Absence of Art/Expressive Therapies Presentations at Psychedelic Science 2025

 At psychedelic science 2025 you could count on one hand the number of presentations focused on the role of art and expressive techniques in psychedelic work.  Yes, luminaries like Alex and Allyson Grey spoke to the role visionary artists play in illustrating the transcendent realms that psychedelics take us to; however, there was otherwise little to no representation on the agenda of the role that Art and the Expressive Therapies can play in helping  people prepare for and integrate psychedelic experiences.  This is in the face of long-standing practices, both Indigenous and Western, of incorporating art and expressive techniques into the use of psychedelics for personal growth, healing, and building community. 

 

Recognition of the Therapeutic Value of Using Art and Expressive Techniques in Psychedelic Therapy

The value of art/expressive practices have been recognized for their therapeutic application to psychedelics therapy for many decades (Bathje, et al, 2022; Grof, 2025; MAPs Integration Handbook, n.d.; Richards, 1977) and  research is beginning to corroborate the benefits of using art and expressive practices for integration (Barros et al., 2025).  Peer reviewed content is also emerging around the theory and practice of weaving art therapy into psychedelic assisted therapy, e.g. Wilkinson and Gursky’s 2026 article on Psychedelic Art Therapy: The Intersection of Psychedelics, Art Therapy, and Creativity and a special edition of the American Art Therapy Journal devoted to this intersection due for publication in 2027.  This compliments a growing body of existing scholarship on the topic (Cervelli, 2009; Dobkin de Rios & Janiger, 2003; Husum, 2025; Jakusova, 2025; Kacanda, 2025; Kagan, 2021; Martinovic, 2022; Maud, 2021; Tobin, 2021; Weißner et al, 2022).

What Art and the Expressive Therapies Contribute to Psychedelic Work

  • Artmaking, expressive, and non-verbal modalities help prepare clients for non-ordinary states by providing opportunities for experimenting with and managing uncertainty, grounding, and affect regulation.  They also reveal participants’ relationship with these dynamics in a way that verbal assessment alone cannot.

  • Artmaking, expressive, and non-verbal modalities can help ease participants out of the “liminal” state and through the transition from the psychedelic experience into “ordinary” reality.

  • Just as psychedelics give us a portal to parts of our mind and consciousness to which we do not normally have access, art goes to those parts as well--and then brings some of that back for us to see.

  • Art and Expressive activities externalize internal experience and help capture and give form to ineffable elements of the journey.

  • Art and expressive modalities serve as a language—a signature that includes personal, ancestral, archetypal and transpersonal symbols.  

    • These can be used to facilitate dialogue between different aspects of the self and consciousness and to gain insight into the content of one’s journey

  • The rich metaphorical and symbolic content that emerges deepens and supports meaning-making in integration

  • Psychedelics promote neuroplasticity/creativity and puts that into action

  • Art and music can evoke instant recall of the experience even years later.

 

Call for Including Art Therapy/Expressive Therapies on the Stage at Psychedelic Science 2027

We hope the importance of this topic will encourage the screening committee of Psychedelic Science 2027 to feature some of this content and allow the broader psychedelic world to learn more about this important domain of psychedelic work. 

 

Individuals Submitting Proposals Relating to Art Therapy, the Expressive Therapies, and Their Application in Psychedelic Therapy.   

  • Peace Cabaza

  • Kimberly Cohn

  • Matt Foglia

  • Becca Kacanda

  • Miriam Kagan

  • Alyssa Gursky

  • Kaitlyn Maud

  • Oluwaseyi Adeyinka

  • Ona Praderas

  • Emily Segal

  • Juanita Viera

  • Isabel Weißner

  • Rebecca Wilkinson

Links/Resources 

Reference List

Bathje, G. J., Majeski, E., & Kudowor, M. (2022). Psychedelic integration: An analysis of the concept and its practice. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 824077. https://doi.org/ 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.824077

Barros, H., Falchi-Carvalho, M., Maia, L. O., Laborde, S.,  Palhano-Fontes, F., Wießner, I., Arruda-Sanchez, T., & Araujo, D. B. (2025). Expressive resource in a clinical  psychedelic study: Art as an integration tool. Progress in Brain Research, 296, 131–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2025.07.004

Cervelli, R. L. (2009). The potential for self-actualization: An intuitive inquiry into experiences arising out of the Holotropic Breathwork technique and its integral mandala artwork [Doctoral dissertation], Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.

Cohn W. K. (2011).  The paradoxical playspace:  The intersection of boundaries and liminal concepts in DvT drama therapy. Dramascope, (32) .1.     

Di Leo, F., Grof, S., Kellogg, J. (1977). The use of a mind-revealing drug (DPT), music, and mandalas in psychotherapy: A case presentation. In Proceedings of the Conference of the American Art Therapy Association (pp. 78–86).

Dobkin de Rios, M., & Janiger, O. (2003). LSD, spirituality, and the creative process. Park Street Press.

Grof, B. (2025). Holotropic art: Images from hidden worlds. Ubiquity University Publishing.

Grof, S. (2019). The way of the psychonaut: Encyclopedia for inner journeys (Vols. 1–2). Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

Husum, C. (2025). Art therapy and psychedelics: A trauma informed somatic manual for self-discovery. Routledge.

