Case Study: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Plus Psychedelics in Sexual and Cannabis Addiction

What is it about?

This case study suggests that acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) may be efficient in treating concurrent sexual and cannabis addiction, and anxiety and depression symptoms. Additionally, it highlights a potential complementarity between ACT and a posttreatment naturalistic, recreational psychedelic use. Future practice and research on sexual addiction with comorbidities could use and further explore psychological flexibility models, and potentially consider combining ACT and psychedelics as a treatment option.

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Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash

Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Sexual addiction, with extensively documented frequent occurrences of psychiatric comorbidities (such as SUD, anxiety, and depression), is a growing concern and referral for psychological treatment. In this perspective, this work describes ACT-based approach for these concurrent conditions. Furthermore, amidst an era often referred to as the “Psychedelic Renaissance,” this article also suggests and analyzes the complementarity between ACT and psychedelics even when used independently in a patient with CSBD. This study thus adds to the current knowledge, and may contribute to inform future empirical, more rigorous investigation and treatment development efforts for behavioral, and notably sexual addiction and comorbidities.

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