Post Tag: Psychology

Posted on

PT409 – Pathology, The DSM, and The Ontological Shock of Psychedelic Experiences

In this episode, Joe interviews Erica Rex: award-winning journalist, past guest and writer, and participant in one of the first ever clinical trials using psilocybin to treat cancer-related depression; and Mona Sobhani, Ph.D.: cognitive neuroscientist and the author of Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist’s Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe.

As Rex discovered the power of psychedelics through a clinical trial, she discusses a huge problem she discovered: that researchers are not preparing participants enough for the ontological shock they may go through in trying to match unexplainable happenings to a rigid framework (or match the normal to a framework that has suddenly shifted) – that while patients have support at the clinic, it all disappears when they return to normal life. She believes that all too often, researchers are doing only what is necessary to be able to continue to receive funding, push drugs through the FDA, and prescribe a pill. 

And as psychedelics changed Sobhani from very constrained scientific thinking to being very open to new ideas about consciousness and spirituality, she learned that many scientists had similar stories, and that coming out of the psychedelic closet is sometimes the best thing to do to normalize these ways of healing. 

They discuss the challenges of newcomers trying to explain their experience without having the necessary language; how we still don’t truly understand mental illness; how the DSM just clusters symptoms to fit ‘disorders’ into a box; how society has started pathologizing anything we find unpleasant (which of course, is a part of being human); Gary Fisher’s research on using LSD and psilocybin for schizophrenic children, why science needs to combine consciousness research and psychedelics research, and more.

Notable Quotes

“I think most people (neuroscientists, a lot of psychologists): we don’t like labels. We don’t like the DSM (especially neuroscientists). It doesn’t make any sense; all you’re doing is clustering symptoms and calling it a disorder. It’s useful, but it’s not explanatory. …Everyone’s so focused on ‘What are the brain mechanisms?’ but we do need to pull out and [ask]: ‘What are the societal mechanisms? How is our society not supporting [us]? Why do we see such an increase in some of these disorders? It’s a really big question.” -Mona

“There was a big move to get grief made into a pathology that was defined in the DSM so it could be treated with a pill. Grief. This was during COVID. So now grief is a pathology and you can be diagnosed with ‘grieving disorder’ and treated for it. …Anything that does not serve the machine is now considered a disease and disorder and has to be fixed, which is unfortunate because it takes us away from every piece of authentic experience that we could ever possibly have. And that is dehumanizing, profoundly.” -Erica

“Our whole society’s not built around humanity, even though we talk a lot about humanity. But there’s no humane principles in business or in society. Nothing is built around what the human needs, and that’s why, even in psychiatry, you see [that] grief or these normal human needs are pathologized. …We’re just cutting off parts of ourselves and not catering to being a human because we hate being human so much, apparently. We hate the things that are inconvenient about it, that it’s like we just have to cut it off and block it off and go forward. But you can’t do that; then you have all these coping mechanisms that emerge and then all these disorders, because you’re not functioning in an environment that supports you being what you are.” -Mona

Links

Psychedelics Today: PT273 – Erica Rex – Clinical Trials and Spontaneous Mystical Experiences

Madinamerica.com: Psychedelic Therapy Will Not Save Us, by Erica Rex

Madinamerica.com: The Culture Is the Poison: Why Psychedelics Are Dangerous Medicine in a Neoliberal Society, by Erica Rex

Scientificamerican.com: The Power of Psychedelics: They worked for my depression. Could they be the future of psychiatry? By Erica Rex

Scientificamerican.com: Hallucinogens Could Ease Existential Terror, by Erica Rex

Psychedelics Today: Could the Sonoran Desert Toad Cure Narcissism? by Erica Rex

Her NIH/NCI talk, “A Breast Cancer Patient’s Perspectives on the Uses of Psychedelics in Medicine” (begins at 1:04:41)

Npr.org: The ’60s Are Gone, But Psychedelic Research Trip Continues

Monasobhaniphd.com

Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist’s Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe, by Mona Sobhani, Ph.D.

Brave New World of Psychedelic Science substack

Exploring Consciousness: A community of curious (neuro)scientists

Globenewswire.com: COMPASS Pathways presents largest ever study of psilocybin therapy, at American Psychiatric Association annual meeting

Treatment of Childhood Schizophrenia Utilizing LSD and Psilocybin, by Gary Fisher, Ph.D.

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, by Elyn R. Saks

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, by Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté

The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, by Thomas S Szasz

Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-Of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, Dsm-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life, by Allen Frances

Jamanetwork.com: Association of Religious and Spiritual Factors With Patient-Reported Outcomes of Anxiety, Depressive Symptoms, Fatigue, and Pain Interference Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer

Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach

Posted on

PT401 – The Self-Entropic Broadening Theory: Understanding The Psychedelic State and Psychosis

In this episode, Joe interviews Ph.D. student in the Drug Use and Behavior Lab at the University of Alabama Birmingham, Haley Maria Dourron.

She talks mostly about the paper she co-authored last year with Dr. Peter Hendricks and Camilla Strauss: “Self-Entropic Broadening Theory: Toward a New Understanding of Self and Behavior Change Informed by Psychedelics and Psychosis,” which analyzes the long-standing comparisons between the psychedelic state and psychosis, and points out important distinctions between the two – that science should be looking more at the way one processes information and their level of self-focus rather than similarities in outward behavior. She discusses what she calls entropic processing, which is essentially how one’s brain creates novel ideas, relations, and insights based on very loosened mental schemas: with new information being considered in new ways (with no filter), do the connecting pathways that seem like eureka moments actually make sense? 

