Psychedelics: Past, Present, and Future

Course Outline

This course includes six (6) recorded sessions. The topics covered in the six recorded sessions are:

Past:

• The Hero’s Journey: 10 Landmarks in Psychedelic History - In highlighting the discovery of LSD by Albert Hofmann in 1938, the development of LSD psychotherapy by Stanislav Grof in the 1950s, the dawn of the Psychedelic Renaissance in the 2000s, and the legalization/decriminalization movements of the 2010s, this session profiles courageous psychonauts and major events in the history and science of psychedelics.
• Storming Heaven: Psychedelics in Shamanism and World Religions - Explores the role of psychedelics in shamanism (Huichol of Mexico, Fang of Gabon, Siberian Reindeer Herders) and world religions (Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism), including their significance for healing and for generating the divine within. The presentation illustrated with Julie and Jerry Brown’s original photos of psychoactive mushrooms in medieval Christian art.

Present:

• Royal Road to the Unconscious: Psychedelics for Passion and Purpose - In the context of well-documented varieties of the psychedelic experience, this session engages an intimate conversation about set, setting, and personal psychedelic journeys to find a passionate life purpose (through psilocybin mushrooms), to choose love over fear in relationship (through LSD), and to overcome deep depression (through ayahuasca).
• The Second Coming of Psychedelics: Mystical Experience and Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy - Summarizes seminal studies on psychedelics and spiritual experience; explores the influential role of mystical experience generated in psychedelic clinical studies as the key to healing anxiety, depression, PTSD, and overcoming fear of death. Discusses the dynamics of the Psychedelic Renaissance including the “Psychedelic Underground,” a Code of Ethics for therapists and guides, and the new Neuroscience of Brain Imaging.

Future:

• Will Psychedelics Survive Success? Business, Law and Public Policy – Discusses the medical model vs. the decriminalization/legalization approach to mainstreaming psychedelics, proprietary commercialization of psychedelic therapy modalities, argument for “cognitive liberty," 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the 2020 Oregon Psilocybin Services Initiative, and microdosing as a potential game-changer.
• Follow the Path with Heart: Emerging Career Opportunities - Explores expanding career opportunities and professional specializations including: clinical research, neuroscience, and pharmacology; therapy guides and integration coaches; microdosing consultants; non-profit education and political activism; news media and communications. It also discusses entrepreneurial innovations by psychedelic medicine companies and the future establishment of psychedelic mental health clinics and sacred centers.

This course is appropriate for healthcare practitioners, professionals, and the general public. Each session will include resources (articles, podcasts, videos) for further study supplemented by an extensive course bibliography; a list of the 100 most influential people in psychedelics; and a directory of key organizations, research centers, and therapy training programs.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain key landmarks and seminal discoveries in the history and science of psychedelics.

• Discuss clinical applications of psychedelics in the context of past and contemporary scientific research and public policy.

• Explain the role of sacred psychoactive plants in Indigenous shamanic practices and in world religions.

• Discuss the implications of past use of sacred plants for current practices (guiding, healing, spirituality) and policies (ecological conservation, Indigenous protection, religious freedom).

• Explain the varieties of psychedelic experience as guidelines for safe, therapeutic, and spiritual inner journeys.

• Apply transpersonal theories to understanding the potential of psychedelics for facilitating psychological healing, generating personal growth, and revealing passionate purpose.

• Explicate the role of controlled, clinical studies in overcoming the decades-long ban on psychedelic research with human subjects and in launching the Psychedelic Renaissance primarily in the U.S. and Europe.

• Discuss the seminal role of mystical experiences (as documented by the Johns Hopkins MEQ30) in psychological healing (addiction, depression, PTSD) and possibly in physiological healing as well (cancer, pain management).

• Compare the pros and cons of diverse approaches to mainstreaming psychedelics, including the business, medical, decriminalization/legalization, and religious freedom models.

• Discuss the implications of the proprietary IP commercialization of synthetic psychedelics and therapeutic modalities for open scientific research and praxis, and for developing affordable, standardized treatment protocols available to large numbers of clients.

• Explore emerging psychedelic career opportunities in academia, business, coaching, creativity, education, law, media, public policy, religion, research, and therapy.

• Apply an understanding of these career opportunities to designing a personal career track, professional specialization and/or lifelong learning agenda in the field of psychedelics