Healing is for Men Too: How Psychedelics Are Offering Men A Chance
In recent years the term “toxic masculinity” has been popularized on social media and since become a part of common dialogue and discourse. “Toxic,” much like other clinical terms that have made their way into the mainstream, is now misused and hyperbolized like “triggered” and “traumatized." The definition and scope of toxic masculinity is misunderstood and written off like a red flag on a dating app - swiped, ignored, maybe even mocked, it continues to circulate in its myopic existence. It’s obvious that toxic masculinity has negatively infiltrated and influenced our culture for generations, bleeding wrongfully into our society. But, if something bleeds, then there must be a wound.
Toxic masculinity serves as both the barrier to and, when recognized, an opportunity for healing. More aptly, it remains a barrier to authenticity. Men abandon their soft, vulnerable authenticity to remain attached to an overidealized toxic version of masculinity. Until we can find a way to make healing more enticing and accessible to the male population who suffer and externalize from this toxicity, history as we know so well, will continue to repeat itself.
To understand this issue more intimately, we need to also look beyond the individual man and to the society that grows the man. If we are wondering why masculine has become toxic, we would be remiss to not acknowledge the waters polluting man. Society has become sick with all manner of ideologies, i.e. patriarchy, and other entitlements that have stranded man on an island of their own self-importance. We lack adequate heart-centered role models and guardrails of accountability to stem the toxicity from spreading. We saw this play out on a massive scale with the #MeToo movement, culling the predatory elites from misusing and abusing their positions of power. Fortunately, there is enough evidence to hint at a tide of change and reignite the promise of a healed masculine.
“Psychedelic medicine journeys, in truly astonishing ways, allow men access to the wound.”
We are beginning to learn how psychedelic medicine can offer men an avenue to address and heal the wounds corrupted by toxicity within themselves, and more importantly, overwrite hardwired patterns which lead them to express that toxicity onto and into society in the first place. A Johns Hopkins study found, a single dose of psilocybin leads to lasting changes in the part of the personality known as ‘openness,’ which includes attentiveness to one’s inner feelings. A recent 2024 Yale Study published in Nature also found a single dose of psilocybin led to prolonged enhancement of psychological flexibility, along with other metrics of mindfulness, which can serve as an antidote to recalcitrant and rigid belief systems. A 2018 study on emotional regulation and psychedelics discovered that male users of LSD and psilocybin were less likely to engage in intimate partner violence compared to non-users. The late Roland Griffiths, PhD, contributed many articles exploring the positive effects of psychedelics on psychological flexibility.
Toxic masculinity is multifactorial, rooted in trauma, faulty belief systems, imbalances of power, gender entitlements, and societal conditioning. Regardless, what we know about trauma today is that it causes a caged way of thinking and navigating the world, deeply impacting the subconscious choices that shape our conscious reality. It’s Groundhog’s Day, dooming us to repeat our actions. Psychedelic medicine and the studies above have demonstrated it is possible to access the trauma while promoting psychological flexibility. Within the process of a healing journey and integration (a very necessary part of psychedelic healing), men are able to learn to implement new avenues of coping, expressing and nurturing the masculinity, which at some point, became compromised. This is incredibly valuable for men, especially for those feeling confined to the “Man Box,” a popular term and psychological construct highlighting the stereotypes, expectations, and beliefs passed on to our impressionable, young generation.
To illustrate this, let’s look at anger, a healthy emotion; it’s natural and human, and so very often warranted. It shouldn’t be suppressed or be allowed to live outwardly unchecked; it’s imperative to develop healthy outlets, proper expression, and conscious control of our emotions. Anger becomes toxic when it is expressed in violent and volatile ways towards other people or populations, or when directed inwards, forced to percolate to the surface like sewage in water. It needs a healthy and productive avenue of expression. The same goes for all emotions. As young boys, the expression of emotion can be met with chastisement and ridicule, conditioning early beliefs that emotions are “for pussies,” “babies,” or “girls.” Adolescents and men of all ages aren’t much better instructing each other to “stop being a bitch.” Crying, one of the most human and natural forms of wholehearted expression, the most somatically healing and cleansing has somehow been deemed as feminine. And of course we all know, “boys don’t cry.” It should come naturally to cry, but after constant suppression or instilled shame around it, that once innate pathway becomes ossified or atrophied.
Over time, accepted forms of “masculine” expression or coping methods are now intertwined with testosterone-driven activity, like exercise and sports, womanizing, and “bro” culture. The body and mind take center stage when controlled rage, sexual exploitation and entitlement, and masculine tropes predominate and unfortunately, because society sees so many other necessary forms of expression as inherently feminine, the real issue is that they have become inherently alien and uncomfortable for men to practice, utilize, and benefit from. Activities that offer introspective exploration like art, writing, even reading, are powerful mediums of expression, again seemingly belonging to the feminine. Even the act of healing itself, of asking for help, can be seen as “unmanly.” It’s not just that men may feel embarrassed engaging in activities, but are truly unable to access or benefit from them.
The masculine wound manifesting as toxic masculinity so often keeps men from pursuing healing. Psychedelic medicine journeys, in truly astonishing ways, allow men access to the wound, the trauma and learn to sit with and be compassionate with these shadows. Instead of the self-exploration or trip-sitting models, working with skilled healers allows for the learning of new language around masculinity, leveraging questions or prompts that explore the truth of toxic beliefs, and provides a compassionate witness to steward the man back to wholeness. This journey work extends beyond the time in non-ordinary states of consciousness, but also includes the time in preparation establishing safety, transparency, and trust along with the time after spent in integration, contextualizing and making meaning of the experience itself. Throughout the process, we can expect men to better or newly acquaint themselves with means of healthy and productive expression giving them a clear pathway and agency to their emotionality, growth, and evolution.
“Throughout the process, we can expect men to better or newly acquaint themselves with means of healthy and productive expression giving them a clear pathway and agency to their emotionality, growth, and evolution.”
Excitingly and worth noting are the many organizations focused on healthy masculine expression, authenticity, fellowship, brotherhood, emotional attunement, and purpose that are sprouting up and gaining popularity. The Sacred Sons and ManKind Project are two such examples, providing intimate containers, emotional safety, and compassionate encouragement to offset the toxic masculine stereotypes that prevail. The Modern Elder Academy is another organization that is moving away from the typical “alpha” definitions of success, and instead moving towards purpose and meaning.
Men need and deserve access to all dimensions of their lives, not just the physical. It is our mind, heart, and spirit that makes us uniquely human. Even focusing on the physical, it’s not access to our muscles that helps us heal, but rather the connection to the nervous system that paves the road to regulation, equanimity, and wholeness. Psychedelic medicine may help us find the key for the proverbial lock, promoting a new found sense of openness and the psychological flexibility to undo what has been passed on through society or imprinted by trauma. To begin their healing journey, men need to feel comfortable expressing the shadows of not just masculinity, but of life in healthy ways. To be courageous, to be strong, to “be a man” is to also be vulnerable, empathetic, and engaged in the full spectrum of what it means to be human.
With love & light,
Soul Surgeon MD
