What you will receive:

• 13 Live Interactive Discussion Groups (via Zoom) with Q&A (listed in Pacific time)
• 12 Pre-Recorded Learning Sessions
• A Learning Resource Guide with Recommended Readings and Resources
• A Private, online Discussion Forum
• An Advanced Certificate in Psychedelics and Depth Psychology: Treatment and Transformation in an Animated Cosmos from Pacifica Graduate Institute
• 13 CECs

This Graduate Certificate in Psychedelics and Depth Psychology offered online over 13 weeks introduces essential topics in the current medical/psychiatric model of treatment and research as well as a deep dive into the indigenous history of these medicines, their cultural significance, and original worldview of the cosmos that challenges current Western societal perspectives.

Taught by an amazing cadre of faculty who are recognized thought leaders, scholars and practitioners steeped in anthropology, medicine, psychiatry, neuroscience, ecopsychology and depth psychology, psychotherapy, psychospiritual development, and psychedelics, this certificate course will cover:

• the current and historical use of plant-based medicines in Western societies
• the historical and current use and challenges in indigenous cultures
• he limiting worldview out of which modern medicine, psychology and psychiatry have evolved
• the history of and current status of clinical research for specific psychiatric disorders and conditions
• the animistic/shamanistic worldview of nature-based peoples
• the bio-pharmacology of these medicines
• the importance of dosing: micro, suitable, and heroic dosing
• the qualities, skills, ethics, and training to look for in a psychedelic-assisted therapist, ceremonialist, and sitter.
• the importance and evolution of set and setting
• the contraindications to use, supporting challenging journeys, and harm reduction
• how do these medicines heal individuals, societies, and the separation of the modern human from earth and mystery?
• what do these medicines teach us about human consciousness and the Self through the discipline of modern neuroscience and neuroimaging?
• the legal history and status of these medicines in the US and around the world
• how and what does depth psychology add to the psychedelic space?

Each week, a pre-recorded learning session that can be watched at your convenience will be followed by a live, online learning session with a course faculty member and fellow students to discuss the key concepts, applications, and takeaways from the recorded presentation.

Because of the availability, power, and growing legalization of these medicines for clinical, ceremonial, and recreational uses, these ideas and conversations around psychedelics are open to everyone. This Certificate neither requires nor confers a license or degree. We have designed this Certificate as an overview that offers a range of concepts, techniques, and strategies by surveying key topics in psychedelic consciousness. This course is suitable for those who are interested in healing, spirituality, anthropology, and psychotherapy— prescribers, clinicians, therapists, religious leaders, ceremonialists, coaches, and curious others—looking for a more holistic, spiritual, sacred, and engaged way forward into expanded states of consciousness.

The Certificate offers a range of readings, lectures, weekly reflections, and recorded and live sessions, so participants will benefit most by creating sufficient space in their schedules to learn as much as possible over the 13 weeks.

Program Format:

Each week, you will learn from the following:

• a recorded Presentation by leading experts in the field.
• a live, online discussion with subject matter experts (these will be recorded for those who cannot attend a given week)
• a list of required or recommended Readings/Videos/Resources
• online Discussion forum with the other participants and instructors.
• invitations to explore your responses to the topics and your own healing and previous non-ordinary states of consciousness will be offered.

Specific Topics and Experts for Each Week’s Session:

Week 1 – An Orienting Introduction to Psychedelics, and Similar Consciousness-shifting Medicines: History, Terminology, Perspectives, and The Current Moment

Expert: Brian Stafford, MD, MPH – Pacifica Graduate Institute

Live Date: Wednesday, June 5, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview: 

This presentation provides an orientation to the certificate program by providing a brief history of psychedelic use in Westernized societies. We will cover initial so-called “discoveries”, early psychedelic research, the counter-cultural movement, the federal backlash against psychedelics, the underground movement, and the return of psychedelics to scientific exploration and the current “so-called” psychedelic renaissance. We will also cover several concepts that will be explored much more deeply in future talks such as important definitions, concepts, and medication classes, the concept of set and setting, mechanism of action, dosing, micro-dosing, and previous pitfalls in the “so-called” psychedelic movement.  This presentation prepares us for a deep exploration of consciousness, healing, harm, culture, neurobiology, spirituality, interconnection, appropriation, colonialization, power dynamics, and interbeing.

