An overview of Transpersonal Psychotherapy and Research

1. Transpersonal
Psychotherapy, Induced
Mystical Experiences, and
Treatment of
Psychopathology with
Psychedelics

2. Why Present on
Psychedelic Therapy?!?
 Utter lack of knowledge of the field in graduate training
 We are supposed to be open to all experience and our curricula has
been virtually censored by governing institutions without empirical
evidence against it
 Duty to present such a potentially powerful therapeutic tool that
may be life-changing for many clients
 To broaden perspectives and dispel myths by presenting the
qualitative and quantitative clinical research
 This is a History and Systems class therefore deserves mention
 It goes part and parcel with Transpersonal Psychology and its
connection with reaching a higher state of being
 Many of the pioneers of transpersonal psychotherapy used
psychedelics to enhance therapy. Cf. Grof

4. What is Psilocybin?
 Psilocybin, a naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid with
actions mediated primarily at serotonin 5-HT2A/C receptor
sites
 Principal psychoactive component of a genus of mushrooms
(Psilocybe) found all over the world
 Psychological effects similar to other classical serotonergically-
mediated hallucinogens such as LSD, mescaline, N,N-
dimethyltryptamine (DMT or “The Spirit Molecule”), MDMA
(Ecstacy) and PCP (Angel Dust), include significant alterations
in
 Perceptual, cognitive, affective, volitional, and somatesthetic
fxns, including visual and auditory sensory changes, difficulty
in thinking, mood fluctuations, and dissociative phenomena

5. History of Entheogens
 An entheogen ("generating the divine within”). Used therapeutically for centuries or perhaps millennia throughout
the globe
 Psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual contexts and in psychedelic and transpersonal
psychotherapies.
 Evidence for the first use of entheogens may come from Tassili, Algeria, with a cave painting of a mushroom-man,
dating to 8000 BC
 Ancient substances with names such as Soma (India), Kykeon (Greece), and Teonanacatl (South America) served for
thousands of years as psychopharmacological catalysts in a variety of sacred religious and magical rituals
 Peyote, the ceremonial use of which is now thought by anthropologists to date back at least 5,000 years, is revered as a
sacrament by the Native American Church.
 Ayahuasca, a decoction made from plants that grow in the Amazon basin, is a sacrament used by a syncretic church in
Brazil.
 Small following in the US that has just received a favorable decision by the US Supreme Court allowing them
continued use of this material.
 The parallel between mystical states and the effects of psychedelic drugs is well-known among those familiar with the
literature.
 Aldous Huxley, in his classic but controversial 1954 book, The Doors of Perception, noted the similarity of his own
mescaline-induced state to experiences described by mystics and visionaries from a variety of cultures. Perhaps it
is not surprising then that the name “entheogen,” with the connotation that these materials reveal god within, is
becoming increasingly popular among those who continue to use these substances for purposes that are neither
medical nor “recreational.”
 The “Good Friday Experiment,” carried out by Walter Pahnke for his 1963 Ph.D. dissertation was titled Drugs and
Mysticism.
 Analysis of the relationship between psychedelic drugs and the mystical consciousness. He described in an
experiment with 20 student volunteers from a local Christian theological seminary. Subjects were given either 30
mg of psilocybin or 200 mg of nicotinic acid as a “placebo.” The experiment was carried out in a religious setting
during a Good Friday service. Pahnke concluded, “Under the conditions of this experiment, those subjects who
received psilocybin experienced phenomena which were indistinguishable from, if not identical with certain
categories defined by our typology of mysticism.

6. Early Clinical Use
 Early clinical research with psilocybin in the 1950s and early 1960s attempted to study the
effects of psilocybin without recognition of the powerful influences of set and setting
 Hoffman (Inventor of LSD), Wasson (mescalin) etc
 Subsequent research by Timothy Leary et al., included more preparation and
interpersonal support during the period of drug action, found fewer adverse psychological
effects, such as panic reactions and paranoid episodes, and increased reports of
positively valued experiences
 Affective character of subjective experiences often varied from positive to negative, and
highly valued personal or mystical-type experiences were rare
 Those with higher doses that were provided more preparation and interpersonal support
reported a higher rate of affectively positive experiences, sometimes of a mystical nature,
that were rated as being of personal significance
 In response to the epidemic of hallucinogen abuse that occurred in the 1960s, clinical
research with psilocybin and other hallucinogens largely ceased and has resumed only
recently

