Why Choose a Depression Retreat over Traditional Therapy?

Taking Healing Beyond The Therapist's Office

You already know that managing depression and its symptoms can be challenging. While medication or therapy with a licensed psychotherapist are effective for many patients, these treatments don’t work for everyone. Even if outpatient therapy is helping you manage your depressive symptoms, it may not be seeing results in everyday life as quickly or as well as you’d like. If you’re tired of cycling through traditional treatments without really addressing your underlying issues and struggling with daily tasks, why not consider a therapy retreat for depression that offers a specialized setting for you to heal?

There’s a reason that retreats are becoming increasingly popular as more people re-evaluate their approaches to mental health issues. They provide people a holistic approach towards personal well-being. Away from the usual daily stressors and routines, a depression retreat can give you some much-needed time to focus on improving your mental health with the added bonus of a balanced diet and excellent sleep hygiene assisted by a trained staff. The intensive, round-the-clock approach of holistic therapies in a retreat setting has the potential to produce faster and more effective results than months or years of weekly therapy sessions.

Depression is isolating and makes you want to turn inward, away from the world. Therapy retreats for depression typically include group sessions to foster a sense of community. Unlike in daily life, where you often have to mask how you truly feel in order to make it through the day, people on retreats together build genuine connections in their shared attempt to work through their challenges. These atmospheres create the safety to be vulnerable with sharing your pain and tapping into the emotions from past traumas that put you here, which is essential for healing.

Depressive disorders, like most mood disorders, don't have a quick fix. It’s often a stubborn illness with deep roots within the people who have it, often stemming from tragic or traumatic events. But what if we told you that there are certain therapeutic modalities harnessed at depression retreats that have the potential to heal these roots in a way that traditional treatments simply cannot achieve?

Therapist on a retreat for depression assisting guest with a therapy dog

Dealing with Common Symptoms of Depression

Symptoms of depression can include persistent sadness or loneliness, low self-esteem, unexplained feelings of worthlessness, guilt and/or shame, and even more serious symptoms such as suicidal ideation. There are also more specific diagnoses that share many common symptoms outside of the broader categories of major or chronic depression. These types of depression include atypical depression, seasonal affective disorder and postpartum depression.

MycoMeditations is a pioneer in healing therapeutic retreats for depression and other mental health challenges. We’ve spent the past decade helping thousands of guests just like you overcome depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, other trauma-related conditions, substance use disorder, and more.

Guests bonding at a therapy retreat for depression

MycoMeditations Mental Health Retreats for Clinical Depression

One year later:

50%

Let’s run some of the numbers.

A survey of MycoMeditations’ previous guests shows just how effective a therapy retreat for depression can be. Guests suffering from Major Depressive Disorder who attended one of our retreats showed positive and long-lasting reductions in their symptoms.

One month after leaving our retreat, these guests saw their depression symptoms reduced by 59%.

After one year, this reduction in depression symptoms was sustained at an incredible 50%.

How do we do it? MycoMeditations’ depression retreats in Jamaica offer an innovative approach to mental health by harnessing an ancient medicine that has been used by humans for thousands of years: psilocybin mushrooms.

MycoMeditations staff member holding a psilocybin mushroom

Mushroom Therapy: An Evidence-Based Approach to Mental Illness

Psilocybin, a compound found in certain types of fungi, has been used as a personal transformation and healing tool by Indigenous communities in group settings for centuries due to its psychoactive effects. Psilocybin interacts with many receptors in the brain to induce altered states of consciousness, usually lasting for four to six hours.

If you have depression, psilocybin mushroom therapy can facilitate deeper forms of introspection, emotional processing, and changes in perspective. It has the potential to even reverse the negative beliefs you have about yourself and the world, which is often a large issue when you suffer from depression. This can lead to profound psychological breakthroughs after working with psilocybin therapeutically. It does this by disrupting patterns of thinking and promoting neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change and adapt, which can help people with depression confront and process any underlying trauma that they have experienced.

At MycoMeditations, psilocybin is the core of our Western-contemporary treatment model. Before consuming any psilocybin mushrooms, which we grow and encapsulate ourselves, licensed therapists and expert facilitators will prepare you for the experience within a supportive environment using a combination of therapy and holistic approaches. This process helps you build trust and rapport with your dedicated therapy team and teaches you how to best navigate your upcoming psilocybin experiences.This allows you to set a safe and comfortable mindset for the upcoming session.

Consuming psilocybin while on retreat can be both a challenging and rewarding experience. The MycoMeditations team has guided thousands of individuals through the process since launching in 2014 and has developed protocols to manage any experience that arises safely.

We aren’t the only ones exploring psilocybin treatments for depression, as numerous research institutes and companies are researching the compound. Notably, our comprehensive program and high level of care appear to deliver better results than seen in a Phase II clinical trial by one of the largest psychedelic biopharmaceutical companies COMPASS Pathways. Study participants with major depressive disorder using its psilocybin drug candidate saw a 37.62% reduction in their depression symptoms after one month, compared to our 59.05% reduction in depression symptoms one month after retreat.

Psilocybin mushrooms used in therapy retreats

A Mystical, Spiritual Experience for Mental Wellness

What our guests say:

“I had mystical, spiritual, and life-reviewing experiences that have stayed with me after I attended the retreat.”

While we applaud the good work being done and are always eager to read the latest research findings and investigations into how psychedelics impact our brain chemistry, our real work happens outside of the ivory tower, on our retreats, helping people like you.

Former MycoMeditations guest Curt, who came to our retreat with the goal of dealing with depression and grief related to his wife’s diagnosis of a fatal disease, described his experience here as “life-changing.”

“While the retreat significantly lowered my level of depression, it did much more. I had mystical, spiritual, and life-reviewing experiences that have stayed with me after I attended the retreat,” Curt said.

“I highly recommend Myco for folks who need long-term relief from depression and endless grieving. It improved my life more than I could have imagined."

Mushroom Therapy: Treating Major Depression

If you’re interested in therapy retreats for depression and are curious about trying psilocybin mushrooms, MycoMeditations offers guests a profound and transformative experience during their week-long stay. Our luxurious and holistic depression retreat experience includes high-end accommodations and chef-prepared food in idyllic Jamaica.

Guests participate in three psilocybin dosing sessions on alternate days with group therapy and integration sessions. As integration of these experiences is a major component of the retreat, you can expect to participate in approximately 20 hours of therapeutic discussion throughout the week. There is also the option to participate in additional one-on-one therapy sessions outside of the group therapy sessions.

Unlike other psychedelic retreats which focus on generalized wellness rather than mental health outcomes, and where psilocybin is consumed only in a group setting, our spacious resort gives our guests the opportunity to take their dose in a private space with a trained therapist close by for 1-1 therapy sessions. In between psilocybin dosing sessions, and group therapy and integration work, you’ll have plenty of downtime to enjoy our amenities and activities, such as yoga, hiking, swimming, journaling, and bonding with other guests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are MycoMeditations’ mental health retreats research-backed?

As Jamaica’s longest-running psychedelic-assisted retreat, MycoMeditations has set the gold standard with our approach to healing. We are dedicated to providing those seeking out therapy retreats for depression with psilocybin therapy using research-backed protocols. We operate on a Western contemporary therapeutic model based on evidence, science, and research. To date, our trained therapists have helped over 2,000 guests with over 6,000 doses of psilocybin.

How does MycoMeditations ensure guest safety?

Safety and patient care are of the highest priority. Before beginning a retreat, applicants undergo medical and psychiatric evaluations to ensure the program is compatible with their therapeutic goals, as well as to check for. The depression retreat is capped at 12 guests to maintain our high team-to-guest ratio of at least 1:1.5. This enables us to tailor each guest’s experience to their needs, such as providing customized psilocybin dosing based on several physical and mental factors, rather than just their weight.

Is it legal to consume psilocybin at a MycoMeditations retreat?

Unlike the United States, consuming psilocybin is legal at the national level in Jamaica. MycoMeditations actively works with the Jamaican government to encourage the growth and standardization of the country’s psilocybin industry.

Other Mental Health Conditions Treated at MycoMeditations

MycoMeditations also offers retreats for anxiety and addiction treatment, alongside other serious mental health disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder, insomnia, end-of-life distress and other co-occurring disorders.

MycoMeditations does not recommend and will not conduct therapy retreats with psilocybin for guests suffering from or with a family history of bipolar disorder due to the risk of adverse side effects. A screening by our care team of both personal mental health and medical history is required for all retreat applicants.

Apply for a MycoMeditations retreat today.

Or watch this video to learn more about MycoMeditations from our CEO & Head Facilitator, Justin Townsend.