Psychedelic Medicines in a Therapeutic Context with Jeffrey Guss, MD

“The autobiographical stage [in a psilocybin experience] is where a great deal of important work happens. One of the most important things that happens during this phase is the emergence of what is truly valued by the individual. Consider when there is a cancer diagnosis - it seems that at that point everything about them falls away except their body, their cancer, their chemo, their vomiting and so forth. Their values and relationships often suffer, and the importance of this, the need for this returns [during this autobiographical stage] in a very vivid dynamic almost forceful way.”     Episode Description: We discuss the history of plant medicines over the millennium as well as the recent research into their medical benefits that took place in the 1950s and 60s. We review the current studies on the role of psychedelic therapies with cancer related anxieties, severe depression, addictions and PTSD as well as with eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive conditions. Dr. Guss describes the various levels of transcendence that may occur while using psilocybin and how it may deepen an individual's awareness of the interconnections among living beings. Finally, we review how the careful clinical use of these substances may be usefully applied adjunctively to an ongoing depth psychotherapy.   Our Guest: Jeffrey Guss, MD is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine. He is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has been practicing for 30 years. He is active in numerous psychedelic research projects with the NYU School of Medicine and Yale University. He is a graduate of the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and is a Lead Trainer with Fluence (www.fluence8.com) a teaching center specializing in psychedelic integration. Dr.Guss is interested in studying and developing the relationship between psychedelics and psychoanalysis.