Consciousness Is a Right, Not a Privilege: On Psychedelic Integration, Depth Psychotherapy, and Sex Therapy
By Dr. Denise Renye
“I believe that if people are given the freedom to explore their own minds, they will come to understand themselves and others better. Consciousness is a right, not a privilege.”
— Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin
This quote from chemist and psychonaut Sasha Shulgin speaks to a core belief that runs through my clinical work: that the ability to access, explore, and make meaning of one’s own consciousness is a human right. Whether through psychoanalytic depth work, psychedelic integration, or sex therapy, I help people turn inward, sometimes into the murkiest terrain, to reclaim what has been lost, repressed, fragmented, or pathologized.
In my practice, this kind of exploration is not only encouraged, it is sacred.
Why Depth Psychotherapy Matters
Psychoanalytic and Jungian-informed depth psychotherapies offer a vital space where the unconscious can be heard. These modalities hold the complexity of the human psyche and allow space for the symbolic, the irrational, and the nonlinear. They ask not just what happened, but what does this mean for you now? They ask not only how to relieve suffering, but how to listen to the messages beneath it.
I often work with clients who have spent years in cognitive or behavioral therapy, learning coping skills and gaining insight. But insight alone is rarely enough. What we truly long for is transformation. Depth psychotherapy gives us language for what has felt unspeakable. It connects the body, soul, and psyche in ways that create meaning rather than just solutions.
The Importance of Psychedelic Integration
In recent years, the resurgence of interest in psychedelics for therapeutic purposes has opened new pathways for healing. Yet the medicine experience itself is only the beginning. Without integration — deep, embodied reflection guided by a skilled clinician — the insights can remain elusive, confusing, or even destabilizing.
Psychedelics can bring to the surface long-buried trauma, transpersonal experiences, ancestral grief, and ecstatic revelations. Integration work helps clients metabolize these experiences so they do not overwhelm or derail them. Instead, the experience becomes a bridge to wholeness.
In psychedelic integration, I help clients make meaning of the visions, sensations, and inner journeys they have taken. The work is about grounding those experiences into everyday life and relationships. I hold space not only for healing trauma but also for reclaiming desire, vitality, and a deeper relationship to self and others.
Sex Therapy as Soul Work
So much of our sexuality is entangled with shame, silence, or scripts we never chose. Sex therapy, when grounded in depth psychology and somatic wisdom, becomes more than a place to talk about performance or problems. It becomes a space of reclamation.
Our erotic lives carry not just personal stories, but cultural, spiritual, and ancestral echoes. Sex therapy helps people untangle what is theirs from what was imposed. It can also be a place where dissociation is healed through the body, where numbness begins to thaw, and where desire is allowed to emerge — not as something to fix, but as something to honor.
In my work, sexuality is treated as a vital part of the human psyche. It is not a siloed issue. It touches everything — our identity, relationships, embodiment, and sense of agency.
Consciousness Work as Liberation
Whether through analytic therapy, psychedelic integration, or sex therapy, I view my role as guiding people back to the sacred terrain of their own consciousness. I believe that when people are given safe, non-pathologizing space to explore who they are, they often arrive at truth, healing, and greater compassion for themselves and others.
To explore one’s own mind is not indulgent. It is revolutionary.
If you are seeking support in integrating a psychedelic journey, deepening your inner work, or reclaiming a more conscious relationship to your sexuality, I welcome you to connect.
You can learn more about my work here: