English Abstract:

This presentation aims to explore psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies (PAP) as a therapeutic process and considers related concepts and phenomena from a viewpoint of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Utilizing the framework of CBT, commonalities and differences between conventional talk therapy and PAP are examined.

PAP can be defined as a psychotherapeutic treatment that utilizes a pharmacological agent to induce altered states of consciousness in a limited number of sessions. The purpose of inducing altered states of consciousness in a therapeutic container is to aid the therapeutic process by increasing participants’ psychological flexibility and insight.

Promoting psychological flexibility is essential in the workings of CBT and highlighted in its third wave methods, therefore offering a coherent and useful framework for PAP. Psychological flexibility can be defined as one’s ability to meet different stressors in an adaptive way.

Pharmacological agents explored in PAP can be grouped into classical and atypical psychedelics. They differ in safety profile and mechanism of action. Classical psychedelics are not toxic or addictive, whereas atypical psychedelics can be.

If the positive results about efficacy and safety can be replicated in larger clinical studies, at least some forms of PAP will most likely become available as legal treatments during the 2020s.