Music for Psychedelic Therapy: How to Create a Trip Playlist
Image by Marco Allegretti
Music as a Catalyst for Healing
For centuries, music has been an integral part of ceremonial practices involving plant-based psychedelics. From the sacred icaros of Amazonian ayahuasca shamans to the poetic chants of María Sabina’s Mazatec psilocybin rituals, music has played a powerful role in navigating and enriching psychedelic experiences.
As psychedelic-assisted therapy begins to build mainstream acceptance, carefully curated music is emerging as a therapeutic tool to help clients access deep levels of self-insight, emotional release, and healing.
The Roots of Therapeutic Music Curation
While music’s ceremonial role in psychedelic practices dates back centuries, modern psychedelic-assisted therapy owes part of its foundation to pioneering music therapists. In the 1960s, Hermina E. Browne developed one of the earliest clinical methods for selecting musical accompaniments to support psychedelic sessions for those struggling with the use of alcohol. Her approach established specific categories and an intentional progression for curating playlists.
Browne’s categories of music and progression for a psychedelic playlist provided a structure to musically mirror the archetypal arc of a psychedelic journey:
Relaxing to tense
Very tense, disturbed with a purpose
Solemn, meditative, self-searching, spiritual
Relaxing, spiritual
Reconciling, restoration of confidence, feeling of hope and faith
Music therapist Helen Bonny also had a profound impact on this space. After initially working with psychedelic therapy, Bonny went on to develop the influential Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) therapy modality following the prohibition of psychedelics in 1970. Her methods demonstrated how evocative music could catalyse inner journeying and self-exploration even without psychedelic compounds.
Browne, Bonny, and their contemporaries laid the foundations for our understanding of music’s capacity to amplify non-ordinary states of consciousness. Their work continues to inform how modern practitioners harness music to create safe containers for profound insight and healing.
Image by Evie S.
The Profound Effects of Music in Altered States
In the non-ordinary state induced by psychedelics, the mind becomes highly suggestible and receptive to the influence of music. Research shows that music can evoke personally meaningful emotions, mental imagery, a sense of guidance, openness, and calmness—all of which help create a safe container for profound therapeutic experiences. Music facilitates a relinquishing of control, allowing for emotional release, mystical experiences, and autobiographical insights to surface.
When combined with psychedelics like psilocybin, music has demonstrated therapeutic benefits for a range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcohol use disorder, and tobacco use disorder. For those seeking self-knowledge and transformation, the psychedelic experience, amplified by music, can catalyse profound self-insight and personal growth.
Image by Evie S.
Crafting the Ideal Playlist for Psychedelic Therapy
When assembled with care, intention, and the client’s unique needs in mind, a therapeutic music playlist can be a profound ally in psychedelic-assisted therapy. It creates a resonant field that amplifies the mind’s natural capacity for healing, self-discovery, and growth.
Offering a Person-Centred Approach
Creating an effective playlist for psychedelic therapy requires a person-centred approach that considers the participant’s goals, musical tastes, and personal associations with specific genres, artists, or songs. The most therapeutic playlists consider the intentional use of vocals, instrumental textures, and nature sounds while noticing shifts in intensity and emotional tone.
While creating a playlist, consider if it offers these key attributes:
Balances soothing and intense elements - A therapeutically minded playlist will balance relaxing periods of expansiveness with more challenging periods of complexity that may provoke difficult emotions or memories. An imbalance of welcome and unwelcome elements could disrupt the therapeutic process.
Provides journey support - The playlist should gently guide the participant through the onset, ascent, peak, and return periods. If the musical selections don’t effectively mirror and support the typical arc of a psychedelic journey, they may negatively influence the client’s experience.
Matches the client’s preferences - Careful consideration of genres, styles, instruments, and vocals is crucial. Since musical tastes are highly personal, a playlist that clashes with the client’s sensibilities and associations could pull them out of an immersive state.
Gives flexibility - An adaptive playlist allows for adjustments during the session itself. An interactive format enables the therapist to fluidly shift directions or revisit certain passages as needed to best support the client’s unfolding process.
By being mindful of these considerations, therapists can refine their music curation skills and create playlists that harness music’s full potential as a catalyst for safe and meaningful psychedelic exploration.
Supporting Ethical and Intentional Practice
As music can be a powerful element in a psychedelic setting, playlist creation should consider ethical principles prioritising the client’s well-being. Drawing from Kylea Taylor’s keys to professional ethical behaviour, some key principles to consider include:
Authentic caring - Is the therapist being mindful of the client’s heightened sensitivity when selecting and playing music?
Examining one’s motivations - Is the therapist ensuring the music supports the client’s intentions and goals for therapy (and not the therapist’s agenda)?
Willingness to be truthful - Is the therapist allowing the music to surface (and not obscure) difficult material the client may want to process?
Openness to consultation - Does the therapist seek input and feedback from peers and experienced practitioners on the musical selections and playlist structure?
Considering Progress and Timings
A playlist for psychedelic therapy can be divided into movements corresponding to the journey’s arc, and should consider the intensity and duration of the medicine. For example, a five-and-half-hour to six-hour playlist might support a journey that includes:
Background: 20 min
Onset: 20-40 min
Ascent: 60 min
Peak: 60-90 min
Post-peak: 90 min
Return: 60 min
Image by Vince Fleming
Music Selections and Playlists Used in Research
Researchers have carefully curated music playlists to support participants in clinical trials as psychedelic-assisted therapy has gained traction in modern research. While the specific musical selections vary across these studies based on context and participant needs, the playlists exemplify the focused intention behind music curation for psychedelic-assisted therapy. Here are some examples:
Music for Underground Psychedelic Therapy
Friederike Meckel Fischer, a pioneering psychotherapist, described her process of selecting music for underground LSD-assisted therapy sessions in the 1960s and 70s. Her playlists incorporated periods of silence to allow the experience to unfold organically.
