The Big & Dandy Psychedelic Therapy Thread

[fastandbulbous]

Wife banned him - when it's his life's work? Alright limit his use if you thought he was losing the plot a bit, but to say 'no more' when it's an area you're a leading researcher in the field seems a bit narrow minded. My other half has expressed concern at times & for the most part I've taken her concerns to heart and either stopped for a while or massively reduced my intake, but she'd never do the total veto thing.

 

[Ismene]

I think his wife Christina got in over her head with alcohol and then became a bit messianic in her anti-drug zeal. Karl Jansen said when he interviewed Stan he seemed a bit sad at being banned from drugs

 

[theghostofbillhicks]

We're not allowed to link out, but this info is from MAPS, and you can find a video on their site expanding on these principles, which is really only for those new to the ideas, it's rather simplified. Still, illuminating.

WORKING WITH DIFFICULT PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCES
with Donna Dryer, M.D.

A Practical Introduction to the Principles of Psychedelic Therapy

This 20-minute educational video teaches psychedelic drug users how to minimize psychological risks and explore the therapeutic applications of psychedelics. Narrated by Donna Dryer, M.D., the video demonstrates examples of when and how to help a friend, peer, or loved one make the most out of a difficult experience with psychedelics. It elaborates on the four basic principles of psychedelic therapy:

1) Create a safe space
2) Sitting, not guiding
3) Talk through, don't talk down
4) "Difficult" is not necessarily "bad."

Working with Difficult Psychedelic Experiences was originally produced for the curriculum of a church-based harm reduction drug education program for teenagers, but is intended as a tool for anyone who has ever used psychedelics, for anyone who might in the future, for anyone who knows someone who has ever used psychedelics, or for anyone who knows someone who might in the future. In other words, you!

To download this video in .MP4 (quicktime) format: right click here and select 'save target as'.

Working with Difficult Psychedelic Experiences is produced by Bricolage Media and MAPS, and directed and written by MAPS Director of Communications Jag Davies. Please feel free to share this video with your students, teachers, friends, family, and anyone else who may find it useful.

And it looks as if the first LSD psychotherapy study in over 30 years is on the radar...

MAPS and Dr. Peter Gasser have signed a Memorandum of Understanding about our working together on the design of a study to investigate LSD-assisted psychotherapy in 12 subjects suffering from anxiety associated with advanced-stage cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. The study will cost an estimated $150,000, with MAPS promising to donate at least $50,000 and to try to raise the additional $100,000. This study will complement Dr. John Halpern's MAPS-initiated research investigating MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and Dr. Charles Grob's Heffter-sponsored research investigating psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, both with subjects suffering from anxiety associated with advanced-stage cancer.


Dr. Gasser's study is in the early stages of protocol design. The current idea is for a preliminary 12 patient, double-blind design to gather basic information on safety and efficacy for this patient population and to develop a treatment approach. Though there has been substantial prior research with LSD in cancer patients that demonstrated safety and some degree of efficacy, that research was conducted over 35 years ago. For this study to follow modern drug development standards, we must start from scratch and build carefully. Our goal was to start this study before January 11, 2007, Albert Hofmann's 101st birthday. We submitted the protocol to an ethics board on January 10, the day before Hofmann's birthday. However, they requested additional documents before they would review the proposed study. The ethics committee will review the protocol on March 8, 2007. We hope to be able to submit an approved protocol to SwissMedic by mid-April, have approval by the end of May, then start recruiting before the end of June.

 

[theghostofbillhicks]

Psilocybe, a user on Bluelight, undertook self-psychedelic therapy a couple of years ago. He wrote up his reports, some of which were heart-rending and extremely difficult.

He was confronting deep-rooted, painful memories of abuse, and managed to confront the Freudian symbol of lust/aggession&temptation, the snake.

I never found out whether his work proved useful long term.

 

[Riemann Zeta]

I have recently undergone so-called "self-therapy" using a different approach than Grof's. He was a propenent of high-dose psychedelic therapy--basically mindfuck therapy, in which the drug is taken in a one-off session designed to shatter the patient's preconceived notions and automatic thoughts by having the patient confront their psychical "demons." Another school of thought around at the time when research using drugs was legal was known as the "psycholytic" approach, in which small doses of a shorter acting psychedelidc were used twice to thrice a month in therapy sessions. Each therapy session was centered around a particular problem in the patient's life. A while ago, I used moderate doses of 4-OH-MiPT (miprocin) every other week on average, to gain insight into the worst year of my life and the severe relationship problems that I experienced during that year. Since my partner has become similar to Grof's wife in attitude, I conducted these little sessions in private. I must say that they really helped me. I have regained "myself," the myself that I really want to be, rather than the phony person I was attempting to be for the sake of the relationship. Moreover, for the first time in my life, I have some modicum of inner peace and feel I am perhaps better enabled to deal with anxiety ridden situations. The best part is that this feeling has presisted for months after the last dose of the drug.

 

[fjern]

I think i found that psychotherapy book in pdf form on the internet a while back, but i can't find it now. Does anyone know where it is?

 

[Hemiechinus]

As long as you unconditionally love, value, and accept all parts of the self, and understand how your mind works, and how to look deep inside to change your beleifs, then every expirience you have can be therapeutic.
Unhappyness is not something Bad, not at all, unhappyness is a symptom of an issue within yourself. When you confront negativity in ANY aspect of your life, you can find it within, and teach yourself a better way of perceiving an expirience or situation. Psychedelic therapy isn't some kind of abstract process, unless you make it one.

I can access deep levels of my subconscious just by doodling, by the images my hands create out of the recesses of my mind. Much like dreaming, although with drawing, I have it very uniformly laid out in front of me. I can analyze my handwriting to see if I'm missing anything as well, noticing my hesitation or alteration of pattern when writing certain things.

I am in touch with myself, my love, and my mind, and everything I create outside of myself is a mirroring of what lies inside, just like everything you see outside of yourself is also a mirroring of what you feel and beleive inside.

Although this might be slightly hard to conceive, here's an example. When you see images of War, You're eyes are perceiving (what usually is entailed in war) men dying, destruction, fear, killing, the world, etc. But it is what you take from that picture, that defines your expirience, that can show you what you were looking for all along.

Peace and Love
-T

 

[Jabberwocky]

Sounds nice, Hemiechinus! And, to think, our understanding is a continual development...its always unfolding before our eyes. The cup of Love is very deep...there is much to drink and learn from it.

Love and the Void. There is nothing else.

 

[Hemiechinus]

What is the Void?

And yes, if you choose it to be, we can continously provide our brains with the kind of acceptance that allows any new way of thinking. We can live so creatively, so similar to a child.
After I found that love within myself, I have learned my chosen knoledge faster, everything I do has been incredibly enhanced to the point that I beleive I am limitless, within the rationality of our biological and material possibilities. But we can be Free, inside, if we choose.
Sometimes this same understanding is developed in people who are locked in prison or used as slaves. Unless they can control you, your mind, they can never truly control you. Our body can be chained, but as long as we will it, our mind can soar.

All I want to do now, is choose the best path to direct this power, this incredible creativity.
And let myself flourish.

 

[theghostofbillhicks]

The void is blasphemed by describing it in words or symbols.

But the void is the Dos Prompt on the Operating System of All There Is.

X

 

[swilow]

Oft discussed is the idea of 'psychedelic therapy'- either taking a psychedelic/empathogenic in a directly thereapeutic setting, or using a drug for the release/confrontation with negative aspects of ones life. I thought it might make an interesting thread if we were to suggest what chemicals could be used for what....

I think that while psychedelics can be useful in cases of 'abnormal psychology', they could also play a specific role in not 'curing' mental/physical conditions, but preventing them from arising. IE. These drugs could be employed to help the distressed, but also as a sacrament for the more sound-of-mind to explore themselves. What I'm saying is, what psychedelics have the most thereapeutic potential, either for the mentally 'unwell' or for the seeker?

So- list a psychedelic(s) and what YOU think its potential as a positive, helpful aid to all humans and why...

I'll list a few things I can see.

DMT, I think, could be employed for people sufferring from PTSD and related disorders often resulting in panic states. I think the immediacy of DMT, the intensity, but the ultimate feeling of benigness about the experience could ultimately help people to face intense emotional states while sober- through a kind of comparative tecnhique. The feeling of love could also reinforce the notion that extreme changes in reality can be positive also... Perhaps 'clients' using DMT could make the transition to 5-Meo-DMT or 5-Ho-DMT after several sessions....

LSD- oldie but goody. I would suggest acid's main potential lies in its duration, its strong effects but also the ability for one to maintain themselves during it. Clarity of thought becomes a stupid term; thought crystallises would be better. This would be useful to people with addicitions that they cannot understand; or any neuroses in a sense. Being able to see wherein lies the blocakage/sorrow can be terryfying, but neccesary.