She discusses the broaden and build theory and the broadening of intentional scope; entropy; chronic LSD use and risk of psychosis; schizophrenia and psychedelics; why science needs to embrace naturalistic research, and more. As of this release date, there are still a few participatory spots left in her current study on the effect of psychedelic experiences on people who have a history of psychosis, so if you had an episode of psychosis at some point and have gone on to use psychedelics, she wants to hear your story.

Notable Quotes

“It’s such a wide open space where there’s still so much room to learn. And to me, it feels as if we’re opening a time capsule of all these different questions that have been kind of covered up, and we now have better technologies to probe what’s really going on.”

“A lot of work was actually done in the 1950s, giving people with schizophrenia LSD, psilocybin, [or] DMT, [and] oftentimes, apparently they had a reduced response. So that just shows how much more room we have to learn what really could be happening with these drugs, what populations necessarily should be excluded, [and] who is actually likely to experience adverse responses.” 

“The acute experience might kind of serve as a catalyst for people creating changes, but then it’s ultimately the changes that they make in their daily lives afterwards, and if they’re putting in the work of building those enduring resources, if you will. It might be [easier] to do so in the immediate afterglow of a psychedelic experience, but you’ve still got to try if you want those enduring effects.”

Links

Researchgate.net: Self-Entropic Broadening Theory: Toward a New Understanding of Self and Behavior Change Informed by Psychedelics and Psychosis

Scientificamerican.com: LSD May Chip Away at the Brain’s “Sense of Self” Network

Verywellmind.com: An Overview of Broaden and Build Theory

Psychedelics Today: PT245 – Robin Carhart-Harris – Psychedelics, Entropy, and Plasticity

Wikipedia.org: Louis Sass

Iflscience.com: LSD, DNA, PCR: The Strange Origins Of A Biology Revolution

The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, by Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.

Psychedelics Today: PTSF59 – Bipolar and Psychedelics, with Benjamin Mudge

Investigating the Phenomenology and Perceived Mental Health Impact of Classic Psychedelic Experiences in People with a History of Psychosis (her new study – only a few spots left for participation)

Check out Beckley Retreats here, and listen to CEO Neil Markey in episode PT400 here!
Posted on

PT397 – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, David interviews Vital instructor, Dr. Devon Christie: Senior Lead of Psychedelic Programs at Numinus, MAPS-certified MDMA therapist, and now four-time guest; and Vital student, Emefa Boamah: coach, facilitator, and trauma-informed intuitive guide specializing in embodiment. 

We’ve all heard the trope, “It’s all in your mind,” but it’s also in your heart, soul, community, support system, and body – the focus of this episode. Christie and Boamah dive deep into the various aspects of the relationship between non-ordinary states and our bodies: ways to embody our bodies more; how the body is a fundamental source of truth; the benefit of checking in with one’s body after an experience (to validate or disprove what may have come up); the importance of movement and rest; the different bodies we inhabit (physical, emotional, energetic, mental, and spiritual); and ways to accept (and eventually love) our bodies in a society that’s always working to make us hate them – is self-love the ultimate act of defiance?

They also discuss the post-experience plasticity in everything, and the challenge of preparing an experiencer for something we can’t know; how facilitators and practitioners need to track their own subconscious feelings and reactions; the concept of embodied inquiry; the necessity of remaining curious and humble; and the idea of using integrative practices to find ways to become the person you want to be – the person you may have seen glimpses of in non-ordinary states. 

And as this year’s edition comes to an end, Boamah reflects on her experiences with Vital, particularly the communal aspects of the retreat and how healing it was to literally be lifted up by her companions. If you’re curious about whether Vital is right for you, please come to an upcoming Q+A. Applications close March 26!

Applications are open for the second edition of Vital, our 12-month training certificate program in psychedelic therapy and integration, beginning in April 2023. Head to Vitalpsychedelictraining.com for more info, or attend a Q+A to have your questions answered.

Notable Quotes

“Something happens with plant medicines (psychedelics (for me, with mushrooms)) that just takes you out of it and you see the inherent worth of who you are as a human, as a person. And integrating that process after coming out, I think, does a lot to help with self-love – not to say that cannot be attained without psychedelics, but it’s a different quality to it when you’re able to see yourself outside of yourself and see that you’re just valuable as you are.” -Emefa

“Not only are we fighting against us as human beings (like, whatever is happening internally), there’s also the societal expectations of how we ought to be. …There’s all these things where society is bent on making sure that we don’t feel comfortable in our bodies, so for me, from that lens, self-love is an act of reclamation. It’s like a defiant political act to reclaim who we are as people and spend that inherent worth without buying into what we’re being told to do, unapologetically – like, own it: ‘This is who we are and this is where we come from and we get to take space.’” -Emefa

“Those strongly reinforced habits: they restrict what we can attend to. They restrict our perception. So when they’re loosened under a psychedelic, we’ve got all these dimensions of experience that we can suddenly experience. That’s where, I think, not only in preparation, but in how we meet and attend to the emergent experience of people in psychedelic experiences, as practitioners, we need to be fluent ourselves in our own dimensions of experience of our being, so that we can meet and be curious and inquire and help that person to come to know themselves in all of that dimensionality, and then for their meaning to percolate up from that place.” -Devon

“The wisdom of ceremony, community ceremony, dance, music: that brings connection, that brings rhythm. And one nervous system by itself in the face of trauma is very vulnerable, many nervous systems together in the face of trauma: there’s resiliency. …Thankfully, in many ways, psychedelics help us to perceive this, and then in each person, perceive: ‘What’s the truth for me in this?’ and then we can try to live that.” -Devon

Links

Drdevonchristie.com

Numinus.com

Psychedelics Today: PT391 – MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy For Fibromyalgia and Other Central Sensitization Syndromes, featuring: Dr. Devon Christie & Dr. Pamela Kryskow, MD

Psychedelics Today: PT306 – Dr. Devon Christie – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

Emefaboamah.com

Drdansiegel.com: An Introduction to Interpersonal Neurobiology

Pubmed: REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics

Psychedelics Today: PT328 – Courtney Watson, LMFT – Ancestral Veneration and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy For (and By) QTBIPOC

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, by Tricia Hersey

Methodspace.com: Embodied Inquiry as a Research Method

Imdb.com: Doctor Strange

Vitalpsychedelictraining.com

Posted on

PT391 – MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy For Fibromyalgia and Other Central Sensitization Syndromes

In this episode, Joe interviews Dr. Devon Christie: Senior Lead of Psychedelic Programs at Numinus, educator at CIIS and Vital, and MAPS-certified MDMA therapist; and Dr. Pamela Kryskow, MD: founding board member of the Psychedelic Association of Canada and Medical Lead of the nonprofit, Roots To Thrive.