7. Controversy/Challenges
 In 1970 , psychedelics were made a Schedule 1 drug by the federal government
 Schedule I compounds are claimed to possess "significant potential for abuse and dependence" and
have "no recognized medicinal value", effectively rendering them illegal for any purpose without
special difficult-to-obtain approvals.
 Another challenge of psychedelic therapy was the greatly variable effects produced by the drugs.
According to Stanislov Grof, "The major obstacle to their systematic utilization for therapeutic
purposes was the fact that they tended to occur in an elemental fashion, without a recognizable
pattern, and frequently to the surprise of both the patient and the therapist. Since the variables
determining such reactions were not understood, therapeutic transformations of this kind were
not readily replicable.” Attempts to produce these experiences in a controlled, non-arbitrary,
predictable way resulted in several methods of psychedelic therapy.
 Timothy Leary felt psychedelics could alter the fundamental personality structure or subjective
value-system of an individual, to beneficial effect.
 His experiments with prison inmates were an attempt to reduce recidivism through a few short,
intense sessions of psilocybin administered weeks apart with biweekly group therapy sessions in
between.
 Psychedelic therapy was used in a number of other specific patient populations, including
alcoholics, children with autism, and people with terminal illness. Video: Male Cancer Patient's
Experience at the John's Hopkins Psilocybin Project
 Video: Female Cancer Patient at the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Project

8. Types and Variations of
Use in Psychotherapy
 Psycholytic—low doses over about 2 weeks for “soul-
dissolving”
 Psychedelic—high doses to induce peak or mystical
experience
 Anaclitic- (Joyce Martin and Paul McCririck) Enhance
pychoanalysis and aid in regression to primitive and
infantile states. Analysts become closely engaged and
play the "mother" role who would enter into close
physical contact with the patients by rocking them,
giving them milk from a bottle, etc.
 Hypnodelic- Combined hypnosis and psychedelic

9. The Grofs and Holotropic
Breathing
 Because of the criminalization of psychedelic
substances, the Grofs aimed to find a more accessible
way to connect with the spiritual/mystical without using
psychoactive substances
 Holotropic ("moving toward wholeness”) Breathwork is a
practice that uses breathing and other elements to allow
access to non-ordinary states for the purpose of self-
exploration.
 Intended as an approach to self-exploration and healing
that integrates insights from modern consciousness
research, anthropology, various depth psychologies,
transpersonal psychology, Eastern spiritual practices,
and mystical traditions of the world

10. Holotropic Breathwork
cont’d
 Five elements
 Group process
 Intensified breathing (hyperventilation)
 Evocative music
 Focused body work
 Expressive drawing.
 The method's general effect is advocated as a non-specific amplification
of a person's psychic process, which facilitates the psyche's natural
capacity for healing.
 Holotropic Breathwork is usually done in groups, although individual
sessions are done. Within the groups, people work in pairs and alternate
in the roles of experiencer ("breather") and "sitter".
 The sitter's primary responsibility is to focus compassionate attention on the bre
 Secondarily, the sitter is available to assist the breather, but not to interfere or
interrupt the process.
 Trained facilitators are available as helpers if necessary
 Video:Holotropic Breathwork

11. Psychotherapeutic Tool,
Pharmacotherapy or Both?
 Leary, Grof, and others believed psychedelics
enhanced the therapeutic alliance and allowed
therapy to take place in those who would not
normally benefit from psychotherapy such as those
with dissociative, psychotic, mood, and anxiety
disorders
 Today research shows that psychedelics have a
therapeutic effect on these clients with or without the
aid of psychotherapy but those who received both
treatments reported having a more powerful and
meaningful experience

12. The Return to Clinical
Trials
 Vollenweider and colleagues from Switzerland and Gouzoulis-Mayfrank from
Germany have reported a series of studies that have characterized the acute
subjective, physiological, and perceptual effects of psilocybin and pooled their
clinical research from 1998-2011.
 Conclusions
 Induced profound changes in mood, perception, thought and self-experience
 Most subjects described the experience as pleasurable, enriching and non-
threatening.
 Acute adverse drug reactions, characterized by strong dysphoria and/or
anxiety/panic, occurred only in the two highest dose conditions in a relatively small
proportion of subjects.
 All acute adverse drug reactions were successfully managed by providing
interpersonal support and did not need psychopharmacological intervention.
 Follow-up questionnaires indicated no subsequent drug abuse, persisting perception
disorders, prolonged psychosis or other long-term impairment of functioning in any of
our subjects.
 The results suggest that the administration of moderate doses of psilocybin to
healthy, high-functioning and well-prepared subjects in the context of a carefully
monitored research environment is associated with an acceptable level of risk.

13. Modern Experimentation
 Griffiths et al. (2006) showed that psilocybin occasioned
mystical-type experiences and, sometimes, significant
fear. The mystical-type experiences were rated as having
substantial and persisting personal meaning and spiritual
significance to which volunteers attributed sustained
positive changes in attitudes, moods, and behavior
 Griffiths et al. (2011) performed a similar procedure to
study the ascending and descending sequence effects of
drug dose exposure and found that under supportive
conditions, 20 and 30 mg/70 kg psilocybin occasioned
mystical-type experiences having persisting positive
effects on attitudes, mood, and behavior.

