a behaviour that loops or is hard to break free from, almost as if the behaviour is involuntary.
*
*
*
Psychedelics have the potential to alleviate these characteristics that relate to eating disorders. The potential for psychedelics to increase cognitive flexibility creates a break from the ordinary mind and a loosening of the belief systems that eating disorders are so rigidly held by.
This is important to note because eating disorders have an “ego-syntonic” nature, meaning that the ego’s demands and aspirations drive many of the eating disorder’s values, feelings and behaviours. The eating disorder is regarded as an asset and helpful - and if something is perceived as helpful, why change it?
This is why treatment can be unsuccessful - because the individual doesn’t perceive the eating disorder as a problem.
However with the help of psychedelics, the ego-syntonic nature of the eating disorder lessens, as plant medicine and psychedelics can also offer a temporary dissolution (or softening) of the ego, allowing for the rigid beliefs to break down.
This results in a new perspective, the possibility of transformation, healing, and change of certain behaviours, thought patterns, and beliefs.
Psychedelics can help reorganise the brain into a system that is more supportive for fulfilling, meaningful, inspiring, and connected living; a better connection with one’s body, relationships and community, purpose, and the Earth is remembered and reestablished.
Acceptance and appreciation arises.
Psychedelics help us experience new ways of thinking not just on a cognitive level, but on an embodied cellular level too.
When the body experiences a new way of being on a felt sense level, a different kind of learning, understanding, and transformation occurs.
It is important to note that if there has been a history of disconnecting from the body as a way to survive, if one chooses to engage in psychedelics to support healing and recovery, it’s so important to include preparation practices that focuses on acknowledging the body, resourcing, developing interoceptive capacity, and learning about one’s unique physiology - because the psychedelic experience is an expansive embodied experience!
These practices that support connecting to and turning towards the body, help us listen more deeply and sensitively to its internal cues, biological impulses, and wants and needs so as to not push past or override the nervous system, which could lead to overwhelm and disassociation, or fragmentation.
And when we enter into a psychedelic journey, emotions, sensations, memories, and the environment are more sensitive, expanded, bigger, fuller, more. This can be overwhelming or scary, especially for those who have been cut off from the body for a long time.
In a psychedelic journey, a tidal wave of grief, a boiling pot of anger, or a heartbreaking amount of love can arise. It can be a lot.
And if the nervous system hasn’t been prepared to hold this energy or if we haven’t learnt how to titrate or pendulate the experience, rather than processing the emotion, we can be sent into a shutdown, disassociation, or fragmentation. This can be damaging and possibly retraumatizing.
The more focus we bring to the body and learn how it communicates to us about its needs, the better we can stay regulated and present to the psychedelic experience.
Indeed, it is the body that carries us through the journey.
The body is the resource, and we have to resource (aka nourish) the body on many levels so that it can become a resource for us on the healing path. It can ultimately become an ally.
This is a body-first, bottom-up, embodied approach to eating disorder recovery woven with psychedelics.
Somatic-based preparation support before a journey ideally supports us in resourcing the body so that it can be the ultimate resource during the journey experience - and beyond.
To learn more about psychedelic journey preparation for people in eating disorder recovery, download my free manual here.