Christie and Kryskow recently co-authored one of the first papers looking at MDMA for chronic pain, “MDMA-assisted therapy is associated with a reduction in chronic pain among people with post-traumatic stress disorder,” which came about after they received access to MAPS’ Phase 2 data from a lead-in PTSD study and noticed significant improvements in pain measurements – something the study was not looking for at all. They’re looking into where chronic pain fits within the frameworks of Western medicine and psychedelic-assisted therapy, and discuss the many reasons why MDMA should be tremendously helpful for chronic pain and other conditions that fall under the large umbrella of central sensitivity syndromes and nociplastic pain. They are currently working on a new study following the MAPS protocol that will research MDMA-assisted psychotherapy specifically for people with fibromyalgia, which some believe might be physicalized PTSD. If you’d like to contribute a tax-deductible donation, visit giving.viu.ca, select “other” from the dropdown, and type in “MDMA for Fibromyalgia.”

They talk about how research trials focus too much on the molecule while ignoring what the patient is saying; how a large percentage of physicians and patients don’t at all like the psychometrics used in measuring data; how physicians regularly use expectancy bias but research trials don’t (and how that affects results); why everyone needs to place higher importance on the biopsychosocial model; the idea of being more humble with science and using “theoretical” more often; the problems with microdosing trials; and the issues with evidence: If there isn’t sufficient evidence, why isn’t there? And what exactly would be sufficient?

Notable Quotes

“It’s kind of an irony because it’s really a single molecule pharmaceutical model to go: ‘Is it working?’ whereas every day, every clinician out there is using expectancy and placebo effect to their patients’ benefit. So, I would like us to have that conversation in a much more intelligent way, saying it’s going to be there, it’s not a bad thing, and in fact, if you don’t have that, you’re probably a bad clinician. So, let’s harness it, and then say, ‘and is the treatment [going] above and beyond that?’” -Pam

“Where’s the scientific curiosity? That’s what we need to be. When our patient says: ‘This is helping me,’ we should never be saying, ‘No, that’s not possible because there’s no evidence.’ We should be leaning in and being curious: ‘Tell me more.’” -Pam

“Homogenizing through trying to do the randomized control trials, you end up sort of sterilizing to isolate one specific variable in trying to make your study population as similar as possible. And in the real world, that’s just not the case. In the real world, people are on 10 different medications. So what’s really even the applicability when we sterilize and homogenize so much [for] what we believe is giving us the best evidence?” -Devon

“If we really look and open our eyes, in many, many circumstances, the pathology is not individual whatsoever. The pathology is in our culture and in our society and how disconnected we are and the intergenerational trauma that’s passed along, and then parents without support and no hope of not passing that along because our society isn’t providing the optimal environment on a societal level for us to be thriving. So I think a cure on an individual level needs to be couched within thinking about a cure on a collective level.” -Devon

“The reason I got involved even in the research is because so many of my patients were coming to me and saying, ‘I am microdosing. It is helping.’ So it goes back to: Do you believe people? And I personally believe my patients when they say that. …When I have people coming in and saying ‘I’m out of bed now. I used to lay in bed for 18 hours a day and now I’m out, I bought a dog, I’m exercising’; if it’s a placebo or expectancy, awesome. I’m going to celebrate that.” -Pam

Links

Donate to the MDMA for Fibromyalgia study (select “other” from the dropdown, and type in “MDMA for Fibromyalgia.” (tax deductible and no fees)

Drdevonchristie.com

Psychedelics Today: PT259 – Dr. Devon Christie and Will Siu, MD, DPhil – The Mind-Body Connection, MDMA, and Chronic Pain

Psychedelics Today: PT306 – Dr. Devon Christie – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

Numinus.com

Rootstothrive.com

Earthguardians.net

Psychedelics Today: PT331 – Julie Zukof & Dr. Michelle Weiner – Psychedelic Women, Coaching, and Ketamine For Fibromyalgia

Frontiersin.org: MDMA-assisted therapy is associated with a reduction in chronic pain among people with post-traumatic stress disorder

Dolenlab.org

NYU Langone’s Department of Psychiatry: Center for Psychedelic Medicine

Peoplescience.health

Imperial College London: Centre for Psychedelic Research

Researchgate.net: Psychometrics is not measurement: Unraveling a fundamental misconception in quantitative psychology and the complex network of its underlying fallacies

BPI: Brief Pain Inventory (short form example)

Psychedelics Today: PT369 – Chronic Pain and Phantom Limb Pain: Could Psilocybin Be the Answer? Featuring: Timothy Furnish, MD & Joel Castellanos, MD

Microdose.me

Vancouver Island University Center for Psychedelic Research

Posted on

PT390 – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Johanna takes the helm for the first time, hosting a conversation with Jungian analyst-in-training, writer, researcher, 5Rhythms® teacher, and Vital student: Mackenzie Amara; and clinical psychologist, long time PT collaborator, and Vital instructor: Dr. Ido Cohen.

