Trauma

Psychedelic Sacraments: A Magic Bullet?

With the proliferation of research studies, along with media coverage, indicating the effectiveness of psychedelics like LSD, MDMA, Iboga, ayahuasca and Psilocybin to treat a wide variety of psychological challenges such as depression, end of life anxiety, relationship challenges, etc. there’s a burgeoning public interest in these substances. Then along comes Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, … Read more

Healing Shame

In my last post, I wrote about the deep roots of shame. I was invited by a reader to write a post about how we exit the hell realm of shame. The first step is to realize, and I mean unambiguously realize, that we are not the cause of our shame. Which is to say, … Read more

Busted! The Deep Roots of Shame

I had a terrifying dream a week or so ago, which I ended up taking to my therapist. I’d been selected to play a couple exceedingly difficult classical piano pieces. The problem is that I don’t play the piano. There is an audience of 200 colleagues who are eagerly waiting from my virtuoso display of … Read more

Nerves Mean “No”

In the early days of psychology, emotional and psychological “disorders” were associated with our nerves. A “nervy” person today is thought to be somebody who either acts without fear (“nerves of steel”) or acts boldly but perhaps thoughtlessly (“she has some nerve”!). But the old timers understood that when it comes to how we face … Read more

Does the Universe Have Our Back?

A wise teacher once told me that at some point we all need to answer the question for ourselves: is the universe for us, against us, or indifferent? Our answer needs to be more than intellectual. Only a handful of years ago I would have told you that the universe was definitely for me. I … Read more

Bruce Sanguin

Psychotherapist