Psychedelic Hedonism — The Ethics Of Psychedelic Therapy
Despite the growing body of empirical work regarding the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, the socio-cultural history of these compounds along with their unique psychological effects raises a host of normative ethical questions which need to be addressed.
Medically Assisted Psychotherapy in a Global Context
Psychedelics and plant medicines have been used around the world since early humanity for spiritual, ritual, divination and recreational purposes.
Psychedelics: The Reason for the Season
It’s that time of the year again. According to that popular carol, it’s apparently the most wonderful time of the year. The festive season calls us to gather with loved ones and celebrate surviving another year — and what a wild one it’s been. While 2020 was a memorable moment in time, it might be a
On the Need for a Bioethics of Psychedelic Psychotherapy: A Few Preliminary Challenges
Psychotherapy assisted by psilocybin, a naturally occurring compound in ‘magic mushrooms’, has recently received ‘Breakthrough Therapy’ status from the FDA, in recognition of the substantial benefits witnessed in clinical trials investigating treatment-resistant depression.
Common Views and Attitudes Towards Psychedelic Medicines and Therapies
The current COVID-19 situation and the modern history of psychedelics share a distinguishable commonality, they illuminate a looming war on knowledge and a pervasive division in views and understandings. The dispersion of information plays a powerful role in shaping beliefs and attitudes.
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy For Criminal Offenders — A New Paradigm For Rehabilitation?
I have a lifelong interest in decreasing violent crime and imprisonments rates. For 21 years I was a proudly activist judicial officer seeking to reduce both — definitively a barbed-wire fence proposition.
Breaking Down the Stigma and Shame of Psychedelics
Psychedelics have a history rich in stigmatisation and misunderstanding. For example, during the 60s (whilst psychedelics research and trials occurred in reputable universities around the world) the anti-Vietnam counterculture, who were associated with psychedelics, rose up against the establishment
How Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy Changed My Life
I don’t drink or smoke. I’ve never taken any drugs till four years ago. Yet today, my life revolves around psychedelic medicines — heavily stigmatized substances still illegal in this country and most others across the world.
Psychedelics Can Raise The Collective Consciousness
As a human being in the current social-political and economic climate we are faced with many challenges such as the rise of mental health, the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, gender inequality, unemployment, poverty, and climate change, to name only a few.
Pushing Taboo: Exploring the Role of LSD in Transpersonal Psychology
“It does not seem to be an exaggeration to say that psychedelics used responsibly and with proper caution, would be for psychiatry what the microscope is for biology and medicine or the telescope is for astronomy.“ - Stanislav Grof
Science not Stigma: Safety of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy for Mental Illness
The conversation of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy has moved from the scientific community into the mainstream. In Australia, the two psychedelic compounds that have been proposed for rescheduling as controlled medicines are psilocybin and MDMA
Investigating the profound and bizarre link between creativity, psychedelics and music
Is the popular Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds really an acronym for LSD? Or was it innocently inspired by a drawing created by John Lennon’s son? This question has exercised the minds of Beatles fans since the song first appeared in the 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely-Hearts Club Band.
How to Explore Altered States of Consciousness Without Psychedelics
Psychedelic assisted psychotherapy puts the recipient into an altered state of consciousness, which enables them to explore and tune into their inner experience in order to enhance the quality of their lives and capacity to show up in the world.
The Challenges of Depression Treatment in 2020
Over recent years there has been a laudable and impressive effort to reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions such as depression, and to engage more people with these conditions in treatment, especially here in Australia.
Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy to Treat Sexual Abuse Victims
Sexual abuse is a safety and health problem all over the world, affecting people of all ages, socioeconomic and demographic groups; in Australia, 1 in 5 women have experienced sexual violence and 1 in 22 men were sexually abused, resulting in severe individual and social impacts.
The River of Dreams
“The dreaming”. An oral history of the world and its creation, shared by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The concept is more commonly known to English speakers as “the dreamtime”, which is an inadequate translation, due to its complexity and non-finite nature.
The Ethics of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies
Few measures better reveal the character of a society than its approach to those who suffer. Occasionally, the suffering we encounter is beyond our capacity to relieve. In those cases, we can be held to no higher standard than that we have responded with care and compassion.
Mind Medicine Australia celebrates its First Anniversary
Today, Mind Medicine Australia turns one year old! In our first year, we have made remarkable progress in growing public awareness of Medicine-Assisted Therapy in Australia.
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
In the treatment of PTSD, both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy present additional challenges. PTSD is notoriously hard to treat, with current anti-depressant pharmacotherapy achieving relief from symptoms in about 20%-30% of sufferers.
Breaking Convention: The next steps for psychedelic-assisted therapy
With great promise, and the growing hopes of many, comes a need for foresight and acumen in the psychedelic research community. To better forecast the emerging science and international mood, I journeyed to Breaking Convention, Europe’s largest psychedelic science conference.