14. Current Studies and
Applications
 The only published pilot study (and Phase I FDA safety study) so far is one that showed that Psilocybin could be
safely given to those with OCD and showed trends for improvement of symptoms but the study did not clearly
establish whether or not the patients were helped by the treatment.
 There are also several ongoing or recently finished clinical trials that have not yet published their results. A study
by Charles Grob, sponsored by the Heffler Research Institute, used psilocybin with cancer patients, with the
intention of helping them come to terms with their condition, and for pain relief. Roland Griffiths and colleagues at
Johns Hopkins are also studying if people with anxiety or poor mood due to current or past cancer can benefit from
psilocybin. Unlike the Grob study, the Griffiths study does not require participants be terminally ill.
 John Halpern at Harvard Medical School's McLean Hospital study of cancer patients using MDMA.
 MDMA is also being investigated as a possible adjunct to psychotherapy for PTSD in people who did not benefit
from available PTSD treatments.
 Research conducted by Torsten Passie has shown that patients who also suffer from anxiety and depression can
especially benefit and make significant progress in healing when given doses of MDMA and other entactogens that
stimulate social and emotional effects.[Studies of MDMA and PTSD are currently underway in the United States
(South Carolina), Switzerland, and Israel, all sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic
Studies (MAPS).
 MAPS has a twelve-person study in Switzerland to see whether a moderately large dose of LSD (200 mcg) is more
helpful as part of psychotherapy for patients with life-threatening illnesses than a lower dose (20 mcg).
 The Substance:Male Cancer Patient Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Cancer Project
 The Substance: Female Cancer Patient at the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Cancer Project

15. References
 Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., Mccann, U., & Jesse, R. (2011). Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences: Immediate and persisting dose-related effects.
Psychopharmacology, 218(4), 649-65. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-011-2358-5
 Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2006). Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance.
Psychopharmacology, 187(3), 268-83; discussion 284-92. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5
 Grof,, S. (1980). LSD Psychotherapy. Alameda, CA: Hunter House Publishing.
 Keeler, M. F. (1965). CONSISTENCY OF PSILOCYBIN INDUCED CHANGES IN THE MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY. Journal Of Clinical Psychology, 21(3), 284.
 Lyvers, M., & Meester, M. (2012). Illicit Use of LSD or Psilocybin, but not MDMA or Nonpsychedelic Drugs, is Associated with Mystical Experiences in a Dose-Dependent Manner. Journal Of Psychoactive
Drugs, 44(5), 410-417. doi:10.1080/02791072.2012.736842
 MacLean, K. A., Leoutsakos, J. S., Johnson, M. W., & Griffiths, R. R. (2012). Factor analysis of the mystical experience questionnaire: A study of experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin. Journal
for the Scientific Study of Religion, 51(4), 721. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1223839416?accountid=34899
 MacLean, K. A., Johnson, M. W., & Griffiths, R. R. (2011). Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness. Journal of
Psychopharmacology, 25(11), 1453. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/912996217?accountid=34899
 Psilocybin for anxiety in patients with advanced-stage cancer. (2011). Brown University Psychopharmacology Update, 22(4), 7.
 Studerus, E., Kometer, M., Hasler, F., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2011). Acute, subacute and long-term subjective effects of psilocybin in healthy humans: A pooled analysis of experimental studies. Journal of
Psychopharmacology, 25(11), 1434. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/912996216?accountid=34899
 Timothy, L., Ralph, M., Madison, P., Gunther, W., Ralph, S., & Sara, K. (1965). A new behavior change program using psilocybin. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 2(2), 61-72. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0088612

16. Brief History of LSD
Therapy
 1943The Swiss chemist Albert Hofman accidentally discovers the
mind-altering qualities of LSD when he absorbs some through his
fingertips.
 1950-1960sMore than a thousand clinical papers are published
on psychedelic drug therapy involving 40,000 patients.
 1963The author Aldous Huxley, who is dying of laryngeal cancer,
asks for 100 micrograms of LSD.
 1966Three years after being fired from Harvard, Timothy Leary
founds a new religion, the League for Spiritual Discovery (LSD).
 1970The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classifies
psychedelics like LSD as Schedule I drugs --prohibiting their
medical use.

18. Questions for the Class
 Anyone have an mystical experience they care to
share whether induced by psychedelics or not?
 What do you think about the renewed research?
 Would you ever use psychedelics in your therapy if
they were acceptable? Why or why not?