Psychedelics for Wellbeing, Reflection and Meaning-Making in Older Life
What these actually look like in real life...
This is the third of a three-part series of posts centered around INSPIRE, the NIH-funded, multi-site clinical trial investigating psilocybin-assisted therapy in healthy older adults and for those with chronic pain…
I know I’m biased. But of the plethora of conditions that psychedelics are currently under investigation for, it’s the ultimate human condition - aging and mortality - that I find the most intriguing.
There is virtually nothing our society offers us to contextualize aging and death other than advice (and products) on how not to get old. Intentional psychedelic journeying in older age can strip us of the folly of thinking that our precious lives will simply go on forever.
While writing my book, Psychedelics and the Counterculture of Aging, I interviewed some three dozen older adults about how their journeying colored the way they experience aging. Then I was able to group those experiences into larger categories - Healing Our Psyches, Experiencing Love and Forgiveness, Connecting to Spirit - those are three examples of seven altogether…
The INSPIRE study lists wellbeing, reflection and meaning-making as potential outcomes of psychedelic-assisted therapy in older adults.
One of the gifts of being a writer free of academic constraints (and the caveat that that entails), is that I can take these lofty terms and illustrate what they look life in real life.
With this, the third post on the INSPIRE study, I’d like to share some observations of what the study’s outcomes look like in real life, drawing from my forthcoming book1.
Wellbeing: Many of the older adults I interviewed described experiencing the restorative effects of love, forgiveness, intimacy and connection with nature and other humans during their psychedelic journeying. Some sought out psychedelics after deciding that living under decades-long burdens of psychic pain was simply no longer an option. With the prospect of relief as a credible (albeit risky) option, they asked, ‘If not now, then when?’
After numbing herself with alcohol for most of her adult life, Cassie (not her real name) found an underground psychedelic therapist who supported her as she faced what felt like insurmountable pain associated with past trauma. Describing the outcome of this process:
“It’s hard to find the words, but something inside me felt like it shattered. Now I’m either gathering the pieces of me, or they’re coming home. But never in all my years have I had a sense of self like I do today. It’s not all there yet, but it’s more than I ever imagined was possible.”
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Reflection: Psychedelics are known to extricate our minds from the ruts of habitual thinking – clearly of value for older adults who tend to be “set in their ways.” Some of my interviewees found that psychedelics open a space where long-buried aspects of themselves could be expressed. Integrating those insights helps them live their elder years with greater joy and authenticity.
As Jeff explained,
Exploring psychedelics at this time in my life feels more about allowing this seventy-five-year-old being to invite younger selves, who have been exiled or barricaded for seventy of those years, to come alive and sing, dance, play music, pursue joy, and, maybe most fun, find playmates. It feels like doing younger things and experiencing them more deeply . . .
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Meaning-making in psychedelic-assisted therapy is often associated with alleviating distress at the end of life. But coming to terms with mortality earlier on, before death is imminent, can profoundly change the way we live our older years.
I heard from older adults about their visceral discoveries that they were worthy of forgiveness and love; insights into their identity through connections with family ancestry; and the expanded sense of self that comes from brief, awe-filled encounters with the divine. For some, the meaning of life was revealed as the sanctity of their relationships with loved ones.
For Isabel, psychedelic journeying with her grown children and husband as he was dying of Parkinson’s disease brought deep healing to them, individually and together as a family. And after years of caregiving and his ultimate passing, Isabel’s continued work with psychedelics helped her reconnect to herself.
“In a sense, this is the best time of my life. Because I feel like, fuck it. I stopped caring what people think . . . I think the hardest thing for me at this point is to let go of all the expectations and learn how to just be. To wake up in the morning and it’s like, ”what is the meaning I’m creating today?”
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Beyond the world of clinical trials, there is another aspect of psychedelics that can be profoundly transformative for older adults – the fostering of community. I will be sharing my ideas about this scenario in a future post.
And in the meantime, I’d like to share my gratitude for your interest in my work, and my warmest best wishes for a beautiful holiday and wonderful new year!
1 All the quotes in this article are from my forthcoming book, Psychedelics and the Counterculture of Aging. Park Street Press, July 2026.
I’m so interested to hear your take on psychedelics as a means to foster community amongst us older folks. I’ve made some efforts to achieve that myself, only partially successful. Some of the providers in the Oregon program offer group sessions, but all are wearing eye masks and headphones, and discouraged from interacting, not so conducive to community building!