17 April 2024
A Psychedelic Researcher’s Approach to Creating a Psilocybin Session Playlist
by Kelan Thomas
MAPS Bulletin: Volume XXXIV Number 1 • 2024
Psychedelic music session playlists have been utilized consistently for modern psychedelic-assisted therapy clinical trials, and more recently researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Imperial College of London have specifically studied the effect of these music playlists on participants in trials. In the previous era of psychedelic-assisted therapy trials, researchers Gaston and Eagle (1970) also conducted research on response to music in LSD-assisted therapy under various experimental conditions (including no music). I have collected and listened to playlists from the more recent psilocybin-assisted therapy trials, to summarize the similarities and differences among them, especially in the context of their temporal relationship to the psilocybin session’s subjective experience.
The minimum duration of a psilocybin playlist is roughly 6 hours, which coincides with the time that subjective effects for psilocybin typically wear off as reported by a return to baseline on drug effect rating scales. Musical playlists have been reported in the LSD therapy literature, with Eisner and Cohen (1958) using participant selections or semi-classical music in the early phase and more piano concertos during the peak phase. Later publications with LSD and psilocybin have parsed the playlist selections into more discrete phases (Kaelen, 2017). Bonny and Pahnke (1972) were the first to suggest the following six overlapping temporal phases of the LSD therapy experience:
| 1. Pre-onset: | 0 – 1.5 hours |
| 2. Onset: | 0.5 – 1.5 hours |
| 3. Building Toward Peak Intensity: | 1.5 – 3.5 hours |
| 4. Peak Intensity of Drug Action: | 3 – 4.5 hours |
| 5. Re-Entry: | 4.5 – 7 hours |
| 6. Return to Normal Consciousness | 7 – 12 hours |
Other researchers have created additional playlist phase frameworks compressing these temporal phases and subdividing a couple of phases to fit within the 6-hour psilocybin session, but the most consistent temporal phase is around the 2-hour peak, which coincides with the timing of maximum drug concentration and intensity of subjective effects. Kaelen et al (2017) found that participants appreciated “calming music” during the Onset, Ascent, and Return phases, but more “sentimental” or “cinematic” emotive music for the late Ascent and Peak phases. There appear to be distinct differences in the style of musical selections for the most consistent temporal blocks encompassing all of the various phase designations, so this is the more simplified four-phase framework that I have used when developing a psilocybin playlist:
| 1. Onset: | 0 – 1 hour |
| 2. Ascent: | 1 – 2 hours |
| 3. Peak: | 2 – 4 hours |
| 4. Return: | 4-6 hours |
Onset (0 – 1 hour)
In the first hour after psilocybin ingestion, it is important to provide a sense of calm since people may often experience some anticipatory anxiety regarding the session. During the first hour of all the playlists, there seems to be a greater emphasis on very calming music, with slower tempos and gentler instrumentation, such as classical guitar quartets or small chamber orchestral works often by composers like Bach or Vivaldi. Bonny and Pahnke (1972) suggested that during the LSD pre-onset music should be “pleasant and neutral, of a nonspecific quieting type.” In the early part of this phase I particularly like to use music with simple instrumentation from the first wave of ambient musicians like Brian Eno and Harold Budd, along with more contemporary classical composers like Mary Lattimore and Sarah Davachi. In the second wave of the phase, when people may start to have somatic sensations, I use music with drones or overtones that can make one feel like time perception is slipping away from them with artists like Windy & Carl and Ashley Bellouin.
Ascent (1 – 2 hours)
In the second hour, the participant is likely to start having visual effects and physical sensations more dramatically starting to shift. The playlists have been most divergent with musical selections during this second hour. One group of playlists used more minor and brooding classical symphonies with vocals (ex. Gorecki’s “Symphony No. 3”), while others have opted for more Eastern-influenced music with syncopated driving rhythms and more complex melodic structures (ex. Dead Can Dance’s “Cantara”). During this phase, there seems to be more emphasis on musical movement with more drastic tempo changes, which may resonate more with the participant’s internal experienced state. Bonny and Pahnke (1972) suggest that alternating instrumental and vocal music is useful to help provide “underlying support and structure”, and “encourage feelings of closeness and humanness,” respectively. They also recommend vocal music with “insistent rhythms, long flowing phrases, and dynamic crescendos,” such as Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” or Brahms’s “German Requiem,” intermittently relieved by instrumental music of “a reassuring and supportive nature,” such as Elgar’s “Enigma Variation” or Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum.” Visual effects often appear during this phase and Gaston and Eagle (1970) reported that higher pitches or musical registers promoted visuals with brighter colors and smaller geometric designs. In this phase, I use a mixture of minimalism from composers like Steve Reich or Laraaji, along with instrumental post-rock from ensembles like Tortoise or Do Make Say Think that propel people through their unfolding cinematic visual imagery.
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Peak (2 – 4 hours)
During the peak phase, most playlists have used even more effusive and angelic vocal symphonic works (ex. Pärt’s “Da Pacem Domine”). These pieces are suggested to resonate with intense emotions of a unitive mystical experience. Some playlists have instead opted for more calming music like the Onset section of these playlists (ex. Stars of the Lid’s “Articulate Silences Pt. 1 and 2”). Moving into the third hour, several playlists use more simple solo instrumentation minimalism, such as piano (ex. Philip Glass’s “Metamorphosis”) or stringed instruments, with more music coming from film scores. Bonny and Pahnke (1972) suggest selections that “evoke powerful emotions” and warn against “extremely discordant” music that may frighten participants and induce confusion or panic. They recommend “strongly structured music with insistent rhythms and a wide frequency range” such as Strauss’s “Death and Transfiguration,” and Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.” They also suggest the music for later sections of this phase should be determined by whether participants have achieved peak mystical experience or not. If they have peaked, then music “should reflect the quiet, peaceful feelings” during this plateau of stabilized emotion. However, if participants have not peaked then they suggest “replaying of music which accompanied abreaction in the earlier hours” to encourage better integration and working through insights for a more complete release. In this peak phase, I use an ebb and flow between ebullient and mournful structured sound waves to promote people’s tension and release with alternating songs between contemporary classical artists like Ólafur Arnalds and Caterina Barbieri or electroacoustic ambient artists like Julianna Barwick and Robin Guthrie.
Return (4 – 6 hours)
The final phase often has shorter songs and more diverse world music from global subcultures. The songs more often have foreign language vocals with a homecoming quality that could be performed solo around a campfire. During the final hour, several of the playlists also start using popular music with more folk-based instrumentation and English lyrics, which were routinely avoided in earlier sections, so participants don’t engage their rational minds and get pulled out of their unfolding psychedelic process. Bonny and Pahnke (1972) would often allow people to listen to their own chosen music and family members were allowed to visit during the end of this phase. This is also the phase where I use the most diverse range of musical styles across history, such as 1960-70s era Argentine folk by Mercedes Sosa or Ethiopian jazz from Mulatu Astatke. In the modern era, I used music like cosmic Americana by Chuck Johnson or ambient jazz by Primitive Motion, and then to complete the candy-colored technicolor psychedelic experience I like to sprinkle in a few languid Italian film score tracks from composers like Piero Piccione or Piero Umliani. This phase of music is intended to be grounding and a relaxing sonic balm to alleviate the mental exhaustion from completing a 6-hour psilocybin session.
I grew up listening to music as much as possible and would often select music that resonated with my current mood state to express those emotions more fully. In college, I became a radio DJ and completed some musicology coursework, while also attending many live music events. This is also when I first started playing music selections for my friends to engage in deep listening as breaks from studying. When I decided to focus my psychiatric pharmacy scholarship on psychedelic medicine, it seemed like a natural extension of these interests to develop session playlists. In clinical trials creating a standardized playlist is necessary, but in the future, I hope facilitators will also consider a more individualized approach to psychedelic playlists based on each person’s musical history. For some examples of my playlists in various media formats, please visit the bottom of this webpage: https://linktr.ee/kelanthomas.
References
Kelan Thomas
Kelan Thomas, PharmD, MS, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences at Touro University California College of Pharmacy and a board-certified psychiatric pharmacist with an outpatient psychiatric practice in San Francisco. He completed a chemistry with pharmacology BS at Duke University, a pharmaceutical sciences PharmD at UC San Francisco, and a clinical research MS at University of Michigan. During his education, he conducted research related to psychopharmacology and psychiatric pharmacogenomics. He has completed clinical pharmacy residencies at University of Michigan for postgraduate year one in pharmacotherapy and at University of Southern California for postgraduate year two in psychiatric care. Between residencies, he also practiced as a psychiatric clinical pharmacist in Singapore at the Institute of Mental Health. In 2017, he completed the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research (CPTR) and MAPS MDMA-Assisted Therapy training programs, while starting collaborations with psychedelic clinical researchers at UC San Francisco. He is now a trainer for Fluence offering courses in psychedelic psychopharmacology and psilocybin-assisted therapy. His current research and scholarship are related to psychedelic psychopharmacology, adverse drug reactions, and drug-drug interactions to optimize psychiatric pharmacotherapy for clients. He is also part of the Chacruna Chronicles editorial team and curates the “Science Sunday” social media series with a psychedelic science publication posted weekly.