Learning Objectives:

• Begin to understand the curious history of psychedelics in Western societies and the current moment.
• Begin to understand key terms and the multiple perspectives on psychedelic healing, consciousness, and the psychedelic movement.

Required Reading:

Metzner, R. (2015). Allies for Awakening: Guidelines for Productive and Safe Experiences with Entheogens. Regent Press.

Recommended reading, films, other resources:

Netflix:  How to Change Your Mind

https://www.netflix.com/watch/81164525?trackId=255824129

Fadiman, J. (2011). The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys. Park Street Press.

Leary, T., Metzner, R. and Alpert, R. (1964). The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. University Books.

https://www.pbs.org/video/can-psychedelics-cure-lxqulz/

Grob, C. S. & Grigsby, J. (Eds.). (2021). Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens. Guilford Press.

Grof, S. (2019). The Way of the Psychonaut: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys (Vols. 1 and 2). MAPS.

Huxley, A. (1958/1999). Moksha: Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience. Park Street Press.

James J.H. Rucker, Jonathan Iliff, David J. Nutt, Psychiatry & the psychedelic drugs. Past, present & future, Neuropharmacology,Volume 142, 2018, Pages 200-218.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002839081730638X

Rachel Nuwer. (2023). I See Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Winkelman, M. & Sessa, B. (Eds.). (2019). Advances in Psychedelic Medicine: State-of-the-Art Therapeutic Applications. Praeger.

 

Week 2 – Historical and Contemporary Landscapes on Psychedelic Plant Medicines Traditions in the Americas

Experts: Bia Labate, Ph.D. and Henrique Fernandes Antunes, Ph.D. – Chacruna Institute

Live Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

The psychedelic renaissance has seen an increase not only in interest in scientific research around the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances but also a renewed awareness of Indigenous traditions. This course will offer a historical overview of the use of psychoactive plants, fungi, and animals in the Americas, including coca, tobacco, ayahuasca, peyote, mushrooms, and kambô. It will also address contemporary practices involving the emergence of new alliances, traditions, and practices around them. We will discover how the Indigenous uses of sacred plants cannot be reduced to one facet but instead represent a wide range of interconnected dimensions. In Western traditions, psychedelics have often been related to either the realm of the “sacred,” “recreational” or “therapeutic,” seen as separate domains. In contrast, in traditional contexts, the uses of plant medicines can often be found at the intersection of diverse areas of life, including politics, medicine, shamanism, religion, aesthetics, knowledge transmission, socialization, and celebration. The class will also discuss the potential benefits and harms of the globalization of psychedelic plant medicines and ways to mitigate them. It will further explore lessons to be learned from these traditions, such as a holistic understanding of the notion of “healing” and the need to take Indigenous concepts seriously. The course will conclude by presenting the Chacruna Institute’s programs aimed at honoring the psychedelic movement’s Indigenous roots, encouraging engagement in decolonial practices, and promoting culturally-sensitive and community-based research and reciprocity, with support for biocultural conservation, alongside the fostering of horizontal relationships with Indigenous communities to support their political struggles.

Learning objectives:

• Describe the historical and cultural significance, as well as contemporary uses, of plant medicines in the Americas by Indigenous peoples and traditional populations, focusing on a wide range of substances such as coca, tobacco, peyote, mushrooms, ayahuasca, and kambô.
• Understand the potential benefits and harms of the globalization of psychedelic plant medicines for traditional populations and Indigenous peoples and explain how Indigenous notions and practices blur well-established Western frontiers, demanding a new approach to explore the interconnectedness between culture, religion, politics, spirituality, and therapy.

Recommended readings:

Acosta López, R., García Flores, I., & Piña Alcántara, S. (2021) Mazatec perspectives on the globalization of psilocybin mushrooms. Chacruna Institute. https://chacruna.net/mazatec-perspectives-on-the-globalization-of-psilocybin-mushrooms/

Davis, D. D. (2017, April 3). How my elders’ sacred peyote is disappearing. Chacruna Institute. https://chacruna.net/my-elders-sacred-peyote-is-disappearing/

Dev, L. (2018). Plant knowledges: Indigenous approaches and interspecies listening toward decolonizing ayahuasca research. In B. C. Labate & C. Cavnar (Eds.), Plant medicines, healing and psychedelic science: Cultural perspectives (pp. 23–47). Springer.

