Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories | Psychotherapy, Trauma, and Psychedelics

The podcast Psychedelics Today recently released a two part interview with Will Hall, an author, podcaster, therapist, and voice of the anti-psychiatry community. This BFTA episode came about after Dr. H reached out to the hosts of PT and asked for a counterpoint to Will's complete dismissal of psychiatry as a meaningful part of the mental health treatment community. 

Here Dr. H  presents a more nuanced, balanced, and hopeful perspective, one that recognizes the harm that psychiatrists and other physicians have caused in the past and continue to cause today, while also asking that we try to lean into the positive, to identify and celebrate what works for people, to reject the black/white thinking that calls for tearing down systems which are, by their very nature, messy and imperfect, just as we humans are messy and imperfect. 

Psychedelics Today
https://psychedelicstoday.com

Dr. H and BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

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Dr. H sits down with his friend Brian, who watched his daughter, and then his wife, plunge into the depressive abyss.   This is the journey of a father and husband, of a "we can fix this" engineer trying to find a path through the ambiguity and uncertainty of psychiatric treatment.

This is the second in an intermittent series of family members describing their journey of trying to support their loved ones through their darkest times.



Grief and loss raft trips (mentioned by Brian)
https://www.pathfindersforyou.org

Dr. H/Back from the Abyss
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

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In this third of an intermittent series about therapists in the abyss, Dr. H sits down with his colleague  Dr. Elena Estanol, a Colorado-based psychologist, to explore Elena's "fourth dark night of the soul".  Her story serves as a springboard for exploring how to cope with the randomness of life,  learning to go inward to heal relational wounds, differentiating pain vs suffering, and finding peace with who shows up for us and who doesn't.

Dr. Elena Estanol
https://www.synapsewellness.com/

Dr. H and BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

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Dr. H finds a trove of patient letters from the last 15 years and shares three of the most poignant, using each as a springboard for lessons learned.

Dr. H and BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

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After a difficult final year of high school, Tessa hoped and prayed that her youngest son would make the transition to college and find a way to thrive. He would be only an hour away, he wanted to go, and she was hopeful that getting a new start there could reverse whatever was happening to him. Yet just two months into his freshman year, it was apparent that he was sinking fast into a maelstrom of panic, body dysmorphia, delusions, and hopelessness.

This is Tessa's story of trying to find the strength, and eventually, the self-compassion, to both find help for her son as well as work through her own guilt and shame.

Book recommendation (from Tessa)
The Stressed Years of Their Lives: Helping Your Kid Survive and Thrive During Their College Years

BFTA and Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

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Trauma embeds in the complex zone between body and spirit, deep within the realm of primary consciousness. The typical psychiatric approaches of meds and talk therapy rarely access these unconscious realms. In prior episodes of BFTA, we have heard accounts of healing these deep wells of trauma with EMDR, psilocybin, and MDMA-- this episode highlights the unexpected power of a loving teacher and a guided spiritual practice.

Jeff Finlin, a Colorado-based singer/songwriter and recovery coach, shares his story of recovery after recovery, accessing his embodied trauma and deeper self years into sobriety, through a practice of the breath and self-compassion.


Jeff Finlin
https://www.jefffinlin.com

Back from the Abyss and Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

On Twitter @bftapod

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In the first half of this two part mini-episode, Dr. H explores the four stages where fully dissociative doses of ketamine can get a little rocky: 
*reaching escape velocity
*re-entry
*dissociative shatter
*post-session processing

What if a psychiatrist were allowed to ask only one question at a session....what might that be? In the second part of this episode, Dr. H ties together sleep, mood, hormone cycling, friendships, work, circadian rhythm, addiction, and dogs vs cats into just one question.

Comments, suggestions, questions? We'd love to hear them! Email us via https://www.craigheacockmd.com or message us on Twitter @bftapod

If you haven’t already, please do write us a review!

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Saj Razvi (of Innate Path and Psychedelic Somatic Institute) returns to BFTA to help Craig do a deep dive into listener questions.

Have questions you want us to address in a future episode? Email them via craigheacockmd.com 

Psychedelic Somatic Institute
psychedelicsomatic.org

Video showing somatic/primary consciousness trauma work catalyzed by THC
https://vimeo.com/442544334

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We typically think of addiction as a symptom of a deeper issue, such as trauma or a psychiatric disorder. Sometimes, however, addiction is the main event, and powerlessness is the starting point, not some ambiguous distant stop on the substance abuse train.

Lena fell hard into addiction by sixth grade and by all rights should have been dead or imprisoned long ago.  Yet today she is fully alive, deeply grateful, and six years clean and sober.

Dr. H and Lena explore her journey out of darkness and the varied and often surprising roles that jail, a caring probation officer, Suboxone, and a seemingly random visit by two near strangers all combined to help her change the course of her life.


Dr. H and Back from the Abyss
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

On Twitter @bftapod

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Step inside Dr. H's office to eavesdrop on a therapy session with his patient Jasmine (from the Delta Flight Attendant episode in season 1).  This session explores an extremely painful but ultimately transformative relationship that Jasmine had with a much older man just prior to starting therapy. Relationships are human growth machines, and Dr. H and Jasmine unpack what she learned about idealization, her defaulting to black/white thinking, setting boundaries, what it means to be a "friend", and assigning guilt and blame/shame.

Dr. H/ Back from the Abyss
https://www.craigheacockmd.com