Dr. Rosalind Watts is the clinical lead of the Imperial College of London’s Psilocybin for Depression trials. In the first trial most of the participant’s depression began to come back within three to six months. Since that trial was designed mainly to test for the safety of psilocybin, very little time was allocated for the important ‘Integration Phase’ of treatment.
Dr. Watts asks participants to spend time considering what they have learned from the psychedelic experience and how they are going to integrate that into their lives. She lets them know their feelings of depression often will start to come back after a few months unless they begin a disciplined integration practice.
She emphasizes the importance of staying in touch with one’s feelings, however difficult and unpleasant they may be, rather than numbing or suppressing them. She acknowledges that this practice can be challenging due to the individualistic nature of our culture, and our focus on pain suppression and other superficial solutions.
