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US: Lucy In The Sky, With Therapists
Wired News (US Web)
Friday 10 Nov 2000 Website: http://www.wired.com Author: Kristen Philipkoski Psychedelics such as ecstasy, LSD and mushrooms aren't just for ravers and Deadheads. Not by a long shot. Psychotherapists around the country say if you're using these hallucinogenics as party drugs you're missing the point. As psychotherapeutic agents, many researchers say, they are an immensely valuable and untapped resource. Folks ranging from computer executives to elderly women to church leaders are participating in psychotherapy enhanced by psychedelics, typically thought of as party enhancers for teenagers or burn-outs. "It's one of the most fascinating things happening in psychology today," said a San Francisco clinical psychotherapist who asked to remain anonymous. "I have no question that in many ways it's much better psychotherapy than I could ever do by sitting and talking. But basically I don't choose to do that out of a fear of going to jail." Indeed, people who facilitate and participate in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy are an extremely underground and secretive bunch. The $350 to $400 sessions, mostly done in groups, are never advertised. It's strictly word of mouth. There are at least seven such therapy groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, and certainly plenty of others around the country, whose members risk jail time in order to, they say, explore the deepest crevasses of their minds. The legal risks are worth the insights gained, according one longtime client of the psychedelic sessions who asked to remain anonymous. "This kind of work goes to a much deeper level," she said. "You get a whole lot more than you would in a one-hour session with a therapist.... It reaches different transpersonal levels." They also say it's worth the possible health risks. The first study on methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA (better known as ecstasy), to show proof that MDMA dangerously depletes the brain of the mood-regulating hormone serotonin was published in Neurology in June. Federal research has found that other drugs used in these group therapies - -- lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and ketamine (also called Special K) -- can result in confusion, memory loss, high blood pressure, delirium, psychosis, coma and even death. Dr. Lester Grinspoon, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who sued the DEA when it declared ecstasy a schedule 1 controlled substance in 1985, said he doesn't quite trust studies performed by the National Institute of Drug Abuse. "The NIH is a wonderful institution as a whole and truly their interest is in science," Grinspoon said. "But the NIDA really lost its where science is concerned and has become a ministry of drug propaganda." Still, researchers outside the United States have come to similar conclusions. Dr. Andy Parrott, of the department of psychology at the University of East London, published a study in the medical journal Psychopharmacology showing that young, recreational ecstasy users had impaired memory function compared with non-user controls. "This drug should not be administered to humans, especially on a repeated basis," Parrott said. Nevertheless, many medical professionals and psychologists say the gains outweigh the risks. The longtime client mentioned above is also about to become a therapist herself. She has completed her master's degree in psychotherapy, and is in the process of completing 3,000 hours of a client-work internship necessary to become a licensed therapist. She has participated in about 12 psychedelic therapy sessions in the past two years. She said she has no fear of ill-effects from most of the drugs, although she favors more studies of ecstasy to determine the effects of its repeated use. "In terms of going into a psychotic state, that might happen when drugs are used in very careless way, such as without a group involved or as a party drug," she said. "(The group therapy) is very careful both in terms of dosage and of what they use for your particular issues." Responsible use of psychedelics, she said, means being sufficiently prepared for the session, having a guide on hand at all times and knowing how to "integrate" the experience afterward. A typical session -- which is, pardon the expression, an overnight trip -- goes something like this: Clients typically arrive at a rented space in a rural setting on a Friday evening, after having fasted for the previous 12 hours. Medical professionals are commonly on hand and the facilitators are often experienced and licensed therapists. Individuals get acquainted with one other as well as with the facilitators. Each client spends up to 30 minutes discussing with a facilitator what emotional points they want to cover during the so- called journey: a relationship issue, a personal fear, a family problem. "Working with a guide who's experienced and creating a safe setting to do the work -- because in the psychological state people tend to be hypersensitive -- is very important," said Roger Marsden, a marriage and family therapist completing a dissertation on these groups who has also participated in the therapy as a client. Clients are encouraged to bring personal items, such as photographs, to keep with them or place on an altar. They go to bed that night, and take the "medication" Saturday morning. The session typically begins with either psychedelic mushrooms or ecstasy, which are known for their ability to relax people and make them feel safe. After that, perhaps LSD or ketamine, or both. As soon as the medication is given, everyone is blindfolded to be sure individuals focus on themselves rather than getting too wrapped up in what's going on around them. No one is ever left alone, not even to go to the bathroom. "Not that you could go alone when you're on as much as you are," the intern said. Clients may go through the full range of emotions; some have even relived their own birth. "There's anecdotal evidence that MDMA as well as other psychedelics can help people to recapture very early memories," Grinspoon said. Marsden also described a "rebirthing" episode. This client, who had trouble dealing with an ongoing feeling that his birth was unwanted, was apparently able to resolve the issue by reliving his birth with the help of a psychedelic drug, Marsden said. The blindfolds are kept on until the drugs start to wear off, anywhere from eight to 12 hours later. Some groups require clients to spend another night at the retreat, others don't. But group members always reconvene to talk about their experiences before taking what they've learned and trying to apply it to their lives. "The process has given me more strength in the ability to go to these dark places and work with some of the most scary issues I have had to deal with," the intern said. "After that, you look at problems in daily life and say, 'O.K., I can handle that.'" Marsden echoed her thoughts: "When you have this internal experience where you're really confronted with your deepest fears and anxieties, and there's nowhere for you to go, and you just have to face those demons whatever they are, it's something very empowering." Of course, psychotherapists aren't the first to use psychedelics to search for a kind of "truth." The CIA launched a project in the fifties called M KULTRA to investigate the use of LSD as vehicle for mind control or truth serum. CIA researchers slipped the drug to prisoners, brothel patrons, and terminally ill patients, among others, without their knowledge. Some subjects were given the drug for months on end. The project went on for more than a decade, and resulted in at least one suicide. (You can see a summary of research both past and present at Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which helps scientists design, fund, and get approval for research on psychedelics.) Regardless of what psychological therapeutics psychedelics may offer, they remain illicit and won't likely be legal, even for research, any time soon. Grinspoon, and others, say this is a shame. "Here is a drug that patients and people report helps them to be able to overcome, at least on a temporary basis, defensive approach areas of the mind that ordinarily we stay away from," Grinspoon said. "It allows the intellect to visit parts of the mind that are ordinarily off limits." But even if the drugs are effective, there are other perils that keep most psychotherapists from embracing them. Like the loss of one's career. "I've invested 15 years and a quarter of a million dollars on my education," the San Francisco psychologist said. "It would only take one bad thing to happen and I lose my license." He added that the fear of incarceration may also inhibit potential long- term therapeutic effects. "Out of his or her fear of going to jail, the facilitator asks you to promise not to tell anyone about the most incredible experience of your life," he said. Some groups have gotten around the isolation by functioning as a community, living together as well as doing therapy together. "They can talk among themselves, but it still creates an 'us vs. the world' mentality," the clinical psychologist said. Despite the drawbacks, clients swear by the method. The female client mentioned earlier says that following a particularly good session, she was able to abandon her medicine. "I was in a place where having to take prescription medication for psychological reasons," she said. "After this journey I didn't need them any more."
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