In this paper, we take up the question of what happens from a psychoanalytic perspective when a patient engages in psychedelic-assisted therapy. While some writers have suggested that psychedelic agents promote regression to an earlier point in development, we argue that such states may be better understood as expanding the mind beyond ordinary consciousness. We assert that traditional models...
ABSTRACT In this discussion of The Bad Seed: Mystical Experiences and Time Travel in the Treatment of Psychopathy, I focus on the role of psychedelics in the remarkable clinical account Burton offers. A model for understanding psychedelic action in psychoanalytic terms is put forth, and the account of Seth’s journey is framed in this light. The understanding of psychedelics as facilitating a...
ABSTRACT As the use of psychedelic agents become a part of mental health treatment, psychoanalysts have the challenge of theorizing how they affect the psyche and the relational field, as well as how they might become part of an analytic process. In this paper, I explore three aspects of psychedelic experience and some ways we might start to understand them in analytic terms. I discuss states...