Interview with Allen Kalpin and Reiko Ikemoto-Joseph: psychedelics and ISTDP

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, using substances like psilocybin and MDMA, is approaching regulatory approval for treating conditions such as PTSD, with Lykos Therapeutics expecting FDA authorization by late 2024. This therapy shares key features with Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), including aiming to activate the patient's inner healing intelligence and optimizing the therapeutic setting for breakthrough experiences. Two prominent ISTDP therapists, Reiko Ikemoto-Joseph and Allen Kalpin, who work with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, were interviewed to provide first-person perspectives on the integration of psychedelics into psychotherapy.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Psychedelic science is growing at a rapid pace, and as evidence accrues, we will most likely see authorization of the use of substances such as psilocybin and MDMA augmenting the effects of psychotherapy in the coming years. Lykos therapeutics (previously called MAPS PBC) recently filed a New Drug Application to the FDA in the US and expects to be able to offer MDMA as a prescribable drug in the treatment of PTSD before the end of 2024 (Lykos Therapeutics, 2024). Several large psilocybin studies are underway and stakeholders aim for a New Drug Application in the coming years (Kozak, Johnson & Aaronson, 2023; Compass pathways, 2022). Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy shares a number of features with ISTDP. One is that it seeks to unleash the “inner healing intelligence” of the patient similarly to how we in ISTDP aim to help free the patient’s UTA (Mithoefer, 2017; Martling, 2023). Another one is that we optimize the therapeutic setting in order for “breakthrough experiences” to happen (Grof, 1980; Davanloo, 1995). In this article, we’ll get to meet two prominent ISTDP therapists, Reiko Ikemoto-Joseph and Allen Kalpin, who have taken an interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy and are currently working with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). I interviewed the two of them in order to provide first-person perspectives on this topic in more detail.