I’d be curious to know what Matt Johnson thinks, but don’t think it’s necessary for the researchers to have the experience. However I do think it’s useful and informative, and especially useful for the facilitators. This is one of the limitations of most current training programs—the trainees can’t legally have the experience they are administering. The Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (full discloser: I am a co-founder) has an opportunity to offer the psilocybin experience to its trainees, since the Center will be working with “healthy normals” rather than volunteers with a clinical diagnosis. MAPS has gotten permission to do give MDMA to a limited number of trainees.
It should never be a requirement as not all therapists would qualify per safety guidelines. It is complex. While I surely think that for some it can help to understand the treatment, other experiences can also help, and are probably all less important than personality and clinical rapport. And there are many folks who have taken plenty of psychedelics who would be horrible therapists. I wrote a letter of support for MAPS when they were trying to get approval for their therapist administration study (which is voluntary), stating that, per our Hopkins safety guidelines, a legal and safe experience could one way to experience the altered subjective states that we judged can be helpful for increasing empathy for the participant undergoing an experience. One final thing—just because somebody has had a psychedelic experience, or even 500 experiences, doesn’t mean they have had the experience that THAT patient is having. So there is also a risk that a person falsely thinks their personal experience affords more insight than it really does. Humility is critical.
Should psychedelic researchers have personal experience with the substances? It could be a source of bias, but also help one design studies.
I’d be curious to know what Matt Johnson thinks, but don’t think it’s necessary for the researchers to have the experience. However I do think it’s useful and informative, and especially useful for the facilitators. This is one of the limitations of most current training programs—the trainees can’t legally have the experience they are administering. The Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (full discloser: I am a co-founder) has an opportunity to offer the psilocybin experience to its trainees, since the Center will be working with “healthy normals” rather than volunteers with a clinical diagnosis. MAPS has gotten permission to do give MDMA to a limited number of trainees.
It should never be a requirement as not all therapists would qualify per safety guidelines. It is complex. While I surely think that for some it can help to understand the treatment, other experiences can also help, and are probably all less important than personality and clinical rapport. And there are many folks who have taken plenty of psychedelics who would be horrible therapists. I wrote a letter of support for MAPS when they were trying to get approval for their therapist administration study (which is voluntary), stating that, per our Hopkins safety guidelines, a legal and safe experience could one way to experience the altered subjective states that we judged can be helpful for increasing empathy for the participant undergoing an experience. One final thing—just because somebody has had a psychedelic experience, or even 500 experiences, doesn’t mean they have had the experience that THAT patient is having. So there is also a risk that a person falsely thinks their personal experience affords more insight than it really does. Humility is critical.