Glossary of terms used in the Summit:
Plant spirit healing is the process of developing a relationship with plant medicines in a way that helps you recover from trauma or nurture a healthier way of being. Traditionally this process will be guided or overseen by a shaman, who has spent years of their life learning everything there is to know about one or more plant medicines and understands how to travel into the unseen spirit world and return with insights and knowledge.
Psychedelic medicine is a term used to denote a more Western approach to healing with psychedelics and can include both natural and synthetic psychedelics. Generally, it refers to the use of psychedelic substances to help treat mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction.
Psychedelic therapy usually means using psychedelic substances in a Western therapeutic style, to help address mental health issues. Mostly, the psychedelic will be in the hands of a trained clinical therapist, who will gently guide a participant through a psychedelic experience, alongside a copious therapy course before and after the trip, to help them address a specific mental health issue.
Psychedelic integration is a new and growing field that refers to the process of integrating insights, realizations, and emotions that arise from a psychedelic experience to support desired outcomes in life. Any kind of psychedelic experience, no matter how challenging or traumatic at the time, can be reflected upon and integrated in such a way that ultimately supports the individual’s goals, desired outcomes, or stated intentions for the session or ceremony.
Microdosing is a popular way of taking psychedelics that involves taking a very small dose – technically one-tenth or less of an active dose – so as to create a barely perceptible "sub-threshold" effect. The practice of microdosing psychedelics has surged in recent years due to its popularity among entrepreneurs, athletes, and other otherwise healthy, high-performing "productivity hackers."
Cognitive Liberty is the freedom of an individual to explore and control their own cognition and consciousness. In the psychedelic realm, this looks like being free to take mind-altering substances without fear of legal persecution.
Cultural Appropriation involves taking or using something that comes from a culture that is not yours without gaining permission, giving credit to the source, or respecting its original meaning. For example, a white, Western person buying ayahuasca online and holding their own ceremony with no acknowledgment of where the medicine has come from would be considered cultural appropriation.
Cultural Appreciation, conversely, is when someone seeks to understand and learn about another culture in a way that is respectful and earnest. In the plant medicine world, this looks like spending time educating yourself on the culture and communities that have safeguarded sacred medicines and honoring their traditions through respectful use.
Decolonization is the practice of establishing cultural, economic, and psychological freedom and sovereignty for indigenous peoples. In the psychedelic space, this means fighting the cultural, economic, and environmental exploitation of indigenous communities that have safeguarded ancestral traditions and medicines for millennia, and supporting their self-determination. It also involves examining all the ways in which indigenous medicines, culture, and spirituality are being appropriated and extracted for profit, power, and prestige by individuals, organizations, and companies from colonizing nations. Finally, it means dismantling the institutional legacy of colonialism that continues to enable the accumulation of wealth and power into the hands of the most privileged.
Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is a non-psychotic disorder in which a person experiences lasting visual hallucinations or perceptual changes after taking a hallucinogenic substance. These effects may last for weeks or months after the drug experience, with some rare, severe cases reporting lifelong symptoms.
Psychedelic Capitalism is a growing paradigm in which for-profit companies and investors enter the psychedelic space with the hope to benefit financially from the surge in demand for psychedelic therapy. Some of the players that stand to develop from psychedelic capitalism include drug development companies, mental health care companies, and psychedelic VC investors.
Psychedelic Exceptionalism is an ideology that maintains that psychedelics are less harmful and less addictive and thus inherently "better" than other "hard" drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. This ideology often comes alongside the argument that psychedelics should be granted legal or decriminalized status, whereas other Schedule 1 substances should remain illegal.
Psychedelic Gatekeeping refers to various attempts by powerful stakeholders in the psychedelic industry to control and dominate aspects of the market. Gatekeeping might look like drug development companies attempting to control and limit general access to a psychedelic substance, or establish a monopoly through patents that restrict who may produce, administer, or share data related to patented compounds and processes.
Gatekeeping in Psychedelic Medicine means stakeholders attempting to control who gets to administer psychedelics through high requirements for licensure or credentialing, or by establishing high barriers to education and professional entry. For example, the concept that only those with Western academic credentials in psychotherapy and medicine are uniquely qualified to administer psychedelics overlooks millennia of indigenous use and has been criticized as medical and psychiatric industry gatekeeping.
Psychedelic Narrative Control happens when a person or group attempts to control the narrative around a topic or issue in the psychedelic space. An example of this might be if an influential mental health company tried to control the narrative around the inherent safety of psychedelic therapy in a medical setting vs. personal use of psychedelics.
The Psychedelic Patent Wars have emerged in the last few years as a controversial part of psychedelic capitalism. Several for-profit psychedelic companies are attempting to patent the synthetic and natural formation of certain psychedelic drugs and other aspects of psychedelic therapy in the hope to push out competitors and establish a monopoly in this burgeoning space.
Sacred Reciprocity refers to the mutual exchange of value and energy that must take place between all living things in order to maintain harmony and balance in the natural world. This concept of giving and receiving has its origins in many indigenous cultures – in Quechua, for example, the word for sacred reciprocity is Ayni. For Western people using ancestral plant medicines, sacred reciprocity looks like giving back to indigenous groups, perhaps financially or by working to fight ecological issues related to their community. It also involves engaging in responsible, sustainable, and respectful use of the medicines.
| 
Comments