As this episode features three huge fans of Jung (Johanna wrote her Master’s dissertation on The Red Book and teaches a course through PT), they focus less on education and the future of psychedelic therapy, and instead get pretty deep; shining a light on an integral part of psychedelia (and life) we often avoid: the shadow. What is the shadow and what is true shadow work? What did Jung give us, and why is Jungian psychology so relevant for integrating psychedelic experiences? 

They discuss the notion of the unconscious as a place you can develop a relationship with and access by very different means; the idea of the healer as the container; the problematic binary of good vs. evil; the flawed concept of ego death; the differences between authentic and neurotic suffering and personal and collective consciousness; the archetype of the wounded healer and why facilitators should both be wounded and in the process of healing; and how wonderful it is that society is beginning to embrace the weird and what makes us unique. 

There are no shortcuts in life and there is no “cure” for the parts of the human condition we aren’t comfortable with, but in the capitalist, efficiency-above-all-else West, we aren’t raised to sit with the unpleasant, and instead learn to seek a quick fix, which has created an environment where we’ve lost the ability to feel in the ways that we need to. Can you be with someone else’s pain if you’re running from your own? Can you have real compassion if you’ve never suffered? Can you be complete without knowing your shadow?

Notable Quotes

“Yes, we’re all suffering and suffering is scary and shadow is scary and it can overwhelm us and it takes time. And there is this thing where we can build a relationship with it. It’s all about the relationship.” -Ido

“Nature is a perfect representation of how the unconscious is. It’s unfinished. It’s in process. It’s not perfect. It’s human consciousness, and [it’s] our egoic, persona-driven striving that have us believe that we can be perfect, AKA not human, AKA have no shadow. So the shadow is this part of the unconscious; it’s the frills, it’s the weirdness, it’s the awkward pauses, it’s the burps and the disgusting stuff and the repulsion, and also the quirks, the idiosyncrasies. In Swiss German, they talk about a square that’s missing a corner – it’s the missing corner. You need to have a piece missing so that life can live there.” -Mackenzie

“There is no ego death. You can have ego disidentification, you can release the center of your consciousness from your ego, but you will never kill your ego, and you shouldn’t want to kill your ego. If you’re going to kill your ego, who’s going to be home to integrate? Where are you going to take all these beautiful experiences? Who’s going to synthesize them and alchemize them for you? …That is a way in which we’re banishing the feminine, which is process, which is yes, being in my body and suffering, because there is also so much beauty in suffering, because if you can’t be in your body to suffer, you’re not going to be in your body and experience love. They work together.” -Ido

“Psychedelics are the opportunity to get outside of oneself far enough that then I can come back and say: ‘Do I consciously want to choose to continue to be the way that I’ve seen that I am, or do I want to use my power, my influence over myself to make different choices?’” -Mackenzie

Links

PT308 – Dr. Ido Cohen, PsyD – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

PTSF79 – Psychedelic Facilitator Abuse and Space Holding Ethics with Dr. Ido Cohen

Psychedelics Today: Ido Cohen – Re-Turn to Wholeness: Jung and Integration

Psychedelics and The Shadow: The Shadow Side of Psychedelia

Mackenzieamara.com

Doubleblindmag.com: How to Become a Psychedelic Integration Therapist

Azquotes.com: Marion Woodman Quotes

Trauma and the Soul: A psycho-spiritual approach to human development and its interruption, by Donald Kalsched

Goodreads.com: Marie-Louise von Franz quotes

Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D.

Goodreads.com: Charlotte Joko Beck quotes

Posted on

PT382 – The Body & Catharsis: Do We Need Psychedelics or Just Better Lifestyles?

In this episode, Kyle interviews researcher, speaker, writer, competitive freediver, and one of the world’s leading experts on 5-MeO-DMT: Dr. Malin Vedøy Uthaug.

As a society, we mostly live in our minds, emotionally constipated while surprisingly disconnected from our bodies, with basic human needs that are all too often not met. Uthaug and Kyle talk about what manifests when those needs aren’t fulfilled, the strength of one’s inner mind state to change perspective, and how powerful true catharsis and embracing grief can be. And they talk about somatics: why we don’t focus on the body more, and how we could embody experiences with non-ordinary states of consciousness to better connect to our inner world.     

She discusses the impact (or non-impact) of following a strict dieta before a big experience; preparing for an experience with physical exercise (even right before the ceremony); freediving; the challenge of therapists/facilitators sitting with someone through strong catharsis; the popcorn theory; the guilt people feel from experiencing love and bliss; and the paralysis-by-analysis problem of not making the connection between insight and action.

Notable Quotes

“What I’ve seen throughout all these years working in the field is that there is at least very commonly this notion that the psychedelic is going to heal them; they don’t have to do any other work – just popping that tab of psilocybin or smoking that pipe of 5-MeO is going to result in change. And that expectation is a bit dangerous, I think. They might not get the help that they are seeking because they’re placing that help externally to them. …Healing is actually hard work. It’s not something that happens overnight. It’s the tiny little steps of change accumulated that creates a bigger change. It’s changing your tiny, tiny habits until it changes your life.”

“You can realize a bunch of things, but if you’re not doing anything, nothing is actually going to change. It might feel like it changes because you have felt it in your brain or you’ve seen it or have this insight, but that needs to be translated actively into your life.”

“I think putting the body back into the equation is the way forward, however that might look.”

