[Solved] Do psychedelic sessions always produce results?

No. A psychedelic session has not always the desired outcome, even if it is well prepared and professionally supervised. In our view, the idea that psychedelic therapy always produces the intended result stems from various media sources and videos.

Possible outcomes are:

• A clear positive change: for example, fewer depressive symptoms, less anxiety, better emotional processing or new insights.
• A subtle change: It is only weeks or months later that someone realises their behaviour or feelings have changed.
• No noticeable effect for the time being: Some people derive little therapeutic benefit from a single session.
• A difficult experience with no immediate benefit: An intense or challenging process may only prove valuable once it has been properly integrated.
• No effect or even a deterioration: This is less common, but it is possible, particularly if someone is inadequately prepared, the setting is unsafe, or there are psychiatric risk factors present.

Research shows that a significant proportion of participants in clinical trials benefit from psilocybin or MDMA-assisted therapy, but Not everyone responds. There are always people who experience little or no improvement.

Factors that influence the likelihood of a positive outcome include:

• the desire to undergo a session oneself;
• the quality of the preparation;
• the neurochemical state;
• guidance during the session;
• retroactive integration;
• the nature of the symptoms;
• individual differences in neurobiology, genetics and medication use.

Furthermore, with psilocybin, the therapeutic outcome does not appear to depend entirely on the intensity of the trip. Some people experience few visual effects but nevertheless report a significant improvement, whilst others have a very intense experience without any lasting therapeutic effect.

In short: Psychedelic therapy can be very powerful, but there is no guarantee of success. It is a treatment that offers a higher chance of improvement for certain conditions; it does not guarantee a specific outcome for every individual.

I have personally undergone around eight guided therapy sessions using various psychedelics, and these are my findings:

Some sessions have had a significant impact and led to progress, whilst others have yielded little or none. And this despite the dosages and conditions being virtually the same. Nevertheless, I can say that 3 out of the 8 were very effective. This leads me to believe that 1 in 3 sessions can be highly beneficial, whilst 2 out of 3 yield moderate results. I have also noticed the most progress with psilocybin and MDMA. LSD didn’t do much for me. This suggests that the choice of substance is a personal one, as LSD actually worked best for my partner.

So it’s a matter of trial and error to find out what works best for you, and don’t give up after just one session if you don’t see much of a result.