Religious Conversion and Psychodynamic Experiences

Asclepius Revisited—Ancient Myth and 21st-Century Psychedelic Medicine

“…Transpersonal experiences can include archetypal and visionary dramas, including meetings with seemingly autonomous dream-like entities sometimes described as guides, healers, or spirits. In deeper states mystical experiences can emerge wherein the familiar sense of ego identity is dissolved and patients may describe transcendence of time and space, deeply felt positive mood, sacredness, unity, ineffability, and a sense of ultimate truth or reality . The psychedelic experience is thought to activate self-healing in a direct manner, while also unveiling issues requiring support within sessions, and further attention in integration sessions.…”

Entheogens: Psychedelic religion in the United States, part one

“…7 7 For a summary of the alleged myriad benefits of psychedelics, see Richards (2016). For a summary of the development of the “psychedelic worldview,” see Davis (2019).…”

Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy and Carl Jung’s Red Book

“…Instead, he recommends another form of supportive psychotherapy, such as guided affective imagery, guided imagery with music, or Grof holotropic breathwork. 2 Other choices for a control group include complicated grief therapy and those based on Jungian active imagination.…”

“…Leading psychedelic researcher and session guide Bill Richards has suggested that, for drug-facilitated psychotherapy, the control group should not receive another drug. Instead, he recommends another form of supportive psychotherapy, such as guided affective imagery, guided imagery with music, or Grof holotropic breathwork . Other choices for a control group include complicated grief therapy and those based on Jungian active imagination.…”

“…Richards confirmed that, writing “the benefits of a well-planned psychedelic experience come not from the substance itself but rather from the integration of enduring memories of the particular states of consciousness that were experienced during the period of drug action. That is why those who encounter profound states of mind typically express little interest in repetitive ingestions in the near future.” (p19)…”