Links

Drmalinvedoyuthaug.com

Psychedelics Today: Dr. Malin Vedøy Uthaug – Ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT Research

Psychedelics Today: Malin Vedøy Uthaug – Exploring Ayahuasca Ceremonies and 5-MeO-DMT

The Ethical and Ecological Considerations of Inhaling Bufotoxins from Incilius Alvarius, by Malin Vedøy Uthaug

Dailymail.co.uk: Was Sigmund Freud really just a sex-mad old fraud? The founder of psychoanalysis was a money-obsessed cocaine addict who groped women patients and had a genius for self-promotion

Link.springer.com: Sigmund Freud’s Use of Catharsis and Cognition

The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise, by Martín Prechtel

NeuroDynamic Breathwork online

The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain, by Steven R. Gundry, MD

Psychedeliceducationcenter.com: DMTx Psychonaut Training Webinar

Johnheron-archive.co.uk: Catharsis in human development

Traumatized.com: Peter Levine – Somatic Experiencing

Your Golden Shadow: Discovering and Fulfilling Your Undeveloped Self, by William A. Miller

Love, Sex, and Your Heart, by Alexander Lowen, M.D.

Posted on

PT374 – Personalizing Psychedelic Integration

In this episode, Kyle interviews psychologist, psychotherapist, author, and certified Holotropic Breathwork® facilitator: Marc Aixalà.

Aixalà is part of the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service (ICEERS), offering integration psychotherapy sessions, developing theoretical models of intervention, and training and supervising therapists. He is also the writer of the recently released, Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness, of which you can win a copy by entering our giveaway here!

Aixalà wrote the book after receiving more and more emails from people asking for guidance on how they were supposed to process a recent experience, and he realized that so much was unknown around the concept of integration: What exactly does it entail? Has the psychedelic space created a narrative that you need integration when maybe you don’t? When is the work considered integration and when is it psychotherapy?

He talks about some of the metaphors he uses to explain integration; the seven scenarios he typically sees in people seeking integration (and how to respond to each); philosophical constructivism and the importance of working with someone within their preferred cosmology; how the psychedelic hype has created a marketplace full of competition (and why that could be bad); and why he thinks being trained in Holotropic Breathwork is perhaps more important than being trained in facilitating a psychedelic experience. 

Notable Quotes

“One of the things that psychedelics show us (or for me, the main thing) is that somehow, healing is inside of us and growth is inside of us, and they teach us accountability, they teach responsibility, and they teach us that we are the expert of ourselves – that our journey does not depend on an external person. So in my way of practicing integration, I also want to honor that, and do integration when it’s needed, but not create an additional need for people that don’t have it.”

“I think that that’s the richness and the beauty of psychedelics and the psychedelic experience, is that it cannot be understood from just one prism. No, it’s a trans-disciplinary approach that will give us a more subtle understanding of different dimensions included. I don’t think that there’s one way that is better than the other of using psychedelics, [just] as I don’t think that there’s one Shamanic tradition that is better than another Shamanic tradition. Things are there for a reason and we find what resonates more with us.”

“I believe that breathwork can be more effective than psychedelics to deal with certain emotions; things like anger, rage. The body and the somatic part of a traumatic event; that has worked very well with breathwork in my opinion – better than with other substances because it provides some sort of mental clarity that is not distorted by the archetypal aspects of psychedelics.”

Links

Marcaixala.com

Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness, by Marc B. Aixalà

Win a copy of Psychedelic Integration here!

Iceers.org

Psychedelics Today: PT368 – Ketamine, Group Work, and the Power of Just Being There

Wikipedia.org: Constructivism (philosophy of education)

Psychedelics Today: PT316 – Lenny Gibson, Ph.D. – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

Posted on

PT373 – Integrative Psychiatry & The Safety of At-Home Ketamine

In this episode, David interviews Dr. Ben Medrano: Co-Medical Director with Nue Life, board-certified psychiatrist specializing in integrative psychiatry, and former Senior Vice President and US Medical Director of Field Trip Health.

He discusses his path to Nue Life; from growing up around mental illness, to the rave scene, to Buddhism, to his years working for the underserved in an East Harlem Assertive Community Treatment, and his biggest takeaway from that time: that the healthcare system he knew was not truly helping people. He talks about stigmatization (of some modalities like electro-shock treatment, of psychedelics, and of ketamine – which seems to be stigmatized even within the psychedelic space); his concerns that the at-home ketamine model is at risk as we make our way out of the pandemic; and how at-home ketamine can drastically reduce the cost of treatment. 

Medrano tells a great story of a patient who saw incredible improvements through ketamine, and discusses some Nue Life highlights: their just-released 664 participant-study in Frontiers Psychiatry showing the safety of at-home ketamine (and that at-home is just as effective as other routes of administration); Nue Care, their model for aftercare using digital phenotyping, goals, and a scoring system (which he believes could be the new model for integrative psychiatry); and their Nue Network, which could be a solution for better education on ketamine and for granting access for patients through prescribers who typically don’t understand much about its efficacy.

Notable Quotes

“All the different interests, personalities, visions, [and] goals that are in this sort of circus of psychedelic commercialism is very necessary to understand. And for me, I think the biggest takeaway is that there is one thing that binds everybody who’s involved, and that is hope, really. I think there’s a lot of hope in this sphere.”

“The hazards of a benzodiazepine are well known, and to some extent, one might even argue that with some of these DEA-regulated substances that we do ship at home; that if we’re going to say that we need to subject ketamine to a higher standard, then we need to do it for the rest of these DEA-regulated substances, because they have very hazardous risk profiles. …I can’t help but think that there’s a little bit of …stigma [around] what it is that we’re doing.”

[On an at-home ketamine patient’s success]: “He is able to get out of the house every day and enjoy the sunshine, and the way he views his trauma is at a level that I think all of us would aspire to: really, as something that has sort of made him into the man that he is today, with something really unique and powerful to offer as a human to others – rather than as a wound.”

