Foundations of Psychedelic Therapy

In this salon, hosts Alex and Ava will continue their ongoing series by looking at the foundational texts and assumptions of psychedelic therapy, how it has changed and improved, and what can continue to be improved as psychedelic-assisted therapy becomes more available.

Therapy has become the framework for the majority of the discourse surrounding psychedelics over the past decade. Evidence-based therapy utilizing psychedelics has distanced itself from the religious and cultural frameworks that influenced the criminalizing of psychedelics in the 70s.

Despite this, many of the models of contemporary psychedelic therapy have their origins in the initial wave of psychedelic therapy that took place from the 1950s and 60s. It was during this time that the import of set and setting became commonplace. Techniques of psycholytic and psychedelic therapy were developed then and are still utilized today. Some ideas of the 50s, such as psychedelics replicating the schizophrenic experience, have fallen by the wayside, perhaps for the best. 

Questions and topics we will explore:

• How was psychedelic therapy approached in the beginnings of the research? 
• What mistakes were made that we have (or have not yet) learned from? 
• What features of early therapy were lost but should be integrated again if any at all? 
• Is evidence-based medicine the best way to approach psychedelic therapy? 
• How do we minimize harm in therapy? 
• How does psychedelic therapy work?

Image from Psych Central.

Recommended Readings

• Guidelines for Voyagers and Guides by James Fadiman
• Grof – LSD Psychotherapy (chs. 2, 3, 4, or 6). 
• Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration
• Towards Psychedelic Apprenticeship

Optional

• Clarifying the Confusion Regarding LSD-25 by Charles Savage and Myron Stolaroff (1965)
• Psychotherapy with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide by Betty Eisner and Sidney Cohen

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