Jakusova, J. (2025). Art therapy for psychedelic integration: Transpersonal approaches inspired by Hilma af Klint and Agnes Martin. Publication/397204196. [Master’s Thesis, Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna]. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.28366.11847

Kacanda, B. (2025). Group art therapy for psychedelic

integration: A qualitative study [Unpublished manuscript].

Department of Graduate Art Therapy, Mount Mary

University.

Kagan, M. (2021). Discovering the effects of treating anxiety

disorders for adults through creative arts therapy during a non-

ordinary state experience [Master’s Thesis, Pratt Institute].

Martinovic, J. (2022). When art therapy went chemical: Alfred Bader, pharmacology, and art brut, c. 1950-1970s. Historia, Ciencias, Saude-Manguinhos, 29(suppl 1), 93–108. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-59702022000500007

Maud, K. (2025). Use cases for art therapy intervention in clinical psychedelic praxis. [Master’s Thesis, Lesley University]. https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/837/

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. (n.d.). MAPS integration handbook. Retrieved February 26, 2024, from https://maps.org/integration-station/

Richards, W. (2021). Mystical/religious experiences with psychedelics. Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens, 529–553.

Tobin, B. (2021). Art therapy and psychedelic integration. In T. Read & M. Papaspyrou (Eds.), Psychedelics and psychotherapy: The healing potential of expanded states (pp.229–244). Simon & Schuster.

Wießner, I., Falchi, M., Maia, L. O., Daldegan-Bueno, D., Palhano-Fontes, F., Mason, N. L., Ramaekers, J. G., Gross, M. E., Schooler, J. W., Feilding, A., Ribeiro, S., Araujo, D. B., & Tófoli, L. F. (2022). LSD and creativity: Increased novelty and symbolic thinking, decreased utility and convergent thinking. Journal of Psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 36(3), 348–359. https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811211069113

 

 

 

Contact Us

Meet The PATN Team

Rebecca
Wilkinson

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Rebecca Wilkinson, LPC, LCPAT, ATR-BC, ITR-CTS is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist, and Certified Trauma Therapist with over 30 years of experience in inpatient and outpatient mental health care, training and education, and professional development.

Rebecca is co-author of Psychedelic Art Therapy: The Intersection of Psychedelics, Creativity, and Art Therapy and teaches on the topic at the George Washington Graduate Art Therapy Program. In addition to her extended personal journey with psychedelics as a means of healing, she completed a year long intensive certificate program with the Integrative Psychiatric Institute and the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Sciences. She is currently enrolled in extended training with the Grof Psychedelic Training Academy (Canada) in Holotropic Breathwork and Psychedelic Therapy.

She is also co-author with Gioia Chilton of Positive Art Therapy in Theory and Practice: Integrating Positive Psychology with Art Therapy and author/illustrator ofColoring Creates Wellbeing: The Desert Mandalas Coloring Book. 

Alyssa
Gursky

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Alyssa B. Gursky, LPC is a Transpersonal Art Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor based in Portland, Oregon.  They received their Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, concentrating in Transpersonal Art Therapy from Naropa University. They are the owner of Psychedelic Art Therapy LLC, specializing in therapy and education for individuals and groups exploring non-ordinary states and creative practices to foster resilience and well-being.

Alyssa is also co-author of Psychedelic Art Therapy: The Intersection of Psychedelics, Creativity, and Art Therapy and is a trained facilitator in MDMA with Lykos Therapeutics, ketamine with Ketamine Training Center and Polaris Insight Center, and psilocybin-assisted therapy with Alma Institute and Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Therapies. They also serve as a researcher and study therapist at the Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy Lab, contributing to clinical trials on MDMA-Assisted Group Therapy for Transgender and Gender Diverse Veterans and Psilocybin for Major Depressive Disorder. They are passionate about community art making & mixed media art. They love connecting with others on this topic & can be reached at Alyssa@PsychedelicArtTherapy.com

Caterina
Bragagnolo

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Caterina Bragagnolo, ATR-BC, LCPC, EMDR-SEP, CCTS-II is a Board Certified Art Therapist, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, EMDR & Somatic Experience Practitioner with her certification in Diversity, Culture and Social Justice in Psychedelics through the Chacruna Institute  For 18 years, Caterina has been focused on supporting women and children through adverse or traumatic life experiences as well as developing community focused, art-based programming. Caterina works in private practice offering art therapy, clinical trauma counseling, art therapy, psychedelic integration and PHRI services.  Her past experiences include being a Facilitator and Lead Therapist at a legal psilocybin-assisted retreat center in Jamaica and being a contributing Artist and Author for Women on Psychedelics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Caterina is also the author of The Art & Psychedelic Integration Workbook, which will be available for purchase in July of 2026.

Caterina’s personal experiences in healing from trauma in addition to her career path, allowed her to recognize how beneficial creative practice can be when processing complex, challenging or traumatic experiences.  In removing the limit of language and leaning into the use of metaphor and symbol, there is an opportunity to identify a more embodied sense of meaning from adverse moments. Caterina is passionate about promoting the benefits of plant medicine, art making & creative practice and committed to facilitating opportunities that allow individuals to reconnect with their own inner healer and creative license.