Expansion and Regression in Oceanic Experience: A Model of Psychedelic Consciousness for Psychoanalysis

Abstract

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 of psychoanalytic regression applied to psychedelic states do not adequately align with findings from psychedelic neuroscience or from infant observation research. Instead, we see states of consciousness from the beginning of life and throughout the lifecycle as fluctuating on a continuum between discursive, highly differentiated cognitive processes, on one end, through dreamlike, liminal states of awareness, to unitive experiences of oneness, on the other. These are considered part of a normative spectrum of consciousness. We explore oceanic experiences as a unique expanded state of consciousness from a new psychoanalytic perspective and highlight the way these experiences under psychedelics can be a powerful force for healing. A case example of a patient who used ketamine as part of his analytic treatment is offered to illustrate our theoretical points.