Evolving Guidelines for the Use of Touch During a Clinical Trial of Group Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy

This technical report (2024) describes the evolving guidelines for facilitator use of touch in a group retreat-based format of psilocybin-assisted therapy. The primary goal is to create a safe and supportive haptic experience during sessions, with a secondary goal of maintaining therapeutic boundaries and responding to participant experiences with empathy.

Abstract of Evolving Guidelines for the Use of Touch During a Clinical Trial of Group Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy

“For a new clinical trial testing a group retreat-based format of psilocybin-assisted therapy, our research team created an initial set of practice guidelines that aimed to describe facilitator use of touch in a way that is ethical, supportive, and minimizes harm. In our first three retreats, however, we had two unexpected experiences with touch that led us to iterate our initial guidelines into a new version of guidelines. In this Technical Report, we describe our evolving guidelines specifying acceptable practices for facilitator use of touch to ensure a safe, supportive, and therapeutic participant experience. Our primary goal with these guidelines is to create a haptic experience during the psilocybin session that reinforces the participants’ sense of safety and supports their own experience during the psilocybin session. Our secondary goal is to allow the facilitator team to notice and maintain therapeutic boundaries and to respond to participant experiences with empathy and openness in the context of those boundaries.”

Authors: Anthony Back, Susanna Myers, John Guy, Juliana Perez, Leslie Lazar Thorn & Bonnie McGregor

Summary of Evolving Guidelines for the Use of Touch During a Clinical Trial of Group Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy