Techno-shamanism

1. Introduction

Version followed: techno-shamanism as a cultural and spiritual current, using Terence McKenna's "archaic revival" framing as reported by anthropologist Graham St John (MAPS Bulletin, 2024) and by a 1992 review of The Archaic Revival; the psytrance or "psyculture" scene as St John describes it (Technomad, 2009; Global Tribe, 2012); and Daniel Pinchbeck's published project of moving "from personal initiation to global transformation". The clinical sections follow the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) supplementary modules, the Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration (PHRI) model (Gorman et al., 2021), the Zendo Project's support principles and Holmøy and Andersen's (2025) review of persistent psychedelic after-effects.

What it is. Techno-shamanism is not a therapy and has no manual, founder-institute or training curriculum. It is a loose current that joins electronic dance music, rave and festival culture, visionary art and psychedelic ideology to the idea of shamanism. The idea, as its authors give it, is that a modern "tribe" can recover archaic ecstatic practice through technology. [source: St John, MAPS Bulletin 2024; networkcultures interview]

McKenna's framing (attributed). In the 1992 review, "archaic revival" names a return to shamanism that McKenna thought science could enhance. In that account, spiritual transformation comes through the "intelligent use of psychedelics" by careful explorers. St John reports that McKenna saw rave as a key part of the archaic revival. He called it "the cutting edge of the last best hope for suffering humanity". He also split plant-based "shamanic" experience from laboratory compounds, which he saw as less meaningful. The best-known event is Alien Dreamtime (San Francisco, 26–27 February 1993). It combined McKenna's talks with live ambient-techno music, didgeridoo and live video mixing. [source: MAPS Bulletin 2024; McKenna Archives, Library Journal review 1992]
The scene as scholars describe it. St John treats psytrance as a culture more than a music genre. Its parties and festivals are places where personal transformation is "celebrated collectively" and the music acts as a "transportive medium". He describes the techno-spiritual current around it as a revitalisation or millenarian movement. That movement grew from a post-1960s cybernetic sense of self and globe, salvation models, utopian visions and visionary art, in response to ecological and humanitarian crisis. [source: networkcultures interview; Equinox Technomad ch. 5 abstract]
Pinchbeck's framing (attributed). Pinchbeck is a New York writer. Major news coverage called him the most influential popular voice of the 2012 prophecy. His books include Breaking Open the Head (2002), 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (2006), Notes from the Edge Times and How Soon Is Now?. He launched the web magazine Reality Sandwich (2007), co-founded Evolver.net, and founded the Center for Planetary Culture think tank. In his telling, initiation through visionary experience leads on to planetary and social change. [source: Daily Maverick 2010; Next Big Idea Club author page]

How change happens, in the current's own terms. Collective dance, music, art and visionary states are said to dissolve ordinary identity and renew a person's bond with community and planet. Transformation is personal and civilisational at once. [source: as above] Evidence status (one line): its claims of planetary transformation and its dated prophecies (such as 21 December 2012) are beliefs, not tested predictions; the 2012 date itself rests on a disputed calendar conversion. [source: Daily Maverick 2010] The guide gives no substances, doses, preparation, routes or sourcing. Substance-related harm reduction is covered in Domain VII 072.

What the psychotherapist does. The therapist does not practise techno-shamanism, guide or sit with altered states, or act as shaman. The therapist works with a client who identifies with this current or who brings experiences from raves, festivals or visionary states. That work covers:

meaning;
cultural formulation;
differential assessment without pathologising belief;
after-effects;
dependency and money;
referral.

[synthesis]

2. Framework

No source gives a session count or a fixed course. The phases below are a clinical sequence for this client group. [synthesis, built on the CFI, PHRI and Holmøy and Andersen 2025]

Engagement and meaning.
- Goal: learn what the current means in the client's life (community, spirituality, art, politics, identity) in the client's own words.
- Move on when: the client feels their world view is respected and can describe it without defending it. [synthesis]
Cultural formulation.
- Goal: complete the core CFI. Add the supplementary modules on Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions, Explanatory Model, Social Network and Coping and Help-Seeking.
- Move on when: you have a shared account of how the client's tradition bears on the presenting problem. [source: APA CFI Supplementary Modules]
Differential assessment and risk.
- Goal: tell apart a culturally coherent visionary or ecstatic account from psychosis, mania, dissociation, obsessional fear or complicated grief.
- Also: screen for the risk factors Holmøy and Andersen list, and route any medical or substance concern.
- Move on when: risk is assessed and any urgent routing is done. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Harm-reduction stance and routing.
- Goal: a non-judgemental conversation about safety, with no advice on substances or medicines.
- Also: route to medical care, poison control, peer harm-reduction services or VII 072 as needed. [source: PHRI abstract; Zendo Project] [synthesis for routing details]
Integration and after-effects work.
- Goal: treat persistent anxiety, depersonalisation or derealisation, perceptual changes or existential distress, and support meaning-making and belonging.
- Move on when: symptoms are manageable and the client's sense of meaning feels workable. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Relationships, dependency and money; then review or referral.
- Goal: look at the client's attachment to teachers, media figures, events or platforms, and at spending and millenarian urgency.
- Then: end therapy or refer on. [synthesis]

The phases overlap. Return to phase 3 whenever new symptoms appear. [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

Describe the current in its own terms, attributed. Use "archaic revival", "psyculture" and "tribe" as the client and the authors use them, without endorsing or debunking. In practice: "In McKenna's view…", not "rave is shamanism". [source: St John] [synthesis]
Treat ideology as ideology. Talk about psychedelic ideas (archaic revival, the plant versus synthetic split, planetary transformation) as beliefs and values. Never discuss what to take, how much, or where to get it. In practice: steer any "what should I try" question to a safety and medical route. [synthesis]
Compassionate, destigmatising acceptance of the client's choices. PHRI moves away from abstinence-only models and from assessment that looks only at bad outcomes. In practice: ask about use without moralising, so the client keeps telling you the truth. [source: Gorman et al. 2021, abstract]
The therapist is not a guide, sitter, shaman or supplier. In practice: no taking part in, preparing for or supervising altered-state sessions within therapy; no recommending events, facilitators or sources. [synthesis]
Never advise on medicines. In practice: questions about stopping, starting or combining medicines go to the prescriber or a pharmacist. [synthesis]
Difficult is not the same as bad. This is a Zendo principle for acute support. Clinically it means a hard experience can still carry meaning; do not pathologise it automatically. [source: Zendo Project] Do not use it to play down warning signs. [synthesis]
Normalise, but disconfirm feared catastrophe carefully. Many clients fear they are "going crazy". Explain that intense experiences can happen without serious illness, after assessment. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Do not impose spiritual or philosophical beliefs, either way. In practice: help the client make their own meaning; do not offer yours. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Be cautious about "recovered" memories that surface in altered states. They may be false. Cross-refer Domain VI 110. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Hold collective and political meanings, not only individual symptoms. St John stresses community, utopian imagination and political action in the scene. In practice: ask what the scene gives the client socially before you look at its costs. [source: networkcultures interview] [synthesis]
Watch millenarian urgency. The current includes end-times and planetary-crisis themes. In practice: notice when urgency drives sleep loss, spending or isolation. [source: Equinox Technomad ch. 5 abstract; MAPS Bulletin 2024] [synthesis]
Name a leader as a wrongdoer only on reliable findings. In practice: talk about the client's experience of a teacher or figure, not unverified allegations. [synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

The current's own practices are open and public:

collective dance at raves, psytrance parties and festivals;
immersive multimedia events that join talks, music and visuals (the Alien Dreamtime model);
visionary art;
festival "liminal" or chill spaces for talks and workshops (St John names Boom's Liminal Village);
reading and discussing McKenna's and Pinchbeck's texts and talks;
online magazines, webinars and learning platforms (Reality Sandwich, Evolver Learning Labs).

[source: MAPS Bulletin 2024; networkcultures interview; Next Big Idea Club]

The therapist uses none of these in therapy. Psychedelic use is part of the current's ideology. This guide covers it only as belief and context, never as practice. The inventory below is the psychotherapist's work with clients from this current. [synthesis]

4.1 Client-led exploration of meaning

Purpose / when: At the start, and whenever the client brings scene experiences. It builds an alliance and shows what the current gives the client: belonging, spirituality, art, politics, escape. [synthesis]
Steps:
1. Ask consent to talk about this area.
2. Invite the client to describe the current in their own words and terms ("tribe", "psyculture", "archaic revival").
3. Reflect back without correcting or endorsing.
4. Ask what it gives them and what it costs them.
5. Note which authors, teachers, events or platforms matter to them.
6. Summarise and check you have understood. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "You've said the dance floor is where you feel most yourself. Tell me what happens there for you, in your own words." / "When you say 'archaic revival', what does that mean in your life?"
Watch for: the client testing whether you will mock them; shame about use, which leads to hiding it. Working: the client volunteers more detail and starts linking the scene to their wider life. [synthesis]

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions module

Purpose / when: At assessment, to place the presenting problem within the client's cultural and spiritual frame. [source: APA CFI Supplementary Modules]
Steps:
1. Run the core CFI.
2. Add the Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions module. In your own words, cover: which traditions the client identifies with, including family background and more than one affiliation; the role of the tradition in daily and family life; their involvement in home and community practice; how it helps them cope, through leaders, texts, media and personal practice; whether tradition-related issues contributed to the problem; and any distress, discrimination or conflict tied to their beliefs.
3. Add the Explanatory Model module: what the client thinks caused their problem.
4. Add Social Network and Coping and Help-Seeking as needed. (No items are reproduced here; use the licensed APA forms.) [source: APA CFI Supplementary Modules]
5. For this group, include as "traditions" the online magazines, festivals, teachers and media figures the client follows. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Some people see the scene as a kind of spiritual home. Is that true for you, and how does it fit with how you were raised?" / "What do you think is causing what you're going through right now?"
Watch for: a family religion that clashes with the current; discrimination or legal stress linked to the scene; a spiritual explanatory model that differs from a medical one. Record both without ranking them. Working: a shared formulation that the client recognises. [synthesis]

4.3 Differential assessment without pathologising belief

Purpose / when: When the client reports visions, contact with entities or "presences", lasting unreality, grand mission, prophecy or fear of losing their mind. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025] [synthesis]
Steps:
1. Separate content (beliefs that fit the current, such as planetary transformation) from form and function (insight, flexibility, distress, impairment, sleep, speech, behaviour).
2. Screen for psychosis: fixed beliefs outside the client's own reference group, hallucinations outside altered-state contexts, thought disorder. Screen for mania: reduced need for sleep, pressured speech, grandiosity, risky spending.
3. Screen for dissociation and DP/DR. Ask about obsessional fears, such as intrusive dread of "going crazy" with checking and reassurance-seeking.
4. Ask about recent loss; grief can lie behind a turn to visionary meaning.
5. Collect the risk factors Holmøy and Andersen list: personal or family history of psychotic or bipolar disorder; magical ideation or an unclear sense of identity; younger age; frequent or mixed use; risky settings (crowds, little support); ongoing stress.
6. Ask about suicide risk in the usual way when distress is high.
7. Refer for psychiatric assessment if psychotic or manic features appear. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025 for risk factors and the psychosis/mania concern] [synthesis for steps]
Note: DSM-5-TR "Religious or Spiritual Problem" (Z65.8) may fit distress centred on spiritual questions without a mental disorder [source: ICD-10-CM Z65.8; DSM-5-TR wording uncertain: not verified]. The spiritual emergency debate (Grof; Lukoff) is relevant. [uncertain: not verified]
Example language (illustrative): "Lots of people in the scene talk about contact with presences. What I want to understand is how it is for you now: does it come only in those settings, or in everyday life too?" / "How have you been sleeping this past week?"
Watch for: Holmøy and Andersen call triggered psychotic or manic episodes the greatest concern, though the evidence is mixed. They report that about a third of users with bipolar disorder in one study noted more manic symptoms. Working: a clear picture of whether this is distress within a coherent world view or an emerging disorder. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]

4.4 Harm-reduction conversation and safety routing (no substance content)

Purpose / when: When a client says they use or plan to use psychedelics in festival or ceremonial settings. It keeps the client safe and honest without the therapist advising on substances. [source: PHRI abstract] [synthesis]
Steps:
1. Take the stance PHRI describes: compassionate, destigmatising acceptance of the client's choices.
2. Explore motives and hopes (spiritual, social, healing, escape) and past difficult experiences.
3. Name the general risk factors from 4.3.
4. Give no doses, combinations, sourcing or preparation.
5. Send every medicine question to the prescriber or pharmacist.
6. Tell the client that medical emergencies go to emergency services or poison control.
7. Mention that peer psychedelic-support services exist at some events. The Zendo Project offers supportive sitting at festivals and trains volunteers.
8. Cross-refer Domain VII 072 for substance harm reduction. [source: Gorman et al. 2021, abstract; Zendo Project] [synthesis for steps]
Example language (illustrative): "I'm not going to tell you what to do, and I can't advise on substances or your medication. Your prescriber or pharmacist is the right person for that. What I can do is think with you about what you're hoping for and what would help you stay safe."
Watch for: a request for the therapist to endorse or arrange an experience (decline and explain your role); medicine combinations (route at once); a history of psychosis or bipolar disorder. Working: the client keeps disclosing and takes up the medical routing. [synthesis]

4.5 Responding to a client who describes an acute difficult experience

Purpose / when: The client describes a recent or ongoing frightening experience at an event, or contacts you during one. [synthesis]
Steps:
1. Check physical safety first. If there are medical red flags, or the client cannot be kept safe, direct them to emergency services or on-site medical staff.
2. Otherwise, help the client find a calm place with a trusted person.
3. Lend the Zendo framing: a safe space, being sat with rather than guided, being talked through rather than talked down, and "difficult is not the same as bad".
4. Arrange a follow-up session.
5. Do not act as remote sitter or guide. [source: Zendo Project principles] [synthesis for steps and the therapist's role]
Example language (illustrative): "Your safety comes first. Is anyone with you you trust? If you feel physically unwell, go to the medical tent or call emergency services now. We'll make sense of this together afterwards."
Watch for: confusion, injury or physical symptoms (go medical); suicidal statements (assess risk and use emergency routes). [synthesis]

4.6 Psychoeducation and normalisation for persistent after-effects

Purpose / when: The client has lasting anxiety, panic, poor sleep, DP/DR or fears of "going crazy" or of schizophrenia after scene experiences. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Steps:
1. Assess first, as in 4.3.
2. Explain that intense experiences can be followed by these reactions, and that they do not in themselves mean serious mental illness.
3. Where the assessment supports it, gently disconfirm the fear of psychosis.
4. Explain how fear and monitoring feed the symptoms.
5. Agree goals. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025] [synthesis for sequencing]
Example language (illustrative): "What you're describing, the sense that things aren't quite real and the fear that it means you're losing your mind, is a recognised reaction. From what we've gone through together, I'm not seeing signs of psychosis. Let's look at how the fear itself may be keeping it going."
Watch for: reassurance-seeking loops (limit repeated reassurance and move to 4.7); reassuring before you have assessed. Working: less catastrophic interpretation and less checking. [synthesis]

4.7 CBT for catastrophic interpretation and depersonalisation/derealisation

Purpose / when: Anxiety or DP/DR is kept going by catastrophic readings of bodily or perceptual sensations. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025, citing the CBT model of depersonalisation]
Steps:
1. Build a shared formulation: trigger, sensation, catastrophic thought, fear, safety behaviours and self-monitoring.
2. Use cognitive reappraisal of the catastrophic thought.
3. Use graded exposure to feared situations and internal sensations. Do this only with consent and an agreed hierarchy, and stop or slow down if distress becomes unmanageable.
4. Reduce checking and safety behaviours.
5. Do not use exposure for sensations that point to a medical cause until that cause has been ruled out. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025] [synthesis for safety steps]
Example language (illustrative): "When the room starts to feel distant, what goes through your mind? … And then what do you do to check whether you're okay?"
Watch for: avoidance of everyday crowded places generalising from the event setting; rising distress during exposure. Working: sensations happen without spiralling, and there is less avoidance. [synthesis]

4.8 Acceptance-based work for persistent perceptual changes

Purpose / when: Visual or other perceptual changes persist (afterimages, halos, changing shapes; sometimes tinnitus or vertigo), often alongside DP/DR and anxiety. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Steps:
1. Make sure medical assessment of the perceptual symptoms has been offered (refer to GP, neurology or ophthalmology as needed).
2. Assess comorbid conditions.
3. Give psychoeducation that reduces fear and hopelessness.
4. Apply acceptance-based methods: ACT and cognitive defusion, or metacognitive approaches such as detached mindfulness toward the perceptions. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025] [synthesis for medical routing]
Example language (illustrative): "Let's see whether you can notice the halo as something your visual system is doing, without needing it to go away first."
Watch for: hopelessness and low mood; a search for more altered states to "fix" the symptom (go back to 4.4). Working: less distress and less impairment, even if the perceptions continue. [synthesis]