For 'therapy on the normal mind'- I think mescaline is ideal. It is/can be gruelling at first, and thus requires dedication and discipline and true desire. The effects though belie the physical aspect really....they are 'gentle' yet very strong (at the right dosage). I think an experience with mescaline could be a very good tool for people interested in simply experiencing more of reality in a relatively soothing way. Plus, mescalines connection with the earth could help to foster a closeness between people who are detached or nihilistic towards existence.

So- if you guys could choose any psychedelic/disoociative for use as either a therapeutic agent for the unwell or the well (everyone can do with some therapy, in the sense of examing their minds), what would it be? How do you see that particualr substance helping out an individual?

 

[SKL]

LSD cured me - and I don't think there is another word that would do - of a seriously fucked up and maladaptive relationship with booze. And it is also a wonderful, wonderful agent for dissolving some of the existential anxieties that bound me to the bottle in the first place. That is, I think, it's real utility.

(yes I am using some at this very moment )

 

[B9]

DMT, I think, could be employed for people sufferring from PTSD and related disorders often resulting in panic states. I think the immediacy of DMT, the intensity, but the ultimate feeling of benigness about the experience could ultimately help people to face intense emotional states while sober- through a kind of comparative technique

I like that swilow - a lot.

Personally I think that DMT LSD MDMA all can have benefits in the manner you mention.
I'd hazard a guess that to use them to acheive a particular goal would require a psychotherapist as well as the drug.

However serendipity has smiled on me via LSD & DMT & therefore whilst I wouldn't use them to try to deliberately "help myself" (I do it primarily for fun but have seen & felt enough to know it has other applications ) I know that they may well be of greater benefit than mere "fun" good as that is mind you!

 

[SKL]

I like the DMT bit as well ... DMT for me has always taken me to the edge of the abyss, in all of it's apocalyptic immediacy ... but somehow, there is a feeling of comfort and familiarity ... I think that that could be well put to use for some therapeutic catharsis as well...

 

[B9]

^ I've found it to be very self revealing as well - at times it made me feel pretty foolish when I realised some stuff which was blatantly hidden from me but not the rest of the world. :D 8)

 

[SKL]

^ that's showed up for me with just about every psychedelic though.... mushrooms, i think, in particular ... shifting perspectives ... something like LSD can be a little too cosmic, a little too mathematical-mechanical-analytical-whatever to apply so directly to your social scene, but the "earthiness", the very ALIVE and very connected the body, this earthen vessel & the earth itself, of mushrooms make them more useful in that sense.

 

[shadowxvi]

I can't really pinpoint a specific psychedelic, but they have all helped me. Probably LSD and MDMA helped me come out of my shell as I am manic-depressive and used to be very paranoid about meeting new people. Ayahuasca simply inspires me about the mystical nature of life. Mushrooms helped me deal with my brother's death which I was having a terrible time getting over.

 

[-SB-]

I think mescaline could be beneficial for a whole rage of things. Personally I find that it brings up more psychological aspects of myself and my existance out of the psychedelics I've tried and in a gentle, understanding manner that I find very balanced.
It could provide an insight for people suffering from quite a number of the "personality disorders" which can be just due to bad, repetitive programming. It would be interesting to see what it could do for an individual with something like obsessive/compulsive disorder.
Also for depressed and the suicidal it may show a connection between themselves and the earth which could help keep them going. These conditions often seem linked to low energy/vitality and psychedelics can at least provide a window into a higher, more energetic mode of being.

LSD is great too and there is definately something about it that can turn one towards alcohol abstinence. When contemplating on an alcoholic stupor it just seems like such a lowly, backward state in comparison.

I think mushrooms can tend to be a bit too punishing sometimes for therapeutic use but maybe with good guidance, who knows?

 

[Jabberwocky]

I just had an unusual idea, but I think low dose 2CB or possibly even better 2CD could make very good tools to take while being instructed by a trained yogi on how to position one's body throughout different yoga asanas. Could be a scenario where things could 'unlock' for the student. 2CD in particular in low doses has often been noted as a having a 'smart drug'/nootropic effect.

 

[Jamshyd]

While a dissociative, not a psychadelic, I would pick Ketamine withouth thinking twice.

Not only is it medicianally helpful in low-dose regimens, but in terms of "psychedelic therapy" a medium, well-calibrated dose will cause a person to spill their guts out AND feel good about it, even after the effects of Ketamiine are gone, because it tends to remove the factor of fear.

As far as psychedelics go, my choice would be for either DPT or 2C-D, both of which have perfect duration lengths. DPT works well for people with problems with death (and this is actually scientifically published), and 2C-D is, according to Grof at least, just as effective as LSD as a therpy aid. I definitely had the most cathartic and understanding discussions with my friends on 2C-D.