Psychedelic Psychodynamics: Relational Knowing and the Unthought Known

After a two-decade moratorium on psychedelic research in the United States, new studies on psychedelic assisted psychotherapy have shown promising results for treating psychiatric disorders and improving well-being. Little has been written in contemporary psychoanalytic journals about using psychoanalytic theory to underpin this research. This paper examines three psychoanalytic concepts that may explain what is curative in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy: psychedelics as a catalyst for changing implicit relational patterns, the work of Winnicott and Christopher Bollas to explore the psychedelic experience, and the role of mystical experience in the therapy.

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Abstract

After a two-decade moratorium on psychedelic research in the United States, new studies on psychedelic assisted psychotherapy have shown promising results in the treatment of psychiatric disorders and the betterment of well people. Little has been written in contemporary psychoanalytic journals about the possible use of psychoanalytic theory as an underpinning for this research. This paper examines three concepts from psychoanalytic thinkers that may contribute to an understanding of what is curative in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy. First, I examine the possibility of psychedelics as a catalyst in changing a patient’s implicit relational patterns. Second, I use the work of Winