How frequent is too frequent, and equally, how many psilocybin experiences are just enough for experiencing these fungi’s relict benefits? With the rising interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy, at-home enthusiasts are beginning to take a closer look at safe consumption practices.
Those wishing to partake in these ancient practices should also be informed on appropriate dosing, to ensure a safe and productive journey. The conditions of a psychedelic experience can vary highly from person to person, depending on your specific healing intentions and overall medical history.
Relishing in the tender complexities of ‘shrooms’ or ‘magic’ mushrooms should first be met by conscious mental and physical preparation, which is why we’re so glad to see you here, conducting your diligent research. In this article you’ll learn about healthy psilocybin dosing frequency, both in terms of microdosing regimens and for more sparse, large-dose experiences.
This information could be used for education on safe, personal consumption, but will also help guide your understanding on how many psilocybin-assisted therapy sessions are necessary to start noticing results.
How Often Should You Take a Large Dose?
Though a “large dose” can have very different meanings from one person to the next, a minimum therapeutic psilocybin dose is typically 3.5 grams. At this measure, individuals typically experience comparable sensations of distorted visuals, minor synesthesia, and a warped sense of time.
This is often accompanied by a disillusion of preconceived schemas that portend positive transformation in the perceptions of our inner and outer worlds. Understanding the ideal frequency for embarking on psychedelic journeys can be approached from several different lenses.
From a data-driven standpoint, psilocybin overdose is very rarely fatal—it may lead to what some people would call a ‘bad trip’. The most immediate and present effects would include heightened confusion or paranoia, reduced coordination, and overwhelming sensory stimulation.
Psychedelic mushrooms can technically be taken by a healthy individual on a daily basis, without causing any readily apparent hazards to your physical health. Should large doses of psilocybin be taken every day for prolonged periods of time? Almost definitely, no.
While the mushroom itself is a natural substance without any inherent constituents posing a danger to our health, taking any large dose of psychedelic medicines daily or even weekly, could be detrimental to your mental health.
Generally, clinical studies have designated 3-4 week intervals between trips, to be an appropriate frequency. Though it should be made clear that these clinical trials do not expose subjects to this regimen, indefinitely. Meaning, dosing with psilocybin mushrooms every few weeks for years on end, isn’t recommended.
See, therapeutic approaches to psychedelic consumption shouldn’t reflect the regularity by which antidepressants are taken. It’s precisely the durability of their positive results that have gained psychedelic medicines such a notable position in our mental health industry.
In fact, the tolerance-building effects of psilocybin mushrooms make it almost impossible to experience consistent high levels of perceptual diversities. Taking psilocybin daily would perpetually require you to consume triple the amount of your last dose in order to witness steady levels of hallucinations.
If we’re addressing this question from a psychological point of view, constant exposure to these drastically altered states of mind could overload your brain with too much change, too quickly, and may result in sustained feelings of dissociation that are extremely unpleasant, to say the least. In order to gain the most productive results from this medicine, it’s important to allow yourself time to properly integrate the experience.
Processing such a substantial inner event cannot happen overnight. For some it could be weeks or several months and some people even find themselves digesting parts of their trip for years after it’s happening. Rushing the process of integration could negate the benefits of these medicines by blurring the lines of mental order and stability.
In most cases, it can be difficult to conceptualize the meaning of an abstract apparition while still in the haze of a psychedelic trip. Allowing your mind ample time to discern the significance of a trip’s nuances is extremely valuable for preserving the integrity of your conscious decision-making skills.
A very salient post-trip objective is to hold an intrapersonal space of self reflection and self support through mental repose. Nurturing a balanced transition into and out of these states of consciousness are coequally important. From a spiritual perspective, the balanced practice of holding on and letting go should be recognized as a sacred, personal service.
Fostering transcendental healing in an emotionally sustainable way can only occur through our patient awareness, which in itself, is a practice of surrender and attachment to our highest good. Becoming acquainted with that which is below our corporeal surface shouldn’t always require diving headfirst into the torment waters of our minds.
Sometimes, a bird’s eye view will help us locate unconscious vices with much clearer direction. This is all to say, psychedelic medicines should be used as a tool, not a crutch. Respect for the spirit of these rites should look like surrender, through the attitudes of patience and trust and honoring their sacredness means allowing yourself the space to really, truly, integrate their teachings.
