Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski

Exploring Psychedelic Benefits for Chronic Illness with Christina P. Kantzavelos, LCSW, MSW, MLIS

Apr 16, 2025

Christina P. Kantzavelos is an international psychotherapist and coach specializing in chronic illness and trauma. She dives into the powerful role of psychedelics in healing, linking mental health directly to chronic pain. Christina discusses how chronic pain affects identity, stressing the need to separate oneself from diagnoses to foster recovery. She highlights the importance of addressing both physical and mental health concurrently and emphasizes the potential of neuroplasticity in transforming pain management through psychedelics.

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ANECDOTE

Christina's Personal Illness Journey

Christina Kantzavelos got deeply involved in chronic illness work after her own severe illness experience.
She transitioned from international disaster work to integrative therapy treating chronic illness and complex trauma.

INSIGHT

Chronic Stress in Chronic Illness

Chronic illness patients often suffer from medical trauma and chronic stress responses like freeze and fawn.
These responses keep the brain in threat mode, hindering healing and impacting anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric symptoms.

ADVICE

Dual Approach to Chronic Illness

Treat chronic illness by concurrently addressing the underlying medical condition and psychological health.
Collaborate with integrative doctors to target root causes alongside mind-body therapies.

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In this episode, Christina P. Kantzavelos, LCSW, MSW, MLIS joins to discuss the use of psychedelics to address chronic illness. Christina is an international psychotherapist, coach, writer and artist, who specializes in treating clients with chronic illness, and complex trauma utilizing various modalities, including psychedelic assisted therapy.

In this conversation, Christina overviews the complex mental and physical health impacts of chronic pain conditions and shares her expertise on psychedelic and non-psychedelic treatments for these conditions. Christina mentions that chronic pain can put one's body in a state that encourages fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses which can disempower the patient's efforts to address their condition. She also explores the intersection of identity and chronic pain conditions, discussing how that while receiving a particular diagnosis can be helpful and affirming, taking this as a core part of one's identity can also be a major roadblock to healing. In closing, Christina emphasizes that pain starts in the brain, so leveraging neuroplasticity through psychedelics and other means can be a particularly powerful way to address both physical and mental health aspects of chronic pain conditions.

In this episode you'll hear:

How Christina got involved in working with patients with chronic pain

The common mental health presentations in those with chronic pain

The importance of addressing physical health and mental health concurrently

Why psychedelics may be helpful for addressing chronic pain conditions

The immunomodulating effects of psychedelics

The power of neuroplasticity for addressing chronic pain

Utilizing neural retraining and microdosing in conjunction to prepare for more successful higher dose psychedelic experiences

Quotes:

"I use all kinds of modalities and I don't just treat someone's depression or anxiety or complex trauma—I see it as everything is interwoven and related to each other. And it's important that we look at the entirely mosaic piece rather than just focusing on one area." [5:20]

"There is a state of empowerment versus disempowerment in identifying with our chronic illness. I'm not saying that it is not real and it's not happening to you but it definitely is not you. It's something you are experiencing. Even if it's chronic and lifelong, it's still something you are experiencing—it's not you as a whole." [17:48]

"I've noticed that any of my clients who have gone through neural retraining have had little to no bad [psychedelic] trips which is amazing and I feel like that's partly because they worked so hard to resource themselves in advance." [25:19]

Links:

Christina on Instagram

Christina on LinkedIn

Begin with Today website

When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Maté

PMA CME/CE accredited course: Managing Medical Risk in Patients Seeking Psilocybin Therapy

Search for providers on the Psychology Today website

Psychedelic Medicine Association

Porangui