Benoit Kim recently appeared on the Millennial Mental Health Channel podcast to discuss his experience using psychedelic therapy to heal from sexual trauma he endured in college. His candid interview provided insight into the potential of psychedelics to assist in psychotherapy for trauma. Benoit described an intensive 8-hour psychedelic therapy session he had with a guide, which involved taking psilocybin mushrooms. Before the session, Benoit harbored intense hatred towards the person who had sexually assaulted him in college. During his trip, Benoit gained profound insights that shifted his perspective. He realized he wanted to forgive his perpetrator and move on rather than remain stuck in bitterness over the past trauma. While Benoit did not actually reconnect with the person after the session, he gave himself permission to let go of the anger and pain. This represented major psychological and emotional growth for him. The psychedelic experience facilitated an accelerated therapeutic process that may have taken months or years through conventional talk therapy alone.
Benoit credited the guided psychedelic session with inspiring him to become a therapist himself. He wanted to provide psychedelic-assisted therapy to others as a way to transform their trauma and suffering. Benoit spoke passionately about the need for psychedelic therapy to become more accessible as an innovative mental health treatment. He shared more details about his specific psychedelic session during the podcast interview. At the onset of the trip, Benoit experienced beautiful visions and felt at peace. After some time, however, repressed memories and emotions arose to the surface. With the guide's support, Benoit leaned into the difficult feelings instead of resisting them. The guide helped Benoit talk through the powerful visions and emotions evoked by the psilocybin. He felt a cathartic release around his assault trauma. Letting go of the anger he had clung to for years felt immensely healing and liberating. Benoit believes having an experienced guide for psychedelic sessions is essential for safety and therapeutic value. The guide can help navigate challenging parts of the experience and draw out psychological insights. Benoit said his guide skillfully facilitated his journey towards forgiveness and healing. Overall, Benoit is a passionate advocate for psychedelic-assisted therapy. He sees tremendous potential for psychedelics like psilocybin to catalyze healing from trauma when used responsibly in a therapeutic context. According to Benoit, psychedelics can enable people to access parts of their psyche and achieve transformational breakthroughs much faster than standard talk therapy. The podcast hosts, Justin and Eddie, expressed appreciation for Benoit bravely sharing such a personal and painful experience. They agreed that his story shed light on the promise of psychedelic-assisted therapy. More research is still needed, but anecdotal reports like Benoit's suggest these modalities could revolutionize mental healthcare. Benoit's account provides an intimate window into how psychedelics can assist psychological and emotional healing under the right conditions. With trauma being such a pervasive issue impacting mental health, psychedelic-assisted therapy may offer hope for many on their journey toward inner peace and closure. While not a magic bullet cure, psychedelics appear to have incredible potential if integrated thoughtfully into psychotherapy. Benoit believes psychedelics can accelerate therapeutic progress around trauma, addiction, depression and more with proper protocols and support. His life-changing experience inspires hope that psychedelic medicine could mitigate immense suffering for many people in the future.
Check out the full version of Episode 117 here.