Links

Benmedranomd.com

Nue.life

Psychedelics Today: Free Webinar – NueLife: Empowering Patients with At-Home Ketamine Therapy

Wikipedia.org: Assertive community treatment

Fieldtriphealth.com

Legitscript.com: A Post-Pandemic Ryan Haight Act May Create Uncertainty for Telemedicine

Nue.life: Nue Life Publishes First Peer-Reviewed Study in Frontiers in Psychiatry

Frontiersin.org: Safety, effectiveness and tolerability of sublingual ketamine in depression and anxiety: A retrospective study of off-label, at-home use

Sciencedirect.com: At-home, sublingual ketamine telehealth is a safe and effective treatment for moderate to severe anxiety and depression: Findings from a large, prospective, open-label effectiveness trial

Psychiatryinstitute.com

Posted on

PT313 – Christine Calvert, LCDC – Holotropic Breathwork, Ethics, and Dying To Ourselves

In this episode of the podcast, Joe interviews Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and Holotropic Breathwork® facilitator, Christine Calvert.

At age 19, Calvert left Los Angeles and found her way to breathwork, spending four years in Grof Transpersonal Training. She quickly discovered that the technique served as a gateway back home to herself – her sacred self. Together, Christine and Joe cut through the many layers of the holotropic paradigm and transpersonal experiences, discussing how willingness for accountability & repair in facilitation are more important than perfection; the role of touch in breathwork sessions and the potential harm in not providing it; how amplification over suppression of symptoms in breathwork can heal; and how doing less as a facilitator can actually do more.

She also talks about the inner healing intelligence we all possess; how celestial nostalgia leads to mystical yearning; the ethics of spaceholding; the excitement and terror in expanded states of consciousness; saying yes to the entire archetypal pool; how Grof was (and still is) decades ahead of psychology; and what it means to die to ourselves.

Notable Quotes

“There [were], I don’t know, 175 people there. So that was my first big group breathwork. I was sitting first and I remember just looking out at the room which was just absolute pandemonium. It was like the display of the full human experience. I remember just crying because I was both totally intrigued and excited – like ‘Finally, I’ve arrived’ – and then I was also just incredibly terrified. I feel like that’s an interesting and kind of truthful reflection of how expanded state work is for a lot of people. There’s this part of me that feels home and also maybe a little healthy resistance to knowing what that also means for me.”

“One of the greatest gifts we can do for someone is to trust that what is happening for them is exactly what is needing to come through for their healing and that there’s nothing that we necessarily need to do in order to manage that.”

“I can’t imagine that continuing to just treat symptoms and see everything through a pathological lens is really all that fulfilling. Also we’re just the doers in that world. And as much as I think our ego wants that, behind that is always the desire to be a part of something that’s actually truly healing, and to know that we’ve empowered somebody to heal themselves. This is one of the things I love so much about the holotropic paradigm; is that it is about radical self-empowerment.”

“I think we have to stop being afraid to just be vulnerable. We have to stop being afraid of our humanity. As facilitators, as practitioners, as spaceholders, as participants in medicine and breathwork – this is what we have to really be willing to share. …When we’re willing to sort of knock ourselves off the saint pedestal as facilitators and spaceholders, I think then we might be able to hold this.”

Links

Austin Holotropic Breathwork

Holotropic.com: Grof Transpersonal Training

Holotroic.com: Tav Sparks

Jacquelyn Small

Esalen.org: Diane Haug

Eomega.org: Omega Institute

The Ethics of Caring: Finding Right Relationship With Clients, by Kylea Taylor

Exploring Holotropic Breathwork, Edited by Kylea Taylor

About Christine Calvert, LCDC

Christine Calvert is a teacher and module facilitator for Grof Transpersonal Training and a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. In addition to bringing Holotropic Breathwork® and other experiential workshops to mental health and addiction facilities, she is passionate about the ethics and integrity needed in facilitating expanded-state work; supporting the integration of Holotropic and psychedelic sessions through somatic resourcing; and creative expression, personal ritual, and group support. Her own personal healing journey was greatly influenced by the Holotropic perspective and she feels deeply dedicated to sharing this work with those seeking healing. She enjoys finding ways to weave her personal and professional experience of different therapeutic and spiritual systems such as Shamanism, Somatic Experiencing, Jungian psychology, attachment theory, and mindfulness practices into her work with others. Christine is currently studying to become a Naturopathic Doctor and maintains a private counseling and consulting practice in addition to facilitating Holotropic Breathwork® nationally.

Support the show!

Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

PT308 – Dr. Ido Cohen, PsyD – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Kyle interviews clinical psychologist and integration facilitator (and now 3-time guest), Dr. Ido Cohen.

The topic of integration sits center stage for this discussion, as the two peel back all the nitty gritty and nuance of this psychedelic cornerstone, breaking down why integration is so important, where it stands currently, and where it needs to go as psychedelic-assisted therapy grows. They discuss the importance of taking it slow when it comes to exploration of these non-ordinary states – something that can be so difficult for us in our fast-tracked, clock-watching, Western culture, where it’s quite common for people to get blasted into inner-space on a Saturday, be shaken and perplexed by the experience on Sunday, and then have to go back to work and act like it never happened by Monday. 

He discusses the value that both individual and group integration holds; what happens when you sit in groups of the same people over time; why Carl Jung never tried psychedelics; and the importance of tolerance, trust, and critical thinking when processing peak experiences.

And he raises some important questions like: What does long-term care in psychedelic-assisted therapy look like? What frameworks can be experimented with and implemented now to offer real movement from peak experiences to sustainable change? What is that bridge between peak experience and long-lasting change which allows us to become the insight? Is every insight true? Where does trauma work fit into this treatment? And what is the difference between symptom reduction and real healing?

Notable Quotes

“My mission has been: what does that bridge [look like] between experience and the steps that we have to take to really integrate in a deep embodied way to move from, ‘Oh, I can become this thing’ or ‘I have this insight’ to becoming the insight or becoming the thing?”

