The History & Future of Psychedelic Therapy - Jules Evans
Psychedelic therapy is at a historic moment, as the US state of Oregon prepares to legalize it next year, and other US states look set to follow. Companies preparing to offer psychedelic therapy have raised over $5 billion on US stock markets. Hundreds of people are training to be psychedelic therapists or facilitators, and thousands more are on waiting lists for training programs.
What shape will the psychedelic future take and what opportunities do they hold for patients and practitioners?
What theories underline psychedelic therapy?
What are the risks?
This talk will be in four parts. First, it will look at the history of psychedelic therapy, focusing particularly on the 1950s and early 1960s in the US. Second, it will look at the contemporary psychedelic renaissance, and how it builds on the research ideas of the 1950s and 60s. Third, it will speculate on how the field will develop into two different paths – medicalized psychedelic therapy, and psychedelic spirituality. Fourth, it will consider difficult psychedelic experiences and the challenge of integration.
Reading Recommendations:
- How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
- Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research by Stanislav Grof
- Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream by Jay Stevens
- Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom by Andy Letcher
- Holiday from the Self: An Accidental Ayahuasca Adventure by Jules Evans
- BBC, The Psychedelic Drug Trial
About the Speaker:
Jules Evans
Jules Evans is an honorary research fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He also teaches the History of Psychedelics at the Synthesis Institute in Holland. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations (2012), The Art of Losing Control (2017) and Holiday from the Self (2019) and the co-editor of Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergency (2021). You can sign up for his newsletter at www.philosophyforlife.org
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Next Event:
- University of Greenwich, London
- 18/12/2022
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Upcoming at TWU
This episode is sponsored by our upcoming Day on Parts (In Person) Conference.
Taking place at the University of Greenwich on 18th December, this groundbreaking lecture series will explore the most effective approaches for working with, healing, and reintegrating parts, with the following talks confirmed:
— Internal Family Systems: Healing Trauma & Restoring Wholeness – Dr Richard Schwartz, PhD (via live video feed)
— Compassion Focused Therapy & Parts – Dr Kate Lucre
— Dialectical Behaviour Therapy & Personality Disorders – Dr Janet Feigenbaum
The talks are CPD accredited, with a certificate qualifying you for five hours of CPD. Should you be unable to attend in person, you can also tune in from the comfort of home with a “livestream pass.”
As a member of the TWU community, you can get a discount on your ticket, if you go to https://bit.ly/Parts-2022, and use the discount code: POD when registering.
