In September 2021 a diverse group of veterans from The Netherlands participated in a psychedelic nature retreat organised by Psychedelic Insights, called Psychedelic Warriors.
Why the retreat? Specifically for veterans and other first responders; One woman and 8 men joined the retreat in a remote forest area. It was a shared dream made real by Hans Grootewal CEO of FreshMushrooms.nl/en who sponsored the retreat and Luc van Poelje the founder of PsychedelicInsights.com.
Hans felt there was a lack of efficient help for veterans and Luc saw the effects of his work with psilocybin truffles with his clients. As a veteran himself he knew this could help many old military colleagues. Globally there is a psychedelic renaissance with many studies into the effects of these promising compounds.
A lot of research studies illegal substances like MDMA and pure psilocybin. With the political “War on Drugs”, it is left to scientists to show their safe benefits and counter the decades of intentional disinformation.
Psilocybin truffles however, are legal and available in The Netherlands. The logical question: “Why are we not doing what we can to help veterans, now”?
The intention setting The preparation of psychedelic experiences for personal development include the so-called “intention setting”. There is a lot of research by many companies, aiming at specific issues ranging from PTSD to eating disorders, depression, anxiety and many others. Psychedelic Insights' therapists conduct these deep psychological talks to get clarity about people’s deeper motivation for the psychedelic experience;
“What are you hoping to gain?
What do you want to leave behind?
What is it you want more clarity on?”…
These intentions are then placed more “top of mind” when entering the psychedelic experience. These are the crossroads of the “possibilities” that a psychedelic experience could provide insights to. Many tears were shed already in this phase, sober and the day before the first psychedelic session. Strong men left vulnerable by the scars of life explaining their reasons for participating.
Concerns
One reason why there are some concerns regarding using veterans is experiential avoidance (EA). Experiential avoidance is the phenomenon that occurs when a person attempts to avoid emotions, thoughts, memories, and bodily sensations. This is a coping style that may maintain problems or produce new ones because you do not deal with the problems but avoid-suppress them.
Feingold and Zerach (2020) found that experiential avoidance may be a factor for the association between mental health problems and war veterans. [12] This EA can cause the emotional suppression during the treatment with psilocybin.
Materials and Methods
9 individuals participated in this observational study to measure the protocols used by a psychedelic retreat “psychedelic insights”. Participants were measured on quality of life and resilience following 2 doses of Psilocybin (truffles). All participants: 8 of whom male and 1 female, were Dutch military veterans with moderate PTSD symptoms participating on a path towards self-development or spirituality.
The 9 individuals were screened based on mental and physical health measures. Exclusion criteria that rendered participants unsuitable for the study were psychiatric disorders, previous psychotic or manic events, and other underlying health conditions.
The study took place at a wooden house in a forest surrounded by nature, which intended to create a safe, relaxed base for trust.
Rapport was established by having a team work closely with the participants who themselves had had extensive experience with various psychedelics. The overall aim was to create an atmosphere of union, openness, and comfort. Before, during, and after the study participants answered several clinical study questionnaires from which a data set was created. Analysis of this data set was performed for this research project.
At a baseline level, 2 days before receiving the first dose, the baseline application form assessing mental health, intentions, and personal information was answered. The questionnaires included: – PTSD questionnaire – Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) – The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) – Relationships Questionnaire – IOS Questionnaire – Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) – The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISK)
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