The Myth of the Rewired Brain

Psychedelics, Neuroplasticity, and the Biology of Trauma

By Steve Elfrink

The Promise of Neuroplasticity, And Its Illusion

We’ve all heard it: psychedelics rewire the brain. Boost brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), grow new synapses, re-open critical periods—and healing just happens. It’s a hopeful narrative, one I clung to for years.

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And yes, psychedelics do increase neuroplasticity. Studies confirm that compounds like psilocybin, LSD, ketamine, and DMT promote neuronal growth, synaptogenesis, and increased BDNF expression—especially in regions like the prefrontal cortex . This is exciting science.

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But here’s the truth I’ve lived, and it’s not often said out loud:

Neuroplasticity doesn’t equal healing. It just means the brain becomes more malleable. And what gets wired, or re-wired, depends entirely on the terrain underneath.

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For me, that terrain was fractured.

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100s of Journeys, and Still, the Pain

Over the past four decades, I’ve consumed hundreds of psychedelic doses. Massive heroic journeys. Daily microdoses. Sacred ceremonies. Clinical trials. Psychedelic-assisted therapy. Solo plunges into the void. I’ve explored:

• Psilocybin (including in the FDA’s 2015 Phase I study)
• LSD (hundreds of high-dose and psycholytic sessions)
• DMT, ayahuasca, peyote, MDMA
• Ibogaine x3, the “addiction interrupter”
• Ketamine, in hundreds of deep dives
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And still, the depression returned. The suicidality persisted. At best, I’d get a reprieve: weeks or months of light and clarity. Then, back into the fog.

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I began to ask: If psychedelics can open new pathways, why do I keep walking back into the same pain?

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Trauma Is Stored in the Body, Not Just the Brain

Science helped me see what my body had been screaming for decades.

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Trauma isn’t just psychological, it’s physiological. It’s embedded in the autonomic nervous system, in the fascial tissue, in the endocrine and opioid systems, and in the preverbal imprints of early life stress.

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According to Polyvagal Theory (Porges), trauma hijacks our physiology. We get stuck in either sympathetic overdrive (fight/flight) or dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze/dissociation), often flipping between the two. These states aren’t just emotional—they’re biological survival strategies that become default wiring .

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And here’s what most psychedelic evangelists miss:

If your body is locked in a trauma loop, psychedelic neuroplasticity may amplify the chaos—not resolve it.

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You might open a critical period, but if what’s released is preverbal terror, shame, or fragmentation, then “rewiring” looks a lot more like unraveling.

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When the Default Mode Network Collapses

Psychedelics reduce activity in the Default Mode Network (DMN)—the part of the brain that helps maintain ego structure and suppress overwhelming internal content. While this can be liberating, for trauma survivors it can also expose the raw, dissociated parts too quickly .

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This is what I now call psychedelic iatrogenesis—healing turned harmful. Not because psychedelics are inherently bad, but because they were opening the gates faster than my system could metabolize what came through.

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Science now supports this. Studies show that trauma-exposed individuals may experience destabilization, emotional flooding, or fragmentation after psychedelic experiences, especially if the nervous system is not properly prepared or supported .

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The Real Work Was in My Body

The shift came when I stopped chasing transcendence and started listening—really listening—to my body.

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Through Psycholytic Somatic Integration Therapy (PSIT), I began working at the level where trauma actually lived: in the fascia, in the breath, in the reflexes I’d never chosen but had relied on for survival.

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Using low-dose ketamine and deep relational safety, I could feel the freeze instead of bypassing it. I could stay with the dissociative child inside me, instead of floating above him.

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This was no longer about "rewiring." It was about completing what my body never got to finish. Letting my system move through the survival responses that had been interrupted—often decades ago.

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And it was slow. And sacred. And real.

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A Warning, and a Hope

Let me be clear: I’m not anti-psychedelic. I’m a lifelong student and steward of these medicines. But I’m no longer seduced by the hype.

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Psychedelics can catalyze profound change. But they are not the change.

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They can unlock doors—but they don’t rebuild the house. That takes embodied work, relational safety, and deep presence with the parts of us that psychedelics may expose but cannot integrate on their own.

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If you’ve done the journeys and still feel broken, you are not alone.

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You are not broken.
You are healing.
But it may be time to listen to what your body has been holding all along.

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Final Thought: The Paradigm Shift

We need to move beyond the myth of magical neuroplasticity and into a trauma-informed, body-led paradigm. That’s what 3D Healing™ is all about: addressing Dissociation, Dysregulation, and Disconnection as biological adaptations—not mental illnesses.

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Healing is possible. But it doesn't come from forcing a reset. It comes from allowing a reconnection.

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And sometimes, it begins not with another journey outward—but a quiet return inward.

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Sources & Citations

1. Ly et al. (2018). Psychedelics promote structural and functional neural plasticity. Cell Reports.
2. Porges, S. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation.
3. Carhart-Harris et al. (2014). The entropic brain: A theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
4. Elfrink & Bergin (2024). Psychedelic Iatrogenic Structural Dissociation (PISD): An Exploratory Hypothesis on Amplified Dissociative Processes. Frontiers in Psychology.

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About the Author

Steve Elfrink is the founder of OmTerra and creator of the 3D Healing™ framework. A psychedelic therapist with over 40 years of experience and hundreds of journeys, he now guides others in trauma resolution through somatic intelligence, psycholytic medicine, and embodied reconnection.

🌐 www.omterra.org

🌀 You are not broken. You are healing.

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