Narrative therapy in psychedelic harm reduction: Supporting safety, agency and meaning-making

Structuralist approaches in psychedelic research limit client empowerment, whereas narrative therapy offers a politicized alternative. By deconstructing pathologizing and structuralist descriptions of problems, and by supporting clients to develop preferred stories and identities through second-story development, narrative therapy can enhance client safety, agency, and meaning-making. Applied to psychedelic harm reduction, this approach fosters empowerment and rich meaning-making.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Narrative therapy has been absent from the burgeoning body of structuralist literature on the psychedelic renaissance. This paper argues that structuralist approaches limit the application of principles of client empowerment. It demonstrates applications of politicised narrative practices to supporting client safety, agency and meaning-making. Thin pathologising and/or structuralist descriptions of problems were deconstructed, along with the politics of problems and psychedelic contexts. Clients were supported to develop preferred stories and identities through second- story development, and to richly describe intentional states and/or preferred identities. When used in psychedelic harm reduction, narrative therapy can support safely, empowerment and rich meaning-making.