Psychedelic Therapy
The purpose of psychedelic psychotherapy is to deepen the capacity for connection between the patient and the therapist. Individuals utilize psychedelics for various purposes. These include: gaining direct insight into the nature of reality; exploring their subconscious; enhancing creativity; and enjoying recreational experiences at social gatherings or in natural settings. All valid. I’ve used them in these ways myself.
But the purpose of psychedelic psychotherapy is identical with the purpose of psychotherapy without mind-altering psychedelics: namely, to deepen the relationship between therapist and patient.
Much psychedelic research along, with the plethora of psychedelic clinics opening to introduce psychedelics to the public in a therapeutic setting assumes otherwise. There is a focus on the therapeutic effectiveness of the molecule as it interacts with the brain. And indeed, when measured the brain does light up, opening up the possibility of new neural pathways forming.
The assumptions is that the key to healing is the brain. But is it?
Clients are encouraged to put on a blind fold, listen to a set list and go on an inward journey. The problem is that for many this inwardness is precisely the problem. Another pervasive assumption is that humans need to do “inner work”. But all of life is relational. We become who we are in the context of relationships, good and bad. And it is relationship, therefore, that is the key to
When individuals are left alone for four hours, it can replay experiences from their upbringing.
Bias for Solitary Experience in Clinical Psychedelic Treatment
In practice, I am sure that the clinicians are kind and caring and responsive. But I do wonder why this bias for solitary journeying? Researchers need to control variables during this phase to serve the interests of science. Introducing a relationship into the mix doesn’t help with the researchers need to control variables. They need to show that the “drug” is effective on its own merits. The industry is not served by knowing that the relationship between therapist and client is a critical component.
Current approaches to psychedelic psychotherapy tend to be thoroughly materialistic in the philosophical meaning of the word. The assumption is that the human being is basically the accidental product of chemical and material dynamics, a complex organism without free will, thrown together haphazardly over the course of millions of years of evolution. Scientific materialism is the worldview of the pharmaceutical industry and the health industry. Introducing a new molecule, not the relationship between therapist and client, is thought to be the healing agent. Pharmaceutical companies never mention that this is the philosophy that undergirds their mad pursuit for new molecules to market to the public.
Psychedelic psychotherapy focuses on the relationship, not on the molecule.
Problems in Living
Psychiatrists diagnose numerous conditions as mental health problems. However, Hungarian psychiatrist Thomas Szasz referred to these as “problems in living. These problems in living stem from somebody doing something to somebody else that caused an individual to compensate in ways that safeguards against having to come into intimate relationship with others.
Because “others”, these patients have learned, hurt you.
In therapeutic relationships, therapists may effectively introduce mind- and heart-altering psychedelics to help patients identify and address obstacles hindering the flow of life force, transparency, spontaneity, and intimacy between themThe ways in which the patient is keeping the therapist at a safe distance will reveal how they are doing this in their “real” life. As patients recognize the ways they keep therapists at a safe distance, they gain insights into similar patterns in their daily lives. Dismantling these barriers within therapy can lead patients to internalize that the world is not out to harm them and that past traumas are not recurring in the present—at least with one trustworthy person. This realization fosters the belief that they can be authentic with others, potentially leading to more fulfilling relationships.
Overcoming Obstacles to Intimacy
Therapists may introduce mind- and heart-altering psychedelics to help patients identify and address obstacles hindering the flow of life force, transparency, spontaneity, and intimacy between them. As patients recognize how they maintain distance from their therapists, they gain insights into similar patterns in their daily lives. Dismantling these barriers within therapy can lead patients to internalize that the world is not out to harm them and that past traumas are not recurring in the present—at least with one trustworthy person. This realization fosters the belief that they can be authentic with others, potentially leading to more fulfilling relationships. Consequently, habitual compensatory behaviors may diminish, allowing a freer flow of life force and restoring the capacity for intimacy and authenticity.
Psychedelic psychotherapy focuses on what is happening in the relationship between therapist and patient / client.
The Promise of Psychedelic Psychotherapy
The promise of psychedelics and psychedelic psychotherapy lies in the discovery by the client/patient that the world out there is not out to hurt him / her. S/he can experience, without unconscious defences (with the help of this medicine) that there is at least one other who will treat her well. This is the deep meaning of the “treatment” of psychotherapy. Maybe there are others out there with whom I can let down my guard.
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