4.9 Existential distress and "ontological shock"

Purpose / when: After intense experiences the client is preoccupied with spiritual questions, has lost meaning, or doubts the nature of reality. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025]
Steps:
1. Acknowledge how hard this is.
2. Normalise the questions.
3. Invite the client's own meaning-making rather than supplying an answer.
4. Support present-moment awareness and social support, and help them rebuild belonging, whether in or outside the scene.
5. Notice "spiritual bypassing", where spiritual framing is used to avoid painful feelings. Gently name it and explore it. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025] [synthesis for sequencing]
Example language (illustrative): "It sounds as if the ground you stood on shifted. We don't have to settle what's real today. What has helped you feel connected in the weeks since?"
Watch for: pressure on the therapist to confirm or reject the client's metaphysics (decline, and keep it client-led); isolation. Working: the client tolerates not knowing and has renewed connection. [synthesis]

4.10 Working with millenarian and apocalyptic beliefs

Purpose / when: The client holds end-times or planetary-transformation beliefs (for example, past or new dated prophecies) that bring urgency, fear or major life decisions. [source: Equinox Technomad ch. 5 abstract; Daily Maverick 2010; MAPS Bulletin 2024] [synthesis]
Steps:
1. Explore what the belief means to the client and what it asks of them.
2. Separate values (ecological concern, community) from dated predictions.
3. Explore any experience of a failed prediction (2012 passed) and how the client made sense of it.
4. Look at decisions taken under urgency: quitting work, giving money away, cutting off family.
5. Screen for mania and psychosis if urgency is extreme (4.3). [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "You care deeply about the planet. I'm curious how the sense that time is running out shows up in your day-to-day choices."
Watch for: sleep loss, spending and isolation together. That cluster is a red flag. [synthesis]

4.11 Dependency on figures, events and platforms; financial exploitation

Purpose / when: The client's life is organised around a teacher, author, facilitator, festival circuit or paid online platform, or spending is a problem. [synthesis]
Steps:
1. Map the client's relationships to figures and platforms.
2. Ask about money spent on events, retreats, courses and products. Some of the current's platforms combine courses with retail; Evolver, for example, includes a webinar platform and an online retailer. [source: Next Big Idea Club]
3. Explore whether the client feels free to disagree or leave, and how decisions are made.
4. Explore the impact on family and work.
5. Support the client's own choices without telling them to leave. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "If you decided to skip this season's festivals, what would happen with your friends there, and inside you?"
Watch for: debt; pressure from a facilitator; sexual or financial boundary violations by a facilitator (safeguarding and reporting where duties apply); young or vulnerable clients. Working: the client can weigh costs and benefits freely. [synthesis]

4.12 Role boundaries, dual relationships and referral

Purpose / when: Throughout. [synthesis]
Steps:
1. State your role clearly. You do not lead or join altered-state practices, recommend facilitators, events or sources, or act as shaman or guide.
2. If you are part of the scene yourself, keep those roles separate and avoid meeting clients there. Get supervision on self-disclosure.
3. Refer to:
  - psychiatry for psychosis or mania;
  - medical services for physical symptoms;
  - the prescriber or pharmacist for any medicine question;
  - substance services (VII 072);
  - VI 110 for regression or recovered-memory concerns;
  - trauma-focused services if needed;
  - community or spiritual leaders the client trusts, if the client wishes.
4. For young clients, follow local safeguarding procedures and involve parents or carers as the law requires. Younger age is a risk factor for after-effects. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025 for age risk] [synthesis]
Note: Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists (Vieten et al., 2013) are relevant. [uncertain: not verified]
Example language (illustrative): "My part is to help you make sense of these experiences and look after your wellbeing. I'm not a guide for the experiences themselves, and I can't advise on substances. Here's who can help with the medical side."
Watch for: the client asking the therapist to accompany or prepare a ceremony; social overlap in small scenes. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

Most of this section is clinical synthesis; the sources address these problems only in part. Source-based points are tagged.