“I always use this catchphrase because I don’t like it, but it sells the psychedelic science: ten years of therapy in one session. I always say if you get ten years of therapy in one psychedelic session, then you had really bad therapy.”

“The psyche has an organic life. It opens up in the way it opens up. You can bathe yourself in ayahuasca and eat fifty grams of mushrooms per week [but] there are certain processes you can’t rush.”

“It’s funny how when we slow down, things become clearer faster.”

Links

Psychedelics Today: PTSF79 – Psychedelic Facilitator Abuse and Space Holding Ethics with Dr. Ido Cohen

Psychedelics Today: Ido Cohen – Re-Turn to Wholeness: Jung and Integration

Psychedelics Today: PT271 – Jeremy Narby, Ph.D. – Anthropology, Ayahuasca, and Plant Teachers

Psychedelics Today: Katherine MacLean – Imagining Interesting Future

Psychedelics Today: PT305 – Emma Farrell – Plant Spirits, Entities, and Remembering Lost Traditions

About Dr. Ido Cohen, PsyD

Dr. Ido Cohen, Psy.D, serves individuals, couples, and groups in San Francisco. As part of his practice, Ido works with a diverse range of challenges – childhood trauma, inner critic, relational issues, as well as integration and preparation sessions with individuals and groups. His doctoral dissertation was a 6-year study of the integration process of Ayahuasca ceremonies, while applying Jungian psychology to better understand how to support individuals in their process of change and transformation. He is also the founder of The Integration Circle and facilitates workshops on the different dimensions of integration and the intersection of mental health, spiritual health, and the entheogenic experience. Ido is passionate in supporting individuals to create longterm, sustainable change leading to vibrant, authentic, expressive, and love-filled lives.

Socials: Instagram / The Integration Circle Instagram

Support the show!

Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

PT293 – Stanislav & Brigitte Grof – The Evolution of Breathwork and The Psychology of the Future

In this episode of the podcast, Joe and Kyle finally sit down with one of their all-time heroes: Stanislav Grof, MD, Ph.D., who joins them with his wife and collaborator (and co-creator of Grof® Legacy Training), Brigitte Grof, MA. 

If you’re a fan of Psychedelics Today, you know that one of the major reasons Joe and Kyle met and decided to start this whole thing up was due to a mutual admiration for Grof’s work and a strong desire to spread it through the world of psychedelia. Due to Stan’s stroke a few years ago, we haven’t been able to have him on, but he has recovered enough to grace us with an appearance. 

Stan and Brigitte talk about his stroke and recovery; developments in his concept of birth perinatal matrices; how they see breathwork evolving; how we get to the psychology of the future; the inner healing intelligence; and the need for more practitioners to have more training in non-ordinary states of consciousness. Stan also tells stories of how he discovered the power of breathwork and bodywork, and a funny story about missing a huge event at Harvard to instead relearn how to say “monkeys eat bananas.”

While the stroke set Stan back a bit in terms of speech, “the problem is in the cables, not the content,” as Brigitte says, and that is evident – as is Stan’s refreshing and humbling self-awareness and ability to laugh at his struggles. And what’s even more evident is the love between the two of them and how much Brigitte has helped him through this difficult time, and continues to help keep his knowledge in the forefront of this psychedelic renaissance (as we’re trying to do). 

Notable Quotes

“This was the only situation where I could see what LSD is actually about, because once you get beyond the matrices, there is no real material substrate for the images. It’s basically just consciousness, and the question is how far the consciousness goes further back.” -Stan

“I believe that if psychiatry goes in the right direction (not where it is going now) that it ultimately should be done with non-ordinary states of consciousness (not necessarily just psychedelics; it could be breathwork or it could be working with people who have spontaneous experiences, spiritual emergency and so-on), …because some of the deeper sources; they are not reached with verbal talking and just suppressing symptoms. It’s very bad psychiatry. So I believe, if it [goes] in the right direction, that it’s going to be [working] with non-ordinary states of consciousness.” -Stan

“I find something that is absolutely essential for breathwork …is that the psyche has the intelligence.” -Stan

“The processes are similar. …Certainly with psychedelics, it’s more visual and it’s longer, but what you could see is anything you can see in breathwork. So if you learn how to deal with this by breathwork training, …it’s an easy step to be a psychedelic sitter or starting to do psychedelics yourself. …When you know how to deal with breathwork and bodywork and everything, then you can deal with psychedelic sessions. It’s a very short, small step to move over to that area.” -Brigitte

“People can become artists who haven’t been before. It can awaken these abilities, or healing qualities, or people can maybe get some psychic experiences, or just become yourself more, whoever you are or whoever you’re supposed to be. I think that’s what it’s about.” -Brigitte

Links

Stangrof.com

Brigittegrof.com

Grof-legacy-training.com

Thewayofthepsychonaut.com

The Way of the Psychonaut: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys (Volume One), by Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D.  (Volume Two)

Theshiftnetwork.com: “The Psyche & Cosmos,” with Transpersonal Psychologist Stanislav Grof, MD and Philosopher Richard Tarnas, Ph.D.: 18-module On-demand Video Training

Theshiftnetwork.com: “Psychology of the Future,” with Psychiatrist and Transpersonal Psychology Pioneer Stanislav Grof, MD, Ph.D.: A 7-Module Online Course

Theshiftnetwork.com: “The Way of the Psychonaut,” with Psychiatrist and Transpersonal Psychology Pioneer Stanislav Grof, MD, Ph.D.: A 24-Session Recorded Video Training

Theshiftnetwork.com: “Psyche & The Cosmos: Using Archetypal Astrology as a Telescope Into Your Depths,” with Transpersonal Psychologist Stanislav Grof, MD, and Philosopher Richard Tarnas, Ph.D.: An 8-Module Online Video Course

Buy Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof here!