Ermakova, A. (2022, July 15). The global ayahuasca boom: What about the conservation of the ayahuasca vine? Chacruna Institute. https://chacruna.net/ayahuasca-vine-globalization-conservation/

Fotiou, E. (2021). The role of Indigenous knowledges in psychedelic science. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 4(1), 16–23. https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2054/4/1/article-p16.xml?body=contentSummary-13617

Labate, B. C., Cavnar, C., Freedman, F. B. (2014). Notes on the expansion and reinvention of ayahuasca shamanism. In B. C. Labate & C. Cavnar (Eds.), Ayahuasca shamanism in the Amazon and beyond. Oxford University Press.

Lopes, L. A. (2020, February 18). Kambô, rapé and sananga: A reset on body, mind and vision. Chacruna Institute. https://chacruna.net/kambo-rape-and-sananga-a-reset-on-body-mind-and-vision/

Negrín, D. (2019, March 15), Territory, roots and conflict: Epistemic encounters on sacred plants. Chacruna Institute. https://chacruna.net/territory-roots-conflict-epistemic-encounters-sacred-plants/

Rodríguez, L. (2020, July 9). Ayahuasca is helping the Global North to discover the sacredness of tobacco. Chacruna Institute.  https://chacruna.net/ayahuasca-is-helping-the-global-north-to-discover-the-sacredness-of-tobacco/

 

Week 3 – The Western Medical/Psychiatric/Neurological Worldview: Symptom, Pathology, Mechanism of Action and the Psychopharmacology of Psychedelics and the Limits

Expert: Brian Stafford, MD, MPH – Pacifica Graduate Institute

Live Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview: 

This presentation introduces the medical/psychiatric/scientific worldview and its role in current nosology, clinical practice, and societal worldview. We will briefly cover the history, breakthroughs, and limitations of psychiatric nosology, practice, research, and worldview. We will also discuss how the cultural power of licensed professions and federal agencies interplays with indigenous use and perspectives.

We will also present what is currently known about the psychopharmacology of these substances, how they affect the body, their interaction with neurotransmitters systems and possible mechanisms of action as well as side effects, including “bad trips”, psychotic episodes, and contra-indications.

Learning Objectives

• Begin to understand the benefits, limitations, and power dynamics of the medical psychiatric worldview.
• To discover how the molecules of these medicines interact with the body and the brain both for healing and harm.

Required Readings:

Nichols DE. Psychedelics. Pharmacol Rev. 2016 Apr;68(2):264-355. doi: 10.1124/pr.115.011478. Erratum in: Pharmacol Rev. 2016 Apr;68(2):356. PMID: 26841800; PMCID: PMC4813425.

Recommended Readings:

Frances, A. 2013. Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life. William Morrow Paperbacks.

Hengartner MP. Evidence-biased Antidepressant Prescription: Overmedicalisation, Flawed Research, and Conflicts of Interest. Springer International Publishing; 2022.

Harrington A. Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness. W.W. Norton & Company; 2019.

Kleinman A. Rethinking Psychiatry. Simon and Schuster; 2008.

Frances A. Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life. William Morrow Paperbacks; 2013.

Greenberg, G. The Rats of N.I.M.H. The New Yorker. May 16, 2013.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23721486/ketamine-dmt-lsd-psychedelics-magic-mushrooms-legalization-recreation-psilocybin

 

Week 4 – The Legality of Psychedelics in the US: Advances and Challenges

Expert: Allison Hoots, JD – Chacruna Institute

Live Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

This presentation will explore the history of US laws that have controlled psychedelic substances and consider the different treatments of the uses of these substances in religious/communal, supported, personal/recreational, and medical settings. Federal and state laws have both prohibited and established legal access pathways with psychedelics. Initially, starting in the 1970s, states mirrored federal laws and both systems perpetuated the War on Drugs and enactment of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but more recent legislation by the states has conflicted with the CSA. We will review the scheduling of substances within the CSA and the broad prohibition accomplished by its Federal Analogue Act. Medical uses and limits set by the CSA are influenced by drug approval by the Food and Drug Act, such as the current applications for MDMA and synthetic psilocybin, as well as breakthrough therapy designations for MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD. States have recently introduced state-regulated access, such as the Oregon and Colorado frameworks of supported use, that far expand previous state decriminalization efforts. Certain religious uses of controlled substances have received exemptions under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as protected religious exercise. As these substances receive more focus with DEA-licensed clinical research and public acceptance, there is an emerging field of medical uses and limits, such as therapeutic applications through psychedelic-assisted therapy, raising medical professionals’ rights and risks in connection with approved and off-label prescription, insurance, state licensing boards, DEA licensure to prescribe and the tension with state laws, and scope of practice. This presentation will teach students a foundation of the variety of legal uses, liabilities, and limitations of psychedelics in the United States.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding of legal frameworks for psychedelic substances established by federal and state laws, including regulation of religious/communal, supported, personal/recreational, and medical uses of psychedelics in the United States.
• Analyzing state access models, like Oregon and Colorado, in the context of medical providers and conflict with federal laws. Learn about key issues of providing therapy in connection with psychedelic substances.

