What’s the architecture of a DMT experience, who are the entities that regularly interact and what’s their message? How can DMT therapy facilitate positive mental health outcomes?

In this episode we’re going to learn about the bizarre types of experience that users of DMT have; DMT being the most powerful hallucinogenic molecule on the planet. So we’ll be getting into the background of psychedelics for mental health; and the particularities of DMT, the active ingredient in Ahyuasca and the psychedelic that most often presents entities that interact meaningfully with the experiencer; we’re going to discuss the different types of entities: from mythological creatures, to Gods and Demons, to machine elves and aliens, and the significance of these same characters appearing significantly often without an obvious primer; we’ll also discuss the importance of mystical experience and teacher /guide experiences to positive mental health outcomes.

Fortunately our guest was the head researcher on a 2022 paper that looked at exactly this topic, the medical doctor and sports scientist professor at the University of Toronto, Dr. David Wyndham Lawrence. He’s published over 35 scientific papers across sports science and psychedelics for medical use.

What we discussed:

00:00 Intro

05:20 Concussion, sports mental health & psychedelic therapy.

08:10 Bringing in Robin Carhartt-Harris on the gaps in sports mental health treatment.

12:06 Why psychedelics for those already in psychological difficulty?

14:04 Serotonin receptor - neuro-protective mitochondria function.

15:00 DMT is endogenous to the brain. 

18:20 Medical institution meets shamanism.

23:50 David’s DMT phenomenology paper.

30:10 The architecture of the DMT world.

32:60 Mostly positive, interactive entity encounters.

37:05 Occasionally negative encounters.

38:40 Negative psychedelic experiences study - Jules Evans.

40:05 How much “Primers” from pop culture influence experiences.

44:00 Alien encounters in %16 of participants.

45:30 Medical procedures by entities in 9% of participants.

47:05 Mystical experiences in %70 of participants.

49:00 Familiarity/ sense of home in the experiences.

52:20 Default Mode Network is less active during altered states.

48:35 Ego dissolution Vs mystical experience.

01:00:00 5meoDMT Vs DMT.

01:03:20 Wise teacher experience in 32% of participants.

01:05:20 Death bed palliative doses to alleviate fear of death.

01:09:50 ‘You’re not ready for this experience’ message.

01:11:05 Theories of DMT experiences evaluated.

01:12:20 ”All models are false but some are useful”, anonymous statistician.

References: 

David Lawrence, “Phenomenology and content of inhaled DMT” 

David Wyndham Lawrence and Robin Carhart-Harris, “Sports Medicine, Mental Health & Well-Being, and Psychedelics” 

Benny Shanon,  “Antipodies of the Mind”

Matthew W. Johnson - Johns Hopkins

Andrew Gallimore - “Death by Astonishment”

Jules Evans et al, “Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs”

Similarities between DMT and Alien encounters paper

David W. Lawrence, “DMT Occasioned Familiarity and the Sense of Familiarity Questionnaire”

Roland Griffiths, “Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer”