I’m really glad, now, that I got my college degree in journalism, instead of in a dangerous field like psychology.
For many years, psychological counseling seemed like a pretty harmless occupation. But apparently, things have changed with the arrival of psychedelic-assisted therapies. The voters here in Colorado recently approved the use of psilocybin mushrooms in therapeutic settings. I was one of the 54% of Colorado voters ignorant enough to vote ‘Yes’ on Proposition 122.
As far as mind-altering substances are concerned, psilocybin is considered one of the safer ones. But according to a research paper published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies — while psychedelic-assisted therapies have been demonstrated to be beneficial for many patients — the “mind-altering capabilities” of these drugs pose “predominantly psychological” risks.
The study was looking at the risks to psychedelic-assisted therapies, and, boy, did they find one big risk.
Apparently, the patients have an uncomfortable tendency to fall in love with their therapists. And vice versa.
Some people might believe that falling in love with your therapist would be a ‘comfortable’ experience. But anyone who has actually fallen in love with someone, whom you have to pay money to spend time with, knows better.
One of the coauthors of the study, Jón Ingi Hlynsson, suggested in a recent interview that “many treatment providers reported issues with romantic transference and blurred professional boundaries.”
“Even for experienced therapists,” Hlynsson said, “managing romantic transference proved to be a challenge.”
Some therapists found the shift in power dynamics between them and their tripping patients to be “extreme,” while others suggested that they developed feelings for the patients or found it “difficult to resist romantic advances.”
What fascinated me about this study is the evidence that the therapists were falling in love. I would assume — and it’s just an assumption — that when the patient is tripping on mushrooms, the therapist is not.
Personally, I find it very easy to resist romantic advances, when I’m not tripping on mushrooms. I can’t count all the times I’ve resisted romantic advances while not tripping on mushrooms. And I assume our Daily Post readers have had similar experiences.
Like I said, I got my degree in journalism, so I tend to see things through a journalist’s lens. On the rare occasion when I write my column during a mushroom trip, there’s no one around except my cat, Roscoe, so the question of falling in love doesn’t arise. (I do love my cat, but not that way.)
There were other therapist-side drawbacks documented in the study: dealing with patients’ nausea or ‘freakouts’, and difficulty managing emotional reactions such as paranoia and disorientation. Ordinary psychedelic stuff.
But this romantic transference thing definitely was the most surprising of the reported issues with mushroom therapy.
I’m planning to write, tomorrow, about the way American men are dropping out of the labor market. I can understand this trend (although, obviously, I’m not currently one of the statistics.) Many men naturally gravitate towards jobs that offer an element of danger, but the kind of mildly dangerous manufacturing jobs men used to find attractive, have been largely relocated to Asia and Mexico. Men don’t generally want to do the types of jobs available nowadays: nursing, preschool teacher, flipping burgers, writing online humor columns.
I expect that once this study gets out in the mainstream media, about romantic transference, more men will get interested in psychology degrees. It’s always seemed slightly dangerous to get romantically involved with a woman.
But also, unpredictable. Hit or miss. Haphazard.
Maybe mushrooms can help.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.