A Nurse’s Perspective on Taking Psychedelics

By Devorah Kamman, APRN

Caution, psychedelic treatments are not for everyone and should be discussed with qualified medical professionals. There can be serious negative consequences if not implemented with the right guidance.

As a Bais Rivkah alumnus and Yale-trained psychiatric nurse practitioner, I appreciated Rabbi Daniel Shonbuch’s take on the cautionary use of psychedelics for mental health. I got together with my husband, Rabbi Eli Bogart, LMHC, to share some thoughts to hopefully deepen this conversation.

By way of introduction, we’d like to invoke the Rebbe’s message that when a tool, such as meditation, is available to alleviate the suffering of those with mental and emotional anguish, it is incumbent on mental health professionals to educate themselves to provide this tool in a kosher way. We see psychedelics as such a powerful and important tool in alleviating internal suffering.

We’d also like to humbly acknowledge our own limits of understanding when it comes to psychedelics. We have personally seen the incredible benefits that these medicines have brought into people’s lives, and we have also seen some cases in which introducing psychedelics has caused turmoil and, sometimes, long-term destabilization.

That being said, we’d like to openly explore some of the points raised in the article with added nuance.

Psychedelics can be tried before psychotropic medications in some cases. While we acknowledge that for some people, antidepressants like Prozac have been lifesaving, we are also well aware that these medications have serious risks for some people, including side effects and protracted withdrawals from which it can take months to recover. These risks are unfortunately minimized by a pharmaceutical industry that may not have our best interests at heart.

Some individuals may choose to trial a limited number of psychedelic sessions as a way to recover without having to become dependent on a drug that must be taken daily with its own associated risks. We agree that this decision is not one to be made lightly and requires significant guidance, thoughtfulness, and preparation.

Additionally, reserving psychedelics for the most severe cases may be counterproductive. As the Rebbe taught, a family is an organism. We have seen on numerous occasions that when an apparently healthy parent works with psychedelics, their newfound sensitivity and attunement has helped their own children in ways that may otherwise not be possible. Is it necessary for this parent to meet criteria for a DSM diagnosis for them to make a thoughtful decision to explore their own inner world in order to become more emotionally present for their struggling children? In fact, a person who is unstable may be at highest risk for backlash from psychedelic use. It may actually be preferred for their stable loved ones to take the deep dive into themselves in order to help their family.

We’d also like to clarify that psychedelics are not analogous to cardiac medications. From a psychedelically aware perspective, one might say that these medicines help us see that we are in fact not broken on the inside. We are whole, and we can access our essence to bring compassion to our emotional wounds. The reason a practitioner might choose to experience psychedelics in order to help guide their patients is not because they have the same psychological problems but because, in the realms of consciousness, you cannot take someone deeper than you are willing to go yourself.

An analogy might be calling someone who’s traveled to a distant country for tips before you journey there yourself. You would seek guidance from someone who’s actually traveled there rather than from a well-meaning person who’s acquainted themselves with the place by doing research on a travel site. Interestingly, a senior psychiatric mentor of ours shared that back in the day, psychiatrists would personally trial medications before prescribing them to patients, in part because they understood that they were traversing a different terrain than an internal medicine physician.

We feel that mental health professionals have an important and unique contribution to make in heeding the Rebbe’s call to make powerful tools for healing available in a kosher way. There are many ways in which well-intentioned individuals who are not psychologically informed can misuse psychedelics in the form of spiritual bypassing and narcissistic abuse. Mental health professionals can be well-positioned to recognize these common patterns and to help create appropriate settings for healing that are emotionally wholesome and safe. Mental health professionals can be key actors in helping to prepare people to enter these experiences with a mindset conducive to safe, deep growth and to process these experiences after loving, spiritually aware, and safe healing relationships.

To the readers, we welcome your thoughts on this important and evolving dialogue.

May Hashem protect us and help us all access safe, effective, and profound refuah in a way that improves our practical lives and strengthens our relationships with each other and with our Creator.