My Psychedelic Experience

My psychedelic experience – a collection of experiences with psychedelics

Representations of psychedelic use in the media and public discourse are often exaggerated and negative. These stereotypical representations feed stigma and support misinformation while harming public acceptance of these substances as beneficial for many people.

Positive, beneficial experiences represent the majority of drug experiences, particularly with psychedelics, but are seldom reported on. This leads to a false and unbalanced narrative in the public discourse, which over-represents negative outcomes and ignores the reasons people continue to use psychedelics, as well as other substances.

The Australian Psychedelic Society has devised the My Psychedelic Experience project as one way to counter this ignorant rhetoric. People who use psychedelics often have a deep understanding of what they gain from these experiences and know why they continue to use these substances. We thought there was no better way to show the true nature of psychedelic experiences than by sharing your stories.

We are striving to curate a collection of stories (max. 1500 words) from the community of psychedelic users to emphasise the positive experiences commonly had using these substances. Stories could include:

Recollection of a specific positive experience
General narratives about your psychedelic pathway and what you feel you have gained from your experiences with psychedelics
Difficult experiences which have had positive impacts, and how the difficult experience was turned into a positive experience.
Stories of using psychedelics to address specific issues you were facing (e.g specific circumstances like a major loss; troubling psychological symptoms; a specific health condition).

A selection of stories will be published on the APS website. In addition, if you agree at the end of this form, your story may be one selected in future for publication in print form as part of a collation to be sold for the purpose of raising funds for the APS.

This collection of stories can be used to rebut narratives that paint the use of psychedelics as universally high risk or dismiss it as meaningless, especially when used outside a controlled ‘therapeutic’ setting. Personal narratives often carry more weight in changing people’s opinions than data and statistics. They also serve to humanise the people using psychedelics and combat stigmatised views of who uses these substances and why they choose to do so. The collection of narratives can be leveraged to influence the views of people who do not understand or who judge the use of psychedelics, including policy makers in particular.

What do I need to do?

The form below requests some information to be published along with your story. The additional information requested helps add context to your story and helps demonstrate the diversity that exists within the community of those who use psychedelics. You can give as much or as little specific information as you feel comfortable with, but please avoid self-incrimination and speak in general terms: avoid talking about specific dates, locations or names of other people.

Your story will be reviewed by the project team to ensure it meets the APS editorial standards (e.g. does not contain hate speech or overly sexually explicit depictions). Content will not be altered; however, in some cases, at the discretion of the project team, it may only be appropriate to publish an excerpt (or excerpts) from a story. And while the goal is to publish a broad range of stories including as many submissions as possible, there is no guarantee that every story submitted will be published. Stories will be published monthly on a specific section of the APS website. If you choose to provide an email address with your story, you will be notified of its publication.

You must be 18 years or older to submit your story.

If you have any questions regarding the project, please feel free to email the project team: mypsychedelicexperience@psychedelicsociety.org.au.

Submit your story

First name/pseudonym

Email address

Email addresses will not be published with stories and will not be linked to your story after review of your story. Addresses will be kept in a separate list so you can be contacted with updates about the project. You may choose not to provide one, in which case you will not receive updates about your story or the project.

Current age

Age at time of specific experience OR age of first interest in psychedelics for stories not relating to a specific experience

Occupation/Profession

Your story (max. 1500 words)

Suggested details to consider include: - What the substance(s) were - What the setting(s) was or have been - What your intention was or for what reasons have you used psychedelics (e.g enjoyment, specific therapeutic target, social experience, satisfy curiosity) - How experienced you were with psychedelics at the time of the experience - The nature of the specific experience or range of experiences you’ve had - Any difficult aspects to your use of psychedelics and how you managed them - How you felt before, during and after the experience(s) - What your experience(s) with psychedelics have given you - Any lasting effects on you, your mindset, your interactions with others or your quality of life - How effective have psychedelics been in achieving any intended target or goal you had? How did this approach compare to therapies you’ve tried previously? - Whether your perspective of the experience(s) or your psychedelic pathway has changed over time

Acknowledgement

By clicking ‘Submit’ I acknowledge that:

I am 18 years of age or older

And I acknowledge that:

My story, including the other information provided (with the exception of my email address), may be published by the Australian Psychedelic Society online

(Optional) My story may be published in print form by the Australian Psychedelic Society for fundraising purposes. (If you provide an email address and your story is chosen to be included in printed form, you will be offered a copy of the book of stories at cost price)

The Australian Psychedelic Society is a registered not-for-profit organisation. All proceeds from sale of any publication produced will be used by the organisation to further our psychedelic harm reduction and education activities.

Image courtesy of pxfuel.