Social relationships are necessary for mental and physical health (Umberson and Montez, 2010). People diagnosed with psychological disorders often react more aversively to social rejection (Kumar et al., 2017) and may also encounter the stigma around mental illness in society (Feldman and Crandall, 2007).
If such social dynamics of mental disorders are not actively addressed within the course of psychotherapy, this may negatively influence the development, progression and treatment of the condition of patients. Individual psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (IPAP) has been introduced for the treatment of mental health problems (Luoma et al., 2020).
However, this therapy relies on the patient’s own perspective and subjective reports of social relationship difficulties that can be replayed and better understood in the context of the therapeutic relationship, in which the therapist can help identifying the patients’ contribution to these difficulties and suggest alternative strategies.
In contrast, psychedelic-assisted group psychotherapy (PAGP) allows the patient, other group members and the therapists to simultaneously experience and observe these difficulties in a safe and supportive environment. This engages multiple perspectives that may be therapeutic. In this article, we present a theoretical framework for future research on PAGP to better understand its potential benefits in treating social problems in addition to the benefits of IPAP.
In the 21st century, only three empirical studies on group therapy with psychedelics have been conducted (Anderson et al.,2020; Oehen and Gasser, 2022; Schmid et al., 2021). However, before the current wave of research, PAGP was extensively studied under the paradigm of psycholytic therapy (Passie, 1997).
A recent meta-analysis identified a total of 76 cases of PAGP, all conducted between 1956 and 1995, in which a total of 700 patients in groups of up to 39 were treated with PAGP for alcoholism, psychopathy, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, phobias, eating disorders and addiction (Trope et al., 2019).
Significant psychological and behavioural improvements were reported in most cases, especially in combination with evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions and relatively high doses of psychedelics. Clinical interest in PAGP’s efficacy and potential advantages is growing again (Beaussant et al., 2021).
In this article, we examine the therapeutic factors of PAGP using current literature, and we outline its advantages and disadvantages in comparison with other methods, particularly IPAP. Our goal is to bring awareness to this topic and illustrate how the conceptual framework of Yalom’s 11 factors can further PAGP as an object of psychotherapy research.
We have included more information in the attached pdf for your reference which you are welcome to download.
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