psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy

 

 

Last summer while I was attending a writing workshop at Omega Institute, a MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) group was also on campus for the week, so I had the opportunity to speak to a number of psychiatrists and therapists who are beginning to integrate the use of psychedelics into their practices. 

"With psychedelics, 

if you’re fortunate and break through, 

you understand what is truly of value in life.

 Material, power, dominance, and territory 

have no value. 

People wouldn’t fight wars, 

and the whole system we have currently 

would fall apart. 

People would become peaceful, loving citizens, 

not robots marching around in the dark 

with all their lights off.”

~Gary Fisher~

I especially like the part about no more wars.

The therapeutic use of psychedelic substances, including LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA ("ecstasy") to modulate certain aspects of consciousness has attracted renewed interest and enthusiasm in recent years. Clinical investigations have targeted depression and anxiety, alcoholism and other addictive disorders, and PTSD, among others, with unprecedented success. LSD has demonstrated palliative effects on the anxiety, fear, and dread experienced by patients with terminal illness as they approach death. Many people experience a mystical or spiritual awakening that leaves them calmer, gentler, and more loving. And it sticks. As long as it's done correctly.

"Patients reported that their psychedelic sessions

 were an invaluable experiential training for dying.”

~Stanislav Grof~

The problem is that research into the use of psychedelics has a stormy history. Research protocols are notoriously difficult to design and to control when the end-point is subjective. Because these drugs are illegal, they are difficult to procure. And there are reports of adverse experiences. Entire departments have been shut down out of fear that their work may be more harmful than helpful. This has forced dedicated scientists and doctors to continue their research underground, jeopardizing their reputations and the results of their studies. 

"By banning psychedelic research 

we have not only given up the study 

of an interesting drug or group of substances, 

but also abandoned 

one of the most promising approaches 

to the understanding 

of the human mind and consciousness.”

~Stanislav Grof~

From those clandestine efforts, however, there eventually emerged a systematic plan and therapeutic process that addressed some of the concerns raised by the naysayers. A code of ethics emerged, and a charter was established. Questionnaires were developed, and guidelines for therapists were published. With this new sense of order and accountability, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is finding its way into mainstream practice...although it has a long way to go.

The history of psychedelic use in psychotherapy is fascinating, and it spans many decades. If you read up on it, you'll encounter names you may recognize but not associate with psychology or scientific studies: Aldous Huxley, Andrew Weil, Allen Ginsberg, Walt Whitman, Ken Kesey, and of course, Ram Dass and Timothy Leary...names we associate with literature, art, and the search for enlightenment, all of them curious about consciousness and creativity. 

Experts in the field and proponents of the practice suggest that it provides a new perspective on consciousness and the role of the ego in accessing memory, emotional response, and learning. Its potential is literally mind-boggling. If you'd like to know more, I recommend you start with this book:

Or, you can attend the largest gathering of psychedelic researchers and practitioners ever assembled next summer in Denver at the 2023 Psychedelic Science Conference: https://maps.org/

Seriously...I'm thinking about it.

jan

everything we need to know

 

Where there's a will, there's a way.

It seems as though everything we need to know is right at our fingertips. How to change a flat tire. How to set a beautiful table. How to potty train a toddler. All available with a click on a keyboard.

This week alone, the following titles popped up on my social media feed:

• How to master a life transition
• How to make the best of life
• How to be perfect
• How to reprogram your subconscious mind
• How to access superhuman abilities

And my favorite:

• How to finish your book.

Although some of these sound like impossibilities, this is not a joke. The authors and presenters are all serious. Among them are authors, life coaches, researchers, spiritual leaders, and world famous teachers and gurus. 

They did, however, miss a few topics of interest to me. I'd also like to know:

• how to convince people to take care of their health
• how to get people to complete their Covid vaccinations and get their flu shots
• how to make it safe to vote
• how to eliminate child neglect and abuse
• how to rescue every animal on the planet that is sick, injured, hungry, or lost

 And my favorite:

• how to do away with conspiracy theorists and their followers and believers

Maybe something will come up for me next week.

What impossibilities interest you? If you could do anything at all to help humanity, what would you do? How would you explain the process? How would you change people's minds?

"People who think they know everything

are a great annoyance to those of us 

who do."

~Isaac Asimov~

jan

how telling your story can help you heal

It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to understand how hearing or reading just the right story at just the right time can help with healing. For example, you might gain a new perspective on an issue that has been troubling you. Perhaps you've been struggling with guilt after a friend committed suicide. You pick up a book like "The Ticking Is the Bomb" by Nick Flynn whose mother took her own life. His story looks at suicide differently. He considers the inevitability of it given the course of his mother's life. After reading it, you might see things a little differently. Maybe it wasn't your fault your friend found life unbearable. Perhaps you didn't miss the clues because there were none. A layer of guilt falls away.

Healing.

"The book I read after my mother died,

the how-to-deal-with-trauma book,

had failed to say when change could resume,

when one could go on."

~Nick Flynn~

~"The Ticking Is the Bomb"~

 

Or maybe your friend has been diagnosed with cancer, and it doesn't look good for her. You have no idea what to say or do for her, no clue how to help. Then you pick up a book like "Talk Before Sleep" by Elizabeth Berg, and you learn all the ways you can comfort and encourage her, and even bring a touch of humor to the situation. 

 

Healing. 

 

It may be a bit harder to grasp the idea that telling or writing your own story can also be a healing practice. But it is.

 

Maybe for you, anger sometimes erupts without provocation. Perhaps you feel anxious even when life is going well. Maybe despair blankets everything you do for reasons you don't understand. Or a particular song always brings you to tears. You can't help it. Why?

 

"We don't write what we know.

We write what we wonder about."

~Richard Peck~

 

Intrusive thoughts and feelings are the shadows of traumatic memories. Remember the time your father hit your mother in a fit of rage? You were so angry you wanted to hit him back, so scared you didn't dare move, and you couldn't run away. You felt helpless as a child, and now you feel worthless as an adult.

 

Perhaps, in your family, you never knew when the front door would open and your father would come home drunk, and even if you were already in bed, he'd find you there...

 

Maybe that was the song you listened to so you didn't have to hear your parents argue.  

 

Your anger, or sadness, or fear needs to find a time, or a place, or a name to explain it. You need to know its identity, its source, and its setting in order to renegotiate your relationship with it.

 

Telling your story puts you in control. It helps you think about what happened. It helps you understand why. You get to decide how it ends. And that can help you heal.

 

 "At any given moment

you have the power to say,
'This is not how my story is going to end.'"
~Christine Mason Miller~

 jan

 





 





the concussion conundrum

Concussion care made big news this week when the NFL called for new guidelines for the management of players who sustain a head injury during the course of play. The NFL has agreed to make changes to its concussion protocol mandating that concussed players be removed from the game whenever signs and symptoms appear. The problem is that a concussion can be hard to diagnose accurately on the field. Symptoms can mimic orthopedic conditions (ie. when ataxia is misdiagnosed as a limp). And some symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, numbness, dizziness, and seizures may not develop until hours, days, or weeks later. Some symptoms are relatively vague, including moodiness, irritability, memory loss, and sleep disturbance. The first concussion is serious enough, but if the player sustains a second concussion, even a mild injury before he recovers from the first one, it can be deadly. (Second Impact Syndrome) And we all know that repetitive traumatic brain injury increases the risk of dementia (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy)

~"If in doubt, sit them out."~

~Sydney Children's Hospital Network~

The protocols that guide concussion diagnosis and management have been under study and revision for as long as I have practiced medicine. Most of the early research concentrated on childhood injuries without establishing clear guidelines for adults. So, while this effort to mitigate the toll traumatic head injuries exact on professional football players sounds like a good thing, it seems to me a case of too little, too late. It does nothing to prevent concussions. By the time the problem is recognized, diagnosed, and treated...it is too late. The damage has been done. And if you are willing to acknowledge the fact that many players sustain hundreds, even thousands, of blows to the head over the course of their careers, you might wonder why we allow it. Encourage it. Cheer it on...

"The millionaire players of professional football

are suiting up for the new season

with a startling caution on their locker room walls.

A poster headlined “CONCUSSION” warns players

that lifelong brain damage can result

if they persevere with macho gallantry

through multiple head injuries."

~NYT Editorial quoted by Michael Craig Miller, MD

in Harvard Health Publishing~

It's a tragedy that the sports culture in this country refuses to protect young men who are conditioned to become macho millionaires at all costs. 

"(American) football is not a contact sport.

It is a collision sport.

Dancing is a contact sport."

~Vince Lombardi~

jan