Enter the giveaway here!

The Tim Ferriss Show: Stan Grof (#347) (transcription and audio)

Psychology of the Future, by Stanislav Grof

The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, by Erich Fromm

About Stanislav Grof, MD, Ph.D.

Stanislav Grof, MD, Ph.D., is a psychiatrist with more than sixty years of experience in research of non-ordinary states of consciousness. In the past, he was Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and Scholar-in-Residence at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. Currently, he is Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA. In August 2019, his life’s work encyclopedia, The Way of the Psychonaut, was published, and the documentary film about his life and work was published as well: “The Way of the Psychonaut- Stan Grof and the journey of consciousness.”

About Brigitte Grof, MA

Brigitte Grof, MA, is a psychologist, licensed psychotherapist, and artist with 35 years of experience in holotropic breathwork. She was certified in the first Grof training groups in USA and Switzerland. She has led breathwork workshops and taught training modules in the US and in Germany. Currently she works in her private practice in Wiesbaden, Germany, and leads workshops and retreats.

Since April 2016, Stan and Brigitte Grof are happily married, live in Germany and California, and conduct seminars, trainings and holotropic breathwork workshops worldwide. In May 2020, they launched their new training in working with Holotropic States of Consciousness, the international Grof® Legacy Training (www.grof-legacy-training.com).

Support the show!

Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

PT291 – Rick Tarnas & Sean Kelly, Ph.D. – The Impact of Stanislav Grof, Ego Death, and The Psyche Unbound

In this episode of the podcast, Joe interviews two authors and professors at the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco: Rick Tarnas and Sean Kelly, Ph.D. 

While this is the first PT appearance for Tarnas – a huge name in the archetypal astrology field (and referenced often in our monthly Cosmic Weather Report series) – this episode is not focused on his work, but instead on the new book he and Kelly co-edited: Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof, which is a collection of 22 essays from the last 50 years about Grof and the impact of his work (a festschrift of sorts). The book features pieces from legends of the past like Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith, and big names in the field today like Michael Mithoefer and Fritjof Capra. It’s quite a beautiful book, and thanks to Synergetic Press, we’re actually giving away five copies signed by Stan Grof himself (click here!).

Tarnas and Kelly discuss what led to this project happening; why Grof’s work is so important; how Grof connected classic ideas with previously unthinkable concepts and realities; what the over-simplified term, “ego death” really means; and talk about their concern that standardized research is often leaving out the very integral spiritual dimension. They also discuss a different way of viewing the concept of “hanging up the phone,” and Kelly tells the story of a very powerful early psychedelic experience.

Notable Quotes

“What [Stan] found was that it was often the challenging experiences – the really difficult ones, the ones where one is encountering not only problematic or traumatic psychological issues, complexes, traumas from early life, etc. – it was bringing these up from the deep unconscious where they’re lodged in our body and in our psyche, and bringing them to consciousness and working them through, releasing them, releasing the emotions and the physical responses that have been bottled up in the psychophysical organism for decades. And that that was the very means by which a psychospiritual transformation could open up, and that one could thereby have both a healing experience and a deeper mystical experience of life.” -Rick 

“She brought me outside and sat beside me as I lay in the snow for about three hours and was just with me. And that transformed what had been a kind of Hellscape where I was trapped in this world of mirrors (a ‘no exit’ situation) into one of just floating on this sea – a nourishing, milk-white snow ocean. But it wouldn’t have happened unless this compassionate being was willing just to sit with me and hold my hand.” -Sean

“Stan’s attitude has been one of trusting whatever is coming up, whether it’s a difficult experience or a positive one. The positive ones can often serve as a kind of grounding and awareness that you can keep in the back of your mind, that when a difficult experience starts coming up, this higher unity is still waiting for you in some way. You can trust that the hard experience is not the only game in town.” -Rick

“If the humanities are colonized entirely by the methodological imperatives and constraints of the natural sciences, we’re essentially blocking out much of what it is to be a human being.” -Rick

Links

CosmosandPsyche.com

CIIS.edu: Sean Kelly

Buy Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof here!

Enter the giveaway here!

Thewayofthepsychonaut.com

Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View, by Richard Tarnas

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, by Richard Tarnas

YouTube: CITY LIGHTS LIVE! Psyche Unbound- Session One  (Session Two)  (Three)

The Way of the Psychonaut: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys (Volume One), by Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D.

The Way of the Psychonaut: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys (Volume Two), by Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D.

Becoming Gaia: On the Threshold of Planetary Initiation, by Sean Kelly

LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven, by Christopher M. Bache, Ph.D.

About Rick Tarnas

 Richard Tarnas is a professor of psychology and cultural history at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he founded the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. He teaches courses in the history of ideas, archetypal cosmology, depth psychology, and religious evolution. He frequently lectures on archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, and was formerly the director of programs and education at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. He is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a history of the Western world view from the ancient Greek to the postmodern that is widely used in universities. His second book, Cosmos and Psyche, received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network, and is the basis for the documentary series, “The Changing of the Gods.” He is a past president of the International Transpersonal Association and served on the Board of Governors for the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.

About Sean Kelly, Ph.D.

Sean Kelly, co-editor of Psyche Unbound, is professor of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). He is the author of Becoming Gaia: On the Threshold of Planetary Initiation and of Coming Home: The Birth and Transformation of the Planetary Era. He is also co-editor of Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers and co-editor of The Variety of Integral Ecologies: Nature, Culture, and Knowledge in the Planetary Era. Along with his academic work, Sean teaches taiji and is a facilitator of the group process, Work That Reconnects network, developed by Joanna Macy.

Support the show!

Navigating Psychedelics