Holistic & Alternative Medicine

Deliberate practice exercises help trainees achieve competence in essential psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy skills and apply them in a range of clinical situations while honing their own personal style and language. These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a therapist, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The therapist improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels--beginner, intermediate, and advanced--that reflect common client questions and concerns.

Integral Psychedelic Therapy is a groundbreaking, evidence-based collection that explores how psychedelic medicine can be incorporated into contemporary psychotherapy. This book builds on current psychedelic research by providing an in-depth articulation of the practice of psychedelic therapy, weaving together a variety of complementary therapeutic frameworks, case examples, and practical guidance for cultivating a highly effective, ethically grounded, integral approach.

There is substantial contemporary interest in psychedelic agents as medicines for maladies of the mind. This follows research in the 1950s and 1960s exploring the use of LSD and other psychedelics to treat a range of psychiatric illnesses as well as addictions. This research was shut down after prohibition of these drugs; however, the last decade has seen a major renewal of interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics and related drugs in psychiatry. Part of the Oxford Psychiatry Library series, this book provides an overview of this hugely exciting field, covering the history of psychedelics, clinical aspects, risks and side effects, precautions, and processes.

Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness is a trailblazing guidebook for anyone interested in psychedelic-assisted therapy and integration. When psychologist and psychotherapist Marc B. Aixalá began fielding questions from people around the world seeking help integrating their own psychedelic experiences, he couldn't find a singular source of collected research and support. What began as an attempt to help others became Psychedelic Integration, a work that traces the evolution of psychedelic-assisted therapy and integration research from the 1960s to the present moment, explains therapeutic techniques and outlines a clinician's real-world observations on the deep work of healing.

A vivid analysis of the history and revival of clinical psychedelic science Psychedelic drugs are making a comeback. In the mid-twentieth century, scientists actively studied the potential of drugs like LSD and psilocybin for treating mental health problems. After a decades-long hiatus, researchers are once again testing how effective these drugs are in relieving symptoms for a wide variety of psychiatric conditions, from depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder to posttraumatic stress disorder and substance addiction.

The rise--and fall--of research into the therapeutic potential of LSD. After LSD arrived in the United States in 1949, the drug's therapeutic promise quickly captured the interests of psychiatrists. In the decade that followed, modern psychopharmacology was born and research into the drug's perceptual and psychological effects boomed. By the early 1960s, psychiatrists focused on a particularly promising treatment known as psychedelic therapy: a single, carefully guided, high-dose LSD session coupled with brief but intensive psychotherapy.

The post-World War II era was a tumultuous period in the world of psychiatry. Medical history has cast it as a clash between biology and psychoanalysis or as a time that lacked objectivism, that is until the introduction of psychotropic drugs such as chlorpromazine which triggered a change in our treatment of mental health as profound and far-reaching in its consequences as the war itself. In the early years of this psychopharmacological revolution, hallucinogens such as mescaline and LSD played as much of a role as other psychotropics. In fact, psychedelics constituted a scientific revolution in their own right, one that does not however fit the narrative of twentieth century scientific history.

Changing Our Minds is an experiential tour through a social, spiritual and scientific revolution that is redefining our culture's often-confusing relationship with psychoactive substances. Veteran journalist Don Lattin chronicles the inspiring stories of pioneering neuroscientists, psychotherapists, spiritual guides and ordinary people seeking to live healthier lives by combining psychedelic drugs, psychotherapy, and the wise use of ancient plant medicines. In ground-breaking clinical trials, specially trained therapists employ Ecstasy (MDMA) to help U.S. veterans struggling with the psychological aftermath of war. Other psychiatrists in government-approved research offer psilocybin to alcoholics trying to get sober and cancer patients struggling with the existential distress of a life-threatening illness.

Psychedelic Drug Treatments: Assisting the Therapeutic Process provides information about current and quite viable investigation into reviving and progressing with neurological research that began in the middle of the 20th century and was brought to a halt when certain drugs were banned in the 1970s. Using a question/answer format, the book will introduce you to the way in which the chemical compounds known as psychedelics affect the brain, provide you with the definitions of key terms particular to the neurological and psychological vocabulary, describe the specific disorders that can realistically be helped or relieved through treatment with psychedelics, and offer information with regard to current research being conducted in the field.

LSD's short but colorful history in North America carries with it the distinct cachet of counterculture and government experimentation. The truth about this mind-altering chemical cocktail is far more complex--and less controversial--than generally believed. Psychedelic Psychiatryis the tale of medical researchers working to understand LSD's therapeutic properties just as escalating anxieties about drug abuse in modern society laid the groundwork for the end of experimentation at the edge of psychopharmacology. Historian Erika Dyck deftly recasts our understanding of LSD to show it as an experimental substance, a medical treatment, and a tool for exploring psychotic perspectives--as well as a recreational drug.

The Psychedelic Drug Trial has exclusive access to a ground-breaking new trial at Imperial College London. The trial sees, for the first time ever and under controlled conditions, a psychedelic drug tested head-to-head against a standard antidepressant as a treatment for depression. The film follows a pioneering team of scientists and psychotherapists, led by Professor David Nutt, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris and Dr Rosalind Watts, as they compare the effects of psilocybin (the active ingredient of magic mushrooms) with an antidepressant (an SSRI called escitalopram) on a small group of participants with clinical depression.

Today there's growing interest in the use of psychedelic substances, once considered therapeutically off-limits, in the clinical treatment of PTSD, depression, addictions, and a range of other conditions. The principles on which these healing pathways are based have been shown to be validated by psychoneuroimmunology and interpersonal neurobiology. This workshop video will look at the distinctive experiences of both clients and therapists that psychedelics can facilitate.