As much as I hope that psychedelic therapy will become a reality, I think we are a long way off. At least in the United States, both marijuana and psilocybin are still considered Schedule I. Yes, we've seen some progress with marijuana which has proven beneficial for a variety of different medical conditions. But progress is still slow and not everyone who needs it has access too it.
That is a whole other bucket of worms. In the US, therapy is treated as a luxury. Often those who are the most traumatized don't have access to even basic therapy.
However, I fully believe in the power of psychedelics. I hope to one day used them used regularly in therapeutic practices.
Fantastic article! In my own psychotherapy practice we have two clinicians (myself and the other clinical supervisor) who are trained, certified psychedelic therapists. With both patients and new clinicians we explore a depth/psychoanalytic approach making room and encouraging the patient’s subjective experience and working with them to develop a unique, individual therapeutic language that asks them to allow a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious. Even with this, many clients WANT magic, this is not something we can provide, obviously, but we do encourage clients to unlearn that there is an objective meaning to their subjective experience. Thus they are free to create meaning for themselves regardless of our clinical judgment. I don’t know if you are familiar with the current development of clinical applications of TCAI/AICT auto-induced cognitive trance in France? This intervention is fascinating and has some early promising neuroscientific findings that are encouraging. I am being trained in this modality, and we have a first clinical workshop to share this method with psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and researchers in 2025 in New York. Your article was a fantastic read. I wish I had used some of your references in a book on psychedelic mushrooms coming out next year!
Henri Ellenberger's book is really a must read for anyone interested in seeing how psychoanalysis (Freud's crew) first appropriated and then extruded many of the altered states of consciousness that have made their way into the non-psychoanalytic trauma informed universe. EMDR, Brain Spotting, Deep Brain Reorienting...and sadly, hypnosis...are all being used outside our field instead of alongside and integrated into it. Richard Kluft has written about Freud's need to distance himself from hypnosis once it became associated with Svengali...and certain antisemitic sentiments. As for psychedelic assisted psychotherapy...analysts used many of these medicines quite effectively in the 50's before they were illegal. If you can find a copy of Charles Dahlberg's case history treating a patient with LSD and psychoanalysis, it is a fascinating, touching, and supremely intellectually honest read. Dealing with today's clinicians, mostly non analysts, in the psychedelic field, is a different story.
Dear Tracy, Thanks for sharing your thoughts about my article. I fully agree that mystical/spiritual/revelatory experiences often have life-long positive effects (just as William James put forth in "The Varieties of Religous Experience". From a psychoanalytic perspective, we might think of it as "active regression in the service of the ego". We humans must often depend on our ability to regress as a jumping off point for profound advances in our understanding and acceptance of ourselves and others. I also agree with you about the importance of research- and the Mt. Sinai Psychedelic Research Center (along with the new VA research studies now being set up) will, I think, either make or break these treatments. Still, even if it turns out that there is no direct psychopharmacological effect of these substances, we should learn everything we can about what changes and how those changes come about when these treatments work. We really shouldn't keep throwing out the baby with the bathwater! Thanks again for corresponding!
I truly appreciate this article and the many points you weave together. It will be interesting to see if new research - say, from the Mt Sinai psychedelic research center - focuses on neuropsychological changes to demonstrate a biological effect, but the research that already exists on the lasting symptomatic impact is compelling enough to qualify MDMA as a breakthrough treatment for PTSD.
And I can't help but meander into thinking about the spiritual experience and oneness you write of as not regressive, or at least not *only* regressive as Freud would have it, but a-temporal or prospective?
As much as I hope that psychedelic therapy will become a reality, I think we are a long way off. At least in the United States, both marijuana and psilocybin are still considered Schedule I. Yes, we've seen some progress with marijuana which has proven beneficial for a variety of different medical conditions. But progress is still slow and not everyone who needs it has access too it.
That is a whole other bucket of worms. In the US, therapy is treated as a luxury. Often those who are the most traumatized don't have access to even basic therapy.
However, I fully believe in the power of psychedelics. I hope to one day used them used regularly in therapeutic practices.
Fantastic article! In my own psychotherapy practice we have two clinicians (myself and the other clinical supervisor) who are trained, certified psychedelic therapists. With both patients and new clinicians we explore a depth/psychoanalytic approach making room and encouraging the patient’s subjective experience and working with them to develop a unique, individual therapeutic language that asks them to allow a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious. Even with this, many clients WANT magic, this is not something we can provide, obviously, but we do encourage clients to unlearn that there is an objective meaning to their subjective experience. Thus they are free to create meaning for themselves regardless of our clinical judgment. I don’t know if you are familiar with the current development of clinical applications of TCAI/AICT auto-induced cognitive trance in France? This intervention is fascinating and has some early promising neuroscientific findings that are encouraging. I am being trained in this modality, and we have a first clinical workshop to share this method with psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and researchers in 2025 in New York. Your article was a fantastic read. I wish I had used some of your references in a book on psychedelic mushrooms coming out next year!
Henri Ellenberger's book is really a must read for anyone interested in seeing how psychoanalysis (Freud's crew) first appropriated and then extruded many of the altered states of consciousness that have made their way into the non-psychoanalytic trauma informed universe. EMDR, Brain Spotting, Deep Brain Reorienting...and sadly, hypnosis...are all being used outside our field instead of alongside and integrated into it. Richard Kluft has written about Freud's need to distance himself from hypnosis once it became associated with Svengali...and certain antisemitic sentiments. As for psychedelic assisted psychotherapy...analysts used many of these medicines quite effectively in the 50's before they were illegal. If you can find a copy of Charles Dahlberg's case history treating a patient with LSD and psychoanalysis, it is a fascinating, touching, and supremely intellectually honest read. Dealing with today's clinicians, mostly non analysts, in the psychedelic field, is a different story.
Nice review of spirit/mind/body, Harold. How would you compare subjective experience to placebo?
Mark
Dear Tracy, Thanks for sharing your thoughts about my article. I fully agree that mystical/spiritual/revelatory experiences often have life-long positive effects (just as William James put forth in "The Varieties of Religous Experience". From a psychoanalytic perspective, we might think of it as "active regression in the service of the ego". We humans must often depend on our ability to regress as a jumping off point for profound advances in our understanding and acceptance of ourselves and others. I also agree with you about the importance of research- and the Mt. Sinai Psychedelic Research Center (along with the new VA research studies now being set up) will, I think, either make or break these treatments. Still, even if it turns out that there is no direct psychopharmacological effect of these substances, we should learn everything we can about what changes and how those changes come about when these treatments work. We really shouldn't keep throwing out the baby with the bathwater! Thanks again for corresponding!
Harold
I truly appreciate this article and the many points you weave together. It will be interesting to see if new research - say, from the Mt Sinai psychedelic research center - focuses on neuropsychological changes to demonstrate a biological effect, but the research that already exists on the lasting symptomatic impact is compelling enough to qualify MDMA as a breakthrough treatment for PTSD.
And I can't help but meander into thinking about the spiritual experience and oneness you write of as not regressive, or at least not *only* regressive as Freud would have it, but a-temporal or prospective?