Recommended Readings:

Drug War and CSA Scheduling

Drug Policy Alliance. (2024). Drug War history. https://drugpolicy.org/drug-war-history/

United States Drug Enforcement Agency. (n.d.). Drug information: Drug scheduling. https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/drug-scheduling

Zorn, M. (2023, May 5). Bifurcated (re)scheduling. On Drugs. https://ondrugs.substack.com/p/bifurcated-rescheduling?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fbifurcated%2520rescheduling%2520&utm_medium=reader2

Marks, M. (2023). The varieties of psychedelic law. Neuropharmacology, 226, 109399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2022.109399

Medical Uses

Holoyda, B. J. (2023). Malpractice and other civil liability in psychedelic psychiatry. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 74(1), 92–95. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.20220528

Pilecki, B., Luoma, J. B., Bathje, G. J., Rhea, J., & Narloch, V. F. (2021). Ethical and legal issues in psychedelic harm reduction and integration therapy. Harm. Reduct. J. 18, 1–14. 10.1186/s12954-021-00489-1. https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-021-00489-1

Religious Uses

Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines & Hoots, A. (2021). Guide to RFRA and best practices for psychedelic plant medicine churches. Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. https://chacruna.net/guide_rfra_best_practices_psychedelic_churches/

State Frameworks, Including Colorado and Oregon

Psychedelic Alpha. U.S. psychedelic legalization & decriminalization tracker (Updated March 14, 2024) https://psychedelicalpha.com/data/psychedelic-laws.

Oregon Health News Blog. (2023 April 12). Psilocybin 101: What to know about Oregon’s psilocybin services. Oregon.Gov. https://covidblog.oregon.gov/psilocybin-101-what-to-know-about-oregons-psilocybin-services/#:~:text=To%20access%20psilocybin%20services%2C%20clients,model%20is%20not%20product%20centered.

Goldhill, O. (2022, March 10). “It’s not medical”: Oregon wrestles with how to offer psychedelics outside the health care system. STAT News. https://www.statnews.com/2022/03/10/oregon-wrestles-with-offering-psychedelic-therapy-outside-health-care-system/

Vicente, L. L. P. (2024, February 27). Colorado’s draft natural medicine rules: Full breakdown & commentary. Psychedelic Alpha. https://psychedelicalpha.com/news/colorados-draft-natural-medicine-rules-full-breakdown-commentary

Jaeger, K. (2021, March 15). Psychedelics decriminalization initiative officially takes effect. Marijuana Moment. https://marijuanamoment.net/d-c-psychedelics-decriminalization-initiative-officially-takes-effect/

Worldwide Legal Status

Psychedelic Alpha. (n.d.) Worldwide psychedelic laws tracker. https://psychedelicalpha.com/data/worldwide-psychedelic-laws

 

Week 5 – ReAnimating Perception

Expert: Geneen Marie Haugen, Ph.D. – Animas Valley

Live Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

Many of us intellectually understand that we inhabit a world of intelligent presences, but conceptual understanding is not necessarily the same as experiencing an animate world.  For some people, the world comes fully alive, perhaps for the first time, in psychedelic journeys.  For others, the cultural induction into a dead universe can be difficult to shake off without intention and practice.

This presentation will explore ways to help animate our own consciousness and perception prior to, in accompaniment with, and while integrating psychedelic experience.  Why wait for the mountains to come alive while on psylocibin when we can pass through a green gateway toward animate perception in our everyday lives?

Learning Objectives:

• To begin exploring the role of imagination in perception
• To discover (and perhaps revive or create) practices that can help open perception to – and a consciousness of participation with – an animate world, where every presence is intelligent, ensouled, and experiencing.

