Hypnosis or Psychedelics. Which one is better at eliminating PTSD?
You might have seen loads of adverts recently for psychedelic PTSD treatment, using everything from LSD to micro-dosing mushrooms. You might have been considering psychedelics as a new treatment for you. Maybe something has held you back from trying it so far. Maybe because it involves drugs, and mind-altering substances at that, and you just don’t know what it might do to you.
You may have heard stories of people being stuck in horrible memories and experiences, for hours, during psychedelic retreats.
Well, we at CatchPTSD have had exactly the same concerns, even though many hypnotherapists in the 1960s were using psychedelics COMBINED with hypnotherapy to treat mental illness, and claiming to get astounding results – curing conditions from depression right up to schizophrenia.
However, the use of psychedelics with hypnotherapy was discontinued after a few years because the medical profession was not sure of any potentially damaging side-effects from the drugs, especially to the heart.
At CatchPTSD we believe you DON’T NEED to use psychedelic drugs to experience vivid visions which can help explain your PTSD symptoms. We know that happens anyway, while in hypnosis, as the mind possesses all the ability you need to experience and understand what is wrong.
Previous CatchPTSD clients have reported being transported back to their past, seeing things they couldn’t possibly know, in stark detail; or visiting other worlds and meeting other beings; or being in space, or able to fly, or live underwater. So many fantastical experiences, but all of them directly relevant in some way to what they had been suffering from in life. The brain is perfectly capable of creating anything, to get its message across. Look at our dreams!
By understanding, by comprehending, the messages we receive, symptoms permanently stop. No drugs required.
In one of my own hypnotherapy treatments, I personally met a bright blue alien with a head like a hammerhead shark, dressed in a big black cape, playing cards with other aliens behind a tree. It doesn’t get much more psychedelic than that! When I asked for his help in solving a problem in my life, the hammerhead shrugged and told me I already knew the answer and I should go with my gut. So one of the most important decisions I made in my life is down to a big blue alien!
Some of my clients have come out of the hypnotic state with far more amazing experiences than that, all of which have shown them how to repair their lives.
Sometimes, people do see or feel things in hypnosis which are worrying or scary, but CatchPTSD skilled hypnotherapists have the tools to alleviate any emotional distress, and allow clients to continue to experience what they are seeing, but as impartial observers. That is not always possible with psychedelics.
Psychedelic drugs may be seen as a shortcut to understanding, however traumatic. But we at CatchPTSD worry that it may hijack the body’s own method of explaining, and create more fear for the person, or even more resistance.
CatchPTSD hypnotherapists do not use direct suggestion or shock tactics to help someone understand their drivers. We let the person’s body decide what visions are created. We welcome the body’s ability to insulate the client against further upset while finding out what is wrong.
The whole ethos at CatchPTSD is to help a client move away from drugs and substances, and simply harness the power of their own mind. That is why we believe clinical hypnotherapy is a better solution to eliminating PTSD symptoms than psychedelic drugs.
CATCH 