The effect of psychedelic retreats on change in early maladaptive schemas and schema modes.

Abstract

In the last decade, there has been a steep increase in studies investigating the use of serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin, to reduce symptoms of treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders characterized by rigid cognition. These include depression and anxiety (Griffiths et al., 2016; Ross et al., 2016; Carhart-Harris et al., 2017), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Moreno, Wiegand, Taitano, & Delgado, 2006), substance use disorder (Veen, Schellekens, Verheij, & Homberg, 2016), and anorexia nervosa (Foldi, Liknaitzky, Williams, & Oldfield, 2020). The relaxed beliefs under psychedelics (REBUS) model proposes that psychedelics stimulate layer V pyramidal neurons, which serves to relax the precision weighting of pathological prior beliefs. Such process would lead to more malleable and updated priors and thereby potentially a more adaptive belief system, which might underlie the therapeutic efficacy of psychedelic therapy (Carhart-Harris & Friston, 2019). Thus far, researchers studying the effect of psychedelics on mental health have not yet investigated whether the ingestion of psychedelics can induce long-term alterations in maladaptive prior beliefs, as suggested by the REBUS model. Schema therapy is an increasingly popular therapeutic framework for treating individuals with various mental health issues (Masley, Gillanders, Simpson, & Taylor, 2011). We propose to use schema therapy’s defined early maladaptive schemas (EMS) to investigate whether psychedelics alter maladaptive belief systems. The schema therapy model identifies entrenched patterns of EMS which are defined as distorted beliefs about the world, oneself, and one’s relationship with others. Thus, this study serves to assess whether psychedelics influence maladaptive schemas as defined by schema therapy and whether specific schemas are influenced more than others. The REBUS model places emphasis on corrective bottom-up signals as a mechanism underlying the acute psychedelic experience (Carhart-Harris & Friston, 2019). Schema therapy aims to correct maladaptive beliefs through counteracting exercises in which patients practice more adaptive perspectives (Young et al., 2003). Thus, the nature of the bottom-up signals available before and during a psychedelic experience may influence if, which and how pathological priors are altered, which can be measured using the EMS. We will investigate the influence of bottom-up signals related to the retreat setting such as music, nature, other attendees, and facilitators. We will also focus on the nature of the psychedelic experience as captured by the Altered States of Consciousness questionnaire. Next to this, schema therapy places emphasis on schema modes as a potential mechanism of change. Schema modes are cognitive-emotional-behavioural states triggered by EMS activation. Although schema modes are largely understudied, Yakin and colleagues (2020) have identified the healthy adult and vulnerable child modes as predictive of personality disorder severity and functioning after schema therapy. We intend to explore which schema modes are implicated in the psychedelic experience and if they are associated with a change in EMS. Specifically, this study will use a psychedelic retreat context to assess how attending such a retreat impacts EMS. To this end, participants in psilocybin retreats in the Netherlands will be offered the possibility to participate in research, by filling out a total of three surveys before and after the retreat. Participants complete the first survey before the retreat experience, the second survey approximately 48-hours after the psychedelic altered state of consciousness experience, and the third survey approximately 1-month after the retreat experience.

Topics & conditions

Detected automatically by Psychedelic Commons from the title and abstract, not labels from the source. They may be incomplete.

Keywords