So the general rule of thumb, give yourself at least 3-4 weeks in between psychedelic trips to ensure the best rehabilitative results. After all, our goal is to become the change we seek without having to rely on an external substance—even if it’s naturally occurring.
How Often Should You Microdose?
Many people prefer to opt into microdosing regimens, instead. Microdosing involves ingesting much smaller doses of psilocybin mushrooms, usually .05-.25 grams. This route is taken by those who desire a gentler, long term build up of healing effects.
In fact, people with depression, anxiety, OCD , and even eating disorders have reported seeing great results from this approach. The experience of a microdose though, is very difficult to compare against large-dose trips.
While larger doses influence accelerated arrival at more all-encompassing mental destinations, microdosing can promote equally potent changes, but in a much more subtle way.
A proper microdose will never potentiate hallucinations of any kind. Instead you may notice brighter, richer colors, a feeling of empathy and connectedness to everything including our planet, and a very seamless transition into more functional mental perspectives.
Microdoses help us explore our behaviors and relationships with clearer intuitions and from a more emotionally receptive place. So how often is a microdose taken? Typically, a microdose is taken 3-5 days of any 7-day-week over the course of one to two months.
These intervals are set in place to prevent drug tolerance development. The two-day breaks in any given week allow your body to reset, removing the microdose from your system so the potency of upcoming doses aren’t affected by preceding ones.
Again though, just as with larger-dose trips, psychedelic mushrooms are not for everyday employment like antidepressants are. Psilocybin mushrooms are so promising because they don’t require prolonged self medication.
During our one to two month microdosing regimens we should be consciously and consistently extracting and integrating productive behaviors we’re noticing to be of help, so when our microdosing routine comes to end, we’ll have easy access to those proactive mental frames.
When to Expect Results From Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Now that we’ve discussed the two most common ways to consume psilocybin mushrooms, we can start painting a more comprehensive image of what psychedelic-assisted therapy looks like. Psychedelic-assisted therapy does not mean that a trip will be taking place every time you go into session.
Instead you are working with a guide or facilitator to prepare for your trips, to have support during the experience, and to get professional assistance with methods of integration.
Essentially, a productive and healthy cycle of dosing is already built into the psychedelic-assisted therapy model. In clinical trials, patients with PTSD, depression, or anxiety are usually given anywhere from 3-6 psychedelic assisted therapy sessions with 3-4 weeks breaks in between.
Really, the number of times that you’ll have to embark on a psychedelic journey to attain your desired results, cannot be quantified before that day arrives, especially when our personal goals are constantly fluctuating according to outside circumstances.
Some people experience life changing results in just one psychedelic trip, but for others, it takes three or four or maybe even five trips to establish more stable and consistent emotional bodies. We always tell our clients to focus on the journey that’s immediately in front of them as opposed to trying to prescribe and predict a set number of journeys from the get go.
“Results” can be a vague term though. If you’re interpreting “results” as any small change that alters your perspective on existential circumstances or personal identities, then it’s very likely that you’ll experience these shifts from your very first trip.
The nature of a psychedelic journey is rooted in a sort of unveiling of our sociological conditioning. The simple experience of entering an altered state of mind is in itself, the result of acquiring very literal, novel outlooks. It allows our brain to step into new dimensions of our routine spaces that likely haven’t been explored in our day-to-day lives.
So yes, under these terms, results can be experienced from your first psychedelic-assisted therapy session, but it could take multiple sessions to expose the deeper roots of our psychological conditioning.
There really is no magic number for the amount of trips it would take to achieve your mental health goals, which is why pacing these experiences can help you get a better gauge on progress made thus far.
Taking The Next Step
Ultimately, whether you’re interested in starting a micro dosing regimen or feel ready to embark on a larger-dose psychedelic trip, listening to your sage intuitions is the best way to get an accurate grasp of your mind’s and body’s needs.
Having a knowledgeable psychedelic guide is also of immense value and finding someone who aligns with your beliefs and internal conditions can be somewhat tricky in this freshly-formed space of psilocybin therapeutics.
If you need some help finding a psychedelic guide near you, we suggest taking a quick look at this comprehensive article. In any case, never hesitate to speak with one of our own psychedelic facilitators here at Psychedelic Passage. We would love to be of service to your personal journey of growth and healing by answering any of your questions and giving guidance whenever it’s necessary.