The client expects you to mock them or to cheer them on. Name your stance: curious, neither debunking nor endorsing. Go back to 4.1. (illustrative) "I'm not here to judge the scene or sell it to you. I want to understand what it means for you." [synthesis]
The client wants you to advise on substances, dosing, combinations or a facilitator. Decline clearly and kindly, and explain why. Route medicine questions to the prescriber or pharmacist and emergencies to emergency services or poison control. Cross-refer VII 072. Keep the alliance by staying with their hopes and fears (4.4). [synthesis]
The client hides use for fear of judgement or legal consequences. Use the PHRI stance of destigmatising acceptance [source: Gorman et al. 2021, abstract]. Explain confidentiality and its limits clearly before the client discloses. [synthesis]
Overwhelm or panic in session while describing an experience. Slow the pace, ground the client in present-moment awareness, and stop the narrative. Return to it later with consent. Do not push for re-experiencing. [synthesis, consistent with Holmøy & Andersen 2025 on present-moment awareness]
Reassurance loops ("Am I going crazy?"). Reassure once after assessment, then name the loop and move to CBT work on checking (4.6, 4.7). Treat obsessional features with exposure and response prevention as OCD guidance describes it. [synthesis] [uncertain: IOCDF guidance not verified]
Stuck in unfalsifiable meaning ("it was a message; I can't question it"). Leave the metaphysics alone. Work on function: what the meaning asks of the client, and whether it helps them live as they want (4.9). Avoid imposing beliefs either way. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025] [synthesis]
A new "memory" of abuse or a past life surfaces in an altered state. Do not confirm or build on it. Explain how suggestion works in altered states, stay with present distress, and cross-refer VI 110. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025 on caution about recovered memories] [synthesis]
The client seeks more altered states to fix after-effects. Explore the hope behind this without advising for or against substances. Name the risk factors that apply to them (4.3) and route medical questions. [synthesis]
Emerging psychosis or mania (sleep loss, grandiose mission, disorganisation, risky spending). Arrange urgent psychiatric assessment and involve supports with consent. Assess suicide and safety risk. Continue therapy in liaison with the psychiatric team. [source: Holmøy & Andersen 2025 on psychosis/mania as the main concern] [synthesis]
Rupture after you raise risk ("you're like everyone else, you think it's all drugs"). Acknowledge what the scene means to them, own any part you played, and separate concern for their safety from judgement of the culture. [synthesis]
Non-adherence to referral (the client won't see a psychiatrist or GP). Explore their explanatory model (CFI) and their fears about diagnosis or legal exposure. Offer a joint plan. Document risk and escalate where duty of care requires. [source: APA CFI Supplementary Modules for the explanatory model] [synthesis]
Family conflict (relatives see the scene only as drugs; the client sees it as spiritual). Use the CFI Social Network module. Offer, with consent, family sessions that separate the safety concern from contempt for the world view. [synthesis]
Grief behind the search. A recent loss may fuel the search for visionary contact or meaning. Assess for grief and work with it directly. Be alert to anyone who exploits bereaved people with offers of contact. [synthesis]
Harm by a facilitator or someone in the scene (sexual boundary violations, coercion, financial exploitation). Prioritise safety. Explain reporting options and any mandatory duties (for example, if a minor is involved). Do not name or accuse people in the record beyond what the client reports. Refer to specialist services. [synthesis]
The therapist's own involvement in the scene. Get supervision on dual roles, chance meetings at events and self-disclosure. Refer on if the overlap cannot be managed. [synthesis]

Sources

Online sources:

Books cited:

McKenna, T. The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History. Reviewed 1992. [uncertain: publisher and publication year]
Pinchbeck, D. (2002). Breaking Open the Head. [uncertain: publisher]
Pinchbeck, D. (2006). 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl. [uncertain: publisher]
Pinchbeck, D. Notes from the Edge Times; How Soon Is Now? [uncertain: years and publishers]
St John, G. (2009). Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures. Equinox.
St John, G. (2012). Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance. Equinox.

Cross-references: Domain VII 072 (substance harm reduction); Domain VI 110 (regression and false memory).

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