‘We used a very wide range of music by the time my work ended and I felt that I had developed an intuitive ability to play just the right music at the right time.
To sum it all up, you could say that the choice of music needs to be determined primarily by the substance chosen and the point at which it is to take effect. The particpants’ level of experience and the decision as to whether the session is aimed at being therapeutic or contemplative and spiritual are secondary factors.’
— Fischer, F. M., Therapy with Substance: Psycholytic Psychotherapy in the Twenty-First Century
Psilocybin Playlists for Tabacco Addiction
In a pilot study at Johns Hopkins investigating psilocybin for tobacco addiction, researchers crafted specialised playlists to support participants’ journeys—the music aimed to facilitate insight, emotional release, and a centring of the therapeutic intentions.
‘I think of it as a nonverbal support system, sort of like the net for a trapeze artist. If all is going well, you’re not even aware that the net is there — you don’t even hear the music — but if you start getting anxious, or if you need it, it’s immediately there to provide a structure.’
— Bill Richards, Inside the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist
Psychedelic Therapy Playlists for the Treatment of Depression
At Imperial College London, researchers composed playlists for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy studies focused on treating depression. The music guided participants through periods of inward exploration punctuated by stretches of intensity and introspection.
‘Correlation analyses showed that patients’ experience of the music was associated with the occurrence of ‘mystical experiences’ and ‘insightfulness.’ Crucially, the nature of the music experience was significantly predictive of reductions in depression 1 week after psilocybin, whereas general drug intensity was not.’
— Kaelen et al., The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy
Putting Principles into Practice
To apply the principles and considerations outlined in this article, I had the opportunity to create a sample psychedelic therapy playlist for my capstone project while completing the Foundations of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy course with Beckley Academy in 2023. The objective was to thoughtfully curate a playlist that could support a client’s journey through the typical arc of a psychedelic experience.
Grounding the curation process in a person-centred approach, I carefully considered factors like musical preferences, emotional associations, progression of intensity, and intentional therapeutic spaces for processing. Crafting the playlist provided invaluable practice in holistically blending elements of music therapy, psychedelic phenomenology, and ethical therapeutic practice.
And here’s another playlist I’ve created since completing the program.
Music for Psychedelic Assisted Therapy, Ambient & Electronic (Psilocybin)
Riding the Sonic Waves
As the development of psychedelic research and therapy continues to unfold, music will remain an indispensable ally and catalyst for consciousness exploration and healing. By honouring the wisdom of ancient traditions while integrating modern insights, therapists and researchers are rediscovering music’s profound capacity to amplify the psychedelic experience.
With ethical intention and a person-centred approach to playlist creation, music can help create a resonant container where some of life’s most profound inquiries, emotional releases, and growth can occur. As this modality blossoms, the sacred alliance between music and psychedelics will undoubtedly reveal new frontiers of human potential and healing.
References
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Bonny, H. L. (2002). Music and Consciousness: The Evolution of Guided Imagery and Music, New Braunfels Barcelona Publishers
Chacruna. (2020). How Music Therapists Helped Build Psychedelic Therapy. [online] Available at: https://chacruna.net/how-music-therapists-helped-build-psychedelic-therapy
Daniel, J. and Haberman, M. (2017). Clinical potential of psilocybin as a treatment for mental health conditions. Mental Health Clinician, [online] 7(1), pp.24–28. doi:https://doi.org/10.9740/mhc.2017.01.024
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Fischer, F. M. (2020), p. 114-116. Therapy with Substance: Psycholytic Psychotherapy in the Twenty-First Century. London: Aeon Books
Graham, O. J., Saucedo, G. R., & Politi, M. (2022). Experiences of Listening to Icaros during Ayahuasca Ceremonies at Centro Takiwasi : An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Anthropology of Consciousness. https://doi.org/10.1111/anoc.12170
Inside the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist. (n.d.). www.hopkinsmedicine.org. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/inside-the-johns-hopkins-psilocybin-playlist
Johnson, M.W., Garcia-Romeu, A., Cosimano, M.P. and Griffiths, R.R. (2014). Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction. Journal of Psychopharmacology, [online] 28(11), pp.983–992. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881114548296
Kaelen, M., Giribaldi, B., Raine, J., Evans, L., Timmerman, C., Rodriguez, N., Roseman, L., Feilding, A., Nutt, D. and Carhart-Harris, R. (2018). The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy. Psychopharmacology, 235(2), pp.505–519. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4820-5
Lett, S., & Dyck, E. (2022). Tune in, Turn on: Religious Music and Spiritual Power in the History of Psychedelic Therapy. Social History of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkac057
MacCallum, C.A., Lo, L.A., Pistawka, C.A. and Deol, J.K. (2022). Therapeutic use of psilocybin: Practical considerations for dosing and administration. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1040217
Messell, C., Summer, L., Bonde, L.O., Beck, B.D. and Stenbæk, D.S. (2022). Music programming for psilocybin-assisted therapy: Guided Imagery and Music-informed perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.873455
Rothenberg, J., Estrada, A., & Al, E. (2003). Selections Maria Sabina. University Of California Press.
Strickland, J.C., Garcia-Romeu, A. and Johnson, M.W. (2020). Set and Setting: A Randomized Study of Different Musical Genres in Supporting Psychedelic Therapy. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science. doi:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsptsci.0c00187
Taylor, K. (2017). The Ethics of Caring: Finding Right Relationship With Clients for Profound Transformative Work in Our Professional Healing Relationships. Hanford Mead Publishers, Inc.
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