While the definition is ever evolving, the term "Integration" that we are referring to in this context,  is related to the process of assimilating the mind, body, and spirit after experiencing an altered state, for the purpose of improving wellbeing, healing and growth.“Psychedelic integration is a process in which the patient integrates the insights of their experience into their life” (Gorman et al., 2021, p. 8) Most definitions of integration emphasise the need to revisit, work through, and make sense of the material and content of experiences with psychedelic or altered states (Bathje et al., 2022).

The actions taken to integrate an experience will vary from person to person from one experience to the next, and may include:

1. Exploring the visual, physical, and psychological experiences from a an experience to gain insight into your past, present, and future\

2. Using lessons from a psychedelic experience to make positive changes in your everyday life

3. Managing any new perspectives around reality or relation to the self and others that may arise during a psychedelic experience

4. Learning to cope with the trauma of difficult psychedelic experiences

5. Making sense of any aspects of the psychedelic experience that were particularly confusing

As well as discussing experiences and exploring meaning in sessions, as a client engaging in therapeutic integration sessions, you may be invited to do additional tasks between sessions to support your integration process.

This may include:

• Speaking with others about your experience (e.g. group integration sessions), journaling about your experience and insights

• Exploring experience and meaning through art, connecting with your body, meditation, connecting with nature, and/or connecting with music. 

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Group Integration: Recent research shows supportive communities play an important role in integrating psychedelic experiences. Western approaches have focused on individual psychotherapy, findings indicate communal practices such as sharing experiences, participating in rituals, and receiving empathy from others can greatly aid integration. This aligns with indigenous views of healing as intertwined with community and the collective wisdom of the culture. The research points to an expanded definition of integration that goes beyond the individual to include mutual understanding and holistic healing through communal support. This underscores the vital role communities can play in sustaining personal growth during the integration process by instilling a sense of belonging and collective responsibility in supporting the emotional, mental, and spiritual processes of integration.

Who is preparation and integration for? 

• Anyone with interest in altered or expanded states of consciousness.

• Those with an interest or curiosity about psychedelic-assisted therapies, those wanting to prepare for a psychedelic experience, or make-sense of profound, challenging or confusing psychedelic experiences. 

• Those needing support to manage challenging after-effects of a psychedelic experience (these could include: existential depression, lack of meaning, low mood, anxiety, depression, increased sensitivities to thoughts, feelings or one's environment, experiences of derealisation or depersonalisation, feeling generally unsettled, etc.)

• Those who want to learn how to integrate insights from psychedelic experiences into their daily lives. 

How is integration therapy similar or different from psychotherapy? 

Typically there is a clear distinction between integration sessions and traditional psychotherapy, where a person is seen for integration sessions to explore and integrate a specific experience or set of psychedelic experiences into their daily lives. During the course of integration sessions, issues may be brought to light that require further focus in psychotherapy.  Then it is decided between the therapist and the client how and when this transition will be made to move away from a direct exploration of the specific experience with an expanded or psychedelic state and into more psychotherapeutic content. We, at TNP, refer to this kind of therapy as psychedelic-informed psychotherapy, because often the information derived from the integration sessions or the experiences with non-ordinary or psychedelic states informs this psychotherapeutic work.

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This can also be seen in other formats, for example, where a person engage with us in a therapeutic programme that with support the preparation, integration and ongoing psychotherapy sessions.

See more about our approaches to psychotherapy on our therapy page.