Psychedelics and Psychotherapy: The Healing Potential of Expanded States

by Tim Read (Editor), Maria Papaspyrou (Editor), Gabor Maté (Foreword)

An exploration of the latest developments from the flourishing field of modern psychedelic psychotherapy

• Examines the therapeutic potential of expanded states, underground psychedelic psychotherapy, harm reduction, new approaches for healing individual and collective trauma, and training considerations

• Addresses challenging psychedelic experiences, spiritual emergencies, and the central importance of the therapeutic relationship

• Details the use of cannabis as a psychedelic tool, spiritual exploration with LSD, micro-dosing with Iboga, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD

Exploring the latest developments in the flourishing field of modern psychedelic psycho-therapy, this book shares practical experiences and insights from both elders and newer research voices in the psychedelic research and clinical communities.

The contributors examine new findings on safe and skillful work with psychedelic and expanded states for therapeutic, personal, and spiritual growth. They explain the dual process of opening and healing. They explore new approaches for individual inner work as well as for the healing of ancestral and collective trauma. They examine the power of expanded states for reparative attachment work and offer insights on the integration process through the lens of Holotropic Breathwork. The contributors also examine the use of cannabis as a psychedelic tool, spiritual exploration with LSD, microdosing with Iboga, treating depression with psilocybin, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.

Revealing diverse ways of working with psychedelics in terms of set, setting, and type of substance, the book concludes with discussions of ethics and professional development for those working in the field as well as explores considerations for training the next generation of psychedelic therapists.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Mental Health

424 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2021

About the author

Tim Read is an Author/Illustrator of children's picture books. As a Father himself he is inspired by the innocence and wonder of children. His illustrations are whimsical, colorful, and visually engaging. His book series "My Very Silly Monster" is a fun and silly approach to learning. By introducing his colorful characters by common names he believes kids will want to befriend the character thus becoming more engaged as the book progresses.
Tim and his wife Barb are parents to four children and live in Ames, IA. When he's not in his studio he can be found at home as a stay-home-dad three days a week.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked parts of this.

It seems like a lot of the people using psychedelics in therapy are Jungian. I guess that’s not surprising. But if it’s true that psychedelics assist in accessing the unconscious, and there’s reasonable evidence they do, I would be interested to see what a psychedelic assisted therapy by, say, an object relations psychoanalyst would be like.

[Jonah Mishaan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't the book that I anticipated, or was hoping for. With a title like 'Psychedelics and Psychotherapy' I had expected the book to focus on the different aspects of working with both psychedelics and psychotherapy. I was interested in learning more about how a therapist would talk about integrating psychedelics into treatment, some of the potential complications, medical screening, legal concerns, how transference/countertransference is impacted, how different therapeutic modalities would conceptualize psychedelics in therapy, unique aspects of different substances and how those relate to the therapeutic process. Things like that.

The book touches on some of those, however not nearly as comprehensively and as organize as I would have liked. It's an anthology, there are 26 different chapters written by different authors. This leads to a lot of overlap, with each other covering their notions of basic concepts in psychedelic use.

Many chapters just do not address psychotherapy. There is a chapter on coaching, holotropic breathwork, peace building, mandalas, harm reduction, and astrology (!). Some of these chapters were interesting, but I was expecting a book focusing on psychotherapy. They should have called it Psychedelics and Healing or something of that sort.

The majority of authors are coming with a Jungian/New Age spirituality framework. I understand that that tends to be the orientation of therapists in the psychedelic space, but it would have been nice to have more variety, and contributes to the feeling of encountering the same material being packaged in different ways.

All in all, the book has some interesting and valuable material. I debated between 2 or 3 starts for this. Since there was some content I learned from, I rounded up. Overall disappointing for what this book could have been.

[Mako · Rating 3 out of 5]

საინტერესო იყო (სანამ ზოდიაქო არ შემოვიდა :))

[Miglė · Rating 5 out of 5]

a comprehensive look at different psychedelic therapies - each chapter presented by a different author, working with a different substance, in a different context, offering a different perspective.

[William Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

The potential of psychedelics in healing is fascinating. I had no idea how much mileage you could really get out of just proper setting, headspace, presence, and reading of a patient using these substances before I read this book. Turns weirdly Zionist at the end but it seems a lot of research has been conducted in Israel. However, it's not helpful to talk about psychedelics as some "key to peace" based off of an incorrect presumption that the hatred between Zionists and indigenous Palestinians is some mutual fault and their respective conflicts can simply be overlooked by dissolving their egos. One group believes in a divine mission to displace and slaughter native populations for their land and the other IS that native population. Psychedelics aren't going to cure that and while I understand the point illustrated by the study, I find it really gross to overlook the actual nature and history of their conflict. I'm sure it's a lot easier to convince a mentally ill Zionist war criminal to undergo experimental psychedelic therapy conducted by Israeli scientists than it is to convince any Arab Palestinian. I found this caveat woefully unaddressed and makes me wonder how flawed this particular bit of research is.

[Bookwormsince81 · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly courageous healer deeply committed to seeking deeper ways to ethically allow a beautiful qualia of life for humans. Inspiring 🥰

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Charles Gillispie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, interesting, and accurate!

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little long and boring at parts. I think there's probably better books out there on this topic