Recommended listening and reading:

Animism Is Normative Consciousness:

https://podcastnotes.org/the-emerald-podcast-with-joshua-michael-schrei/animism-is-normative-consciousness-the-emerald-podcast-with-joshua-michael-schrei/

Harvey, Graham.  Animism: Respecting the Living World. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.

Haugen, Geneen Marie, “Imagining Earth,” in Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, editor. Pt. Reyes, CA: Golden Sufi Center, 2016.

Haugen, Geneen Marie, “The Reemergence of Animate World Experiences,” in Kosmos Journal, May 2023. https://www.kosmosjournal.org/kj_article/reemergence-of-animate-world-experiences/

Haugen, Geneen Marie, “Thomas Berry and the Evocation of Participatory Consciousness,” in Thomas Berry: Dreamer of the Earth.  Laszlo and Combs, eds.  Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2011. https://participatorystudies.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/thomas-berry-and-the-evocation-of-participatory-consciousness/

 

Week 6 – Benefits and Challenges to Regulation, Harm Reduction, Protection of Tradition and Plants

Experts: Henrique Fernandes Antunes, Ph.D. and Bia Labate, Ph.D. – Chacruna Institute

Live Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

This presentation will focus on the potential and challenges of the regulation of psychedelic plants, especially regarding the controversies involving traditional populations. Initially, we will present the emergence of the prohibitionist paradigm and the War on Drugs and its impacts. The course then turns to the controversies on regulating the traditional use of sacred plants and the persisting challenges that Indigenous people and traditional populations face. Next, we will address the regulation of ayahuasca in Brazil as a case study of a successful model based on the principles of collective co-construction of parameters of the use of drugs between government authorities, scientists, and religious communities. Finally, the course will address the role of traditional forms of control and cultural practices in creating self-regulation initiatives and socially integrated ways to use “drugs” and their importance in harm reduction and in mitigating the potential negative effects of psychedelics. Our main goal is to provide an overview of the landscape and the pressing issues that arise when religious groups, traditional populations, government agencies, scholars, and scientists are involved in regulating the traditional use of plants and the practices around their use.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the emergence of the regulation of psychedelic plants and its contemporary development as historical developments and the tensions that arise between a prohibitionist stance on the regulation of psychoactive substances and the religious rights and rights of traditional populations.
• Describe the benefits and challenges of the regulation of psychedelic plants for Indigenous peoples and traditional populations and discuss the role of traditional forms of control and cultural practices and their relation with harm reduction.

Recommended Reading:

Antunes, H. F. (2019). Drugs, religion, and cultural heritage: An analysis of the public policies regarding the use of ayahuasca in Brazil. The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society, 9(1), 29–39. doi:10.18848/2154-8633/CGP/v09i01/29-39.

Antunes, H. F., & Antunes, I. F. (2021, May 20). Controversies on the environmental legislation on ayahuasca in Brazil. Chacruna Institute.  https://chacruna.net/ayahuasca_conservation_laws_brazil/

Feeney, K. (2016). Peyote, conservation, and Indian rights in the United States. In B. C. Labate & C. Cavnar (Eds.), Peyote history, tradition, Politics, and Conservation. Praeger.

Labate, B. C., & Feeney, K. (2012). Ayahuasca and the process of regulation in Brazil and internationally: Implications and challenges. International Journal of Drug Policy, 23, 154–161.

Labate, B. C., & Feeney, K. (2022). Decriminalize Nature targets peyote: Drug reform or settler colonialism? Chacruna Institute. https://chacruna.net/decriminalize_nature_drug_reform_settler_colonialism/

Labate, B. C., Cavnar, C., & Antunes, H. F. (2023). The regulation of ayahuasca and its challenges: From the global to the local. In B. C. Labate & C. Cavnar (Eds.), Religious freedom and the global regulation of ayahuasca. Routledge.

Labate, B. C., & Cavnar, C. (2014). Controversies on the regulation of traditional drug use. In B. C. Labate & C. Cavnar (Eds.), Prohibition, religious freedom, and human rights: Regulating traditional drug use. Springer.

Labate, B., Ermakova, A. O., Sloshower, J., Galvão-Coelho, N., Palhano-Fontes, F., Antunes, H. F., Loures de Assis, G., Cavnar, C., de Araújo, D., & Ribeiro, S. (2023). The DEA report on ayahuasca risks: “Science” in service of prohibition? Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 7(2), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2023.00279

Rodrigues, T., & Labate, B. C. (2016). Prohibition and the War on Drugs in the Americas: An analytical approach. In B. C. Labate, C. Cavnar, & T. Rodrigues (Eds.), Drug policies and the politics of drugs in the Americas. Springer.

 

Week 7 – A summary of the clinical research evidence-base for plant-medicines, psychedelics, empathogens, and dissociatives, including micro-dosing.

Expert: Brian Richards, Psy.D. – Gladstone Psychiatry and Wellness

Live Date: Wednesday, July 17, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview: 

A comprehensive review of the current clinical research evidence regarding the therapeutic potential of varied synthetic and organic psychedelic medicines, and their potential efficacy in treatment models.

Learning Objectives:

• A broader and deeper understanding of specific psychedelic medicines and their potential efficacy in clinical trials now.
• How psychedelic medicine could evolve into a new paradigm in psychiatry, behavioral health and well-being.

Recommended reading, films, other resources:

Netflix:  How to Change Your Mind

https://www.netflix.com/watch/81164525?trackId=255824129

Maryland Psychological Association Quarterly:

https://7572073b.flowpaper.com/MarylandPsychSpr23Links/#page=1

Psychedelic Medicine: A Review of Clinical Research for a Class of Rapidly Emerging Behavioral Health Interventions. BrainFutures

https://www.brainfutures.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/BrainFutures-Psychedelic-Medicine-Report.pdf

 

Week 8 – Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy:  The History and Evolution of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapeutic Skills

Expert: Janis Phelps, Ph.D. – California Institute of Integral Studies

Live Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

This presentation will focus on the competencies of the psychedelic-assisted psychotherapist/facilitator and group facilitator, which are a relatively unaddressed aspect of the current psychedelic movement. The history of psychedelic research has neglected therapist variables due to the need to focus on outcome measures related to the drug and treatment duration for FDA protocols. As the field approaches both approval for medical use as well as legalization for individual and group use, the development of individual and therapist competencies is imperative. Guidelines for therapists, facilitators, and ceremonialists will help to ensure the provision of best practices for safe and life enhancing psychedelic inquiries.

Learning Objectives:

• Become familiar with the importance of the six therapist competencies: empathetic abiding presence; trust enhancement; transpersonal intelligence; knowledge of the physical and psychological effects of psychedelics; therapist self-awareness and ethical integrity; and proficiency in complementary techniques.
• List 2-3 skills in self-reflection and awareness of ethical issues as they arise in this form of intervention.
• Understand the 12 fundamental curricular domains of study for the training and development of these therapist competencies.

Recommended Readings:

Phelps, J. (2017). Developing Guidelines and Competencies for the Training of Psychedelic Therapists. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 57(5), 450-487. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167817711304

Phelps J. & Henry J. (2018). Foundations for Training Psychedelic Therapists. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2022;56:93-109. doi: 10.1007/7854_2021_266. PMID: 34734389.

Gasser P. Psychedelic Group Therapy. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2022;56:23-34. doi: 10.1007/7854_2021_268. PMID: 35091980.

Metzner, R. (2015). Allies for Awakening: Guidelines for Productive and Safe

Experiences with Entheogens. Regent Press.

Johnson, M., Richards, W., & Griffiths, R. (2008). Human hallucinogen research: Guidelines for safety. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 22(6). 603-620. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881108093587

Trope A, Anderson BT, Hooker AR, Glick G, Stauffer C, & Woolley JD. Psychedelic-Assisted Group Therapy: A Systematic Review. J Psychoactive Drugs. 2019 Apr-Jun;51(2):174-188. doi: 10.1080/02791072.2019.1593559. Epub 2019 Apr 5. PMID: 30950777; PMCID: PMC6650145.

 

Week 9 – Psychedelics and Spirituality: 

Expert: Bill Richards, S.T.M. M.Div. Ph.D. – Johns-Hopkins University, Sunstone Therapies

Live Date: Wednesday, July 31, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview: 

This presentation will focus on the nature and relevance of states of consciousness often described as transcendental or spiritual which sometimes are accessed with psychedelics, but also are encountered through meditative practices and other human activities.  Resonating with William James, who called attention to the “noetic” aspects of such experiences and their potential “fruits for life”, and also Huston Smith who clearly articulated the distinction between “having religious experiences” and “living religious lives”, the reliable intuitive content of such states of awareness will be discussed as well as strategies to promote their integration into everyday existence.  Consideration will also be given to perspectives and frontiers in philosophy and comparative religion.

