At the Nashville Psychedelic Center we encourage all of our clients to keep their medical providers informed of any upcoming or prior psychedelic sessions. Although psychedelic medicines are generally very safe and have a low body load, it is still best to keep doctors updated. With that said, some medical professionals may not be informed, knowledgeable, or wholly accepting of psychedelic medicine work. Below you will find some tips when talking to medical professionals about psychedelic sessions.
Be Prepared For Hesitancy
Some medical professionals may meet the topic of psychedelic work with hesitancy or apprehension. Being aware that this might happen is the first step in navigating this. Hesitancy and apprehension can be normal responses to something that people aren’t knowledgeable or comfortable about. There is also unfortunately a lot of antiquated and erroneous information regarding psychedelics that may make up your providers information base. Meeting all of this with open and honest communication is important. Discuss what you’re looking to get out of the psychedelic work as well as your rationale. It can also be helpful to keep in mind the difference between physician personal disapproval or hesitancy and medical disapproval or hesitancy. Your doctor having personal discomfort around psychedelics isn’t necessarily an issue. However, if your physician is medically hesitant or believes there are contraindications, that definitely needs to be respected and explored.
Have Information Ready
Given the amount of antiquated, wrong, or misleading information (shout out to the DARE program…) it can be very helpful to come to an appointment with your medical provider with information, knowledge, and even handouts. Things are changing but often you may be more knowledgeable about psychedelic medicine work than your provider and it can be a wonderful opportunity to educate them. If you are going to bring information make sure to get it from a reputable source like academic research papers or well-known organizations like MAPS or Johns Hopkins. Here’s a good link for some more information: Psychedelic Info 101.
Believe in Your Plan
If you’ve decided that psychedelic medicine is the right fit for you, we encourage you to be assertive in that belief. You are the leader of your life and you get to make decisions that you feel are best for you. As above, I want to clarify that we don’t encourage anyone to go against medical advice. If your medical provider has medical concerns then please heed those.
