How do we integrate the intense experiences of psychedelic therapy for long term benefits? Can we apply those learnings to existential exploration in general?

In this episode we have the fascinating topic of ‘psychedelic integration’ to get our head around. Integration is a crucial part of any psychotherapy process, but perhaps even more so when those suffering experience psychedelic compounds in their treatment program. Many subjects of the new psychedelic treatments for depression and ADHD, have life changing experiences that often go against everything they have come to believe about themselves and the world. So regardless of how positive that can be to the meaning of their lives, it’s clear that some pretty sensitive guidance and processing needs to take place for the therapy to shift their day to day life long-term. And interestingly the same tools we’ll discuss can be used for all of us to navigate our own existential exploration.

So who better to help us explain this and offer some tools for navigating these tricky experiences than clinical psychologist and author Dr. Kile Ortigo. Kile is the founder of the Center for Existential Exploration in Palo Alto California; he’s hugely influenced by psychologist Carl Jung and Jospeh Campbell and specialises in treating trauma, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and addiction, with a particular sensitivity to gender identity issues. He’s just written a book about the topic Beyond the Narrow Life: A Guide for Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration

What we discuss in this episode:

00:00 Intro

06:00 Integration in therapy

09:44 Integration of psychedelic experiences

12:13 Preparation for the unknown - Kile’s new book ‘Psychedelic integration’

17:00 Re-finding initiation; analogy with preparation

21:00 The risks of self-initiation

23:25 Is meaning built into existence?

28:00 Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey

31:30 The symbolism of the battles in the myths

34:00 The shadow - ‘a moral problem’ Jung

35:00 Monomyth is a misnoma

38:00 The Heroine’s journey - Maureen Murdoch

41:30 MDMA therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

43:45 Preparation - medicine journey - integration; 3 Arcs

46:00 The risk of re-trauma if the patient is not prepared

49:45 The rewards from existential exploration and integration

54:00 The exciting mystery of the unknown - making friends with the unknown

References:

Kile’s new Book Beyond the Narrow Life: A Guide for Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration,

'The Shadow' according to Jung

Collective Unconscious episode #6

Individuation according to C.G.Jung

Jospeh Campbell’s Hero’s Journey episode