Learning Objectives:

• Comprehend Karl Jaspers’ repetitive theme that “We are more than we know or ever can know of ourselves.”
• Begin to understand the potential impact of transcendental states of consciousness on mental health, spiritual development and appreciation for diverse world religions.

Recommended reading:

Pahnke, W.N. & Richards, W.A. (1966), Implications of LSD and Experimental Mysticism, Journal of Religion and Health,  5:175-208.  (See Schaffer Library of Drug Policy: www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/pahnke4.htm)

Richards, W.A.,(2003),  Entheogens in the Study of Mystical and Archetypal Experiences, Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Boston: Brill, 13, 143-155. (See https://erowid.org/references/texts/show/6431docid6001)

Richards, W.A. (2014), Here and Now:  Discovering the Sacred with Entheogens, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 49, 3, 652-665.

Richards, W.A. (2016) Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences, NY:  Columbia University Press,  (Hardback & eBook, 2016; Audiobook [Wetware Media; River Kanoff], 2017; Paperback edition, 2018).

Richards, W.A., (2021) Mystical/Religious Experiences with Psychedelics, Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens, eds. J. Grigsby & C. Grob, Guilford Press, 529-535.

 

Week 10 – Jung, Depth Psychology and Psychedelics: 

Expert: Dylan Hoffman, Ph.D. – Pacifica Graduate Institute

Live Date: August 7, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

The aim of this week is threefold: first, to analyze and contextualize C. G. Jung’s cautionary stance toward the use of psychedelics as a method for engaging with the psyche; second, to utilize C. G. Jung’s view of the psyche in general, and the psychoid nature of archetypes in particular, as a way to understand, navigate, and integrate psychedelic experiences; and third, to explore the ways that psychedelic experience can deepen and expand a depth psychological understanding of the psyche in relationship with an ensouled, animated cosmos.

Learning Objectives

1. To gain an appreciation of Jung’s critique of the use of psychedelics as a valuable point of caution
2. To understand, despite Jung’s critique of the use psychedelics, how Jungian principles and perspectives can be utilized for psychedelic experience, and expanded and deepened by psychedelic experience

Recommended Reading:

Confrontation with the Unconscious: Jungian Depth Psychology and Psychedelic Experience by Scott J. Hill (50 pages)

• Chapter 1: “Jung’s Confrontation with the Unconscious and Its Relation to Psychedelic Experience”
• Chapter 3: “Basic Jungian Concepts and Principles”
• Chapter 4: “Jung’s Explanation of Psychedelic Experience”
• Chapter 9: “Psychedelic Experience and Transformation”
• Chapter 11: “The Transcendent Function: Jung’s Approach to Integration”
• Chapter 12: “Jungian Psychotherapy”

Suggested Reading:

Initiated by the Spirits: Healing the Ills of Modernity through Shamanism, Psychedelics and the Power of the Sacred by Frédérique Apffel-Marglin and Randy Chung Gonzales

Consciousness Medicine: Indigenous Wisdom, Entheogens, and Expanded States of Consciousness for Healing and Growth by Françoise Bourzat with Kristina Hunter

Rainforest Medicine: Preserving Indigenous Science and Biodiversity in the Upper Amazon by Jonathan Miller Weisberger

The Shaman’s Mirror: Visionary Art of the Huichol by Hope Maclean

Beyond the Narrow Life: A Guide for Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration by Kile M. Ortigo

LSD Doorway to the Numinous: The Groundbreaking Psychedelic Research into Realms of the Human Unconscious by Stanislav Grof

LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven by Christopher M. Bache

 

Week 11 – Brain Studies and Consciousness

Expert: Robin Carhart- Harris Ph.D. – University of California San Francisco

Live Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

This talk will take a multi-level view of the brain action of classic psychedelic drugs, i.e., drugs that share the property of activating the serotonin 2A receptor. Beginning at the receptor level, it moves through a developmental and evolutionary understanding of serotonergic functioning and brain plasticity, placing emphasis on the context dependency of responses to classic psychedelic compounds. It reviews the dynamic, whole-brain action of psychedelics and how this relates to knowledge of the development and evolution of global brain function and anatomy. It couches our understanding of the therapeutic action of psychedelic therapy within a predictive coding framework and reviews recent trial and imaging results from a double-blind randomized controlled trial of psilocybin therapy vs escitalopram for depression.

Learning Objectives:

• Realize the role of the serotonin 2A receptor in the action of classic psychedelics
• Review the context dependency of responses to psychedelics

Recommended articles, other readings, films, other resources 

Timmermann C, Roseman L, Haridas S, Rosas FE, Luan L, Kettner H, Martell J, Erritzoe D, Tagliazucchi E, Pallavicini C, Girn M, Alamia A, Leech R, Nutt DJ, Carhart-Harris RL (2023) Human brain effects of DMT assessed via EEG-fMRI. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 120(13):e2218949120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2218949120.

Goodwin GM… Carhart-Harris R … Malievskaia E (2022). Single-Dose Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depression. N Engl J Med. 387(18):1637-1648. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2206443.

Daws RE, Timmermann C, Giribaldi B, Sexton JD, Wall MB, Erritzoe D, Roseman L, Nutt D, Carhart-Harris R (2022) Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression. Nature Medicine. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01744-z.

Carhart-Harris R, Giribaldi B, Watts R, Baker-Jones M, Murphy-Beiner A, Murphy R, Martell J, Blemings A, Erritzoe D, Nutt DJ (2021) Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression. N Engl J Med. 384(15):1402-1411. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2032994.

Lyons T … Carhart-Harris RL (2024) Human brains change after first psilocybin use. Nature Neuroscience. In press.

 

Week 12 – Psychedelics, Shamanism, Religion, and the Evolution of Human Consciousness

Expert: Michael Winkelman, M.P.H., Ph.D. – Arizona State University (retired)

Live Date: August 21, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

This presentation will focus on the nature of the phenomenal experience of psychedelics and how activation of the innate operators of the brain allows or produces their signature phenomenological features seen cross-culturally. These experiences result from the elevation and integration of ancient brain structures related to our core social and cognitive adaptations, and expressed through images and their effects on emotions and cognition. The evidence from modern clinical science has demonstrated evidence for their effectiveness in treatment of PTSD, depression, and addictions and their effects on the adaptive mechanisms of the 5HT2A system, illustrating the ancient effectiveness of such therapies in shamanistic practices. This presentation reviews the shamanic set and setting for psychedelic therapies and harm-reduction strategies as biological adaptations with continued relevance for contemporary psychedelic therapy. These adaptations reflect the co-evolution of our evolved psychology in relation to the ritual use of these natural medicines. These evolved adaptations for psychedelic medicines– which I call psycho-integrators – provide a framework for enhancing individual and group therapy with practices consistent with their intrinsic effects and our evolved psychology.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the shamanistic use of psychedelics and ritual in ways that reveal, exploit and integrate the dynamics of our evolved psychology
• Begin to understand the impact of psychedelics and ritual on human experience and the evolution of consciousness as manifested in the neurophenomenological states that they elicit.

Recommended Readings:

Winkelman, M. The evolved psychology of psychedelic set and setting: Inferences regarding the roles of shamanism and entheogenic ecopsychology. Frontiers in Pharmacology 12.

Winkelman, M. Anthropology, Shamanism and Hallucinogens. In C.S. Grob and J. Grigsby (eds.) Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens (pp. 46-67) NY: Guilford Press. (2021).

Winkelman, M.  Introduction: Evidence for entheogen use in prehistory and world religions. Journal of Psychedelic Studies: Psychedelics in History and World Religions 3:43–62. (2019).

Winkelman, M.  An ontology of psychedelic entity experiences in evolutionary psychology and neurophenomenology. Journal of Psychedelic Studies. 2(1): 5-23. DOI: 10.1556/2054.2018.002. (2018).

Winkelman, M.  Mechanisms of psychedelic visionary experiences: Hypotheses from evolutionary psychology. Front Neurosci. 11, article 539. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00539. (2017).

 

Week 13 – Final Panel: This Is the Medicine: Recreation, Clinical Healing, Sacred Wholeness, and the Ceremonial Reanimation of the World

Expert: Open Panel and Discussion

Live Date: August 28, 2024 – 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time

Overview:

Open Forum: In this session, we will open the live certificate for a conversation about the challenges, opportunities, and future of psychedelics.

 

Live Session Dates:

• Week 1: June 5, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 2: June 12, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 3: June 19, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 4: June 26, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 5: July 3, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 6: July 10, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 7: July 17, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 8: July 24, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 9: July 31, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 10: August 7, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 11: August 14, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 12: August 21, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time
• Week 13: August 28, 5:00 – 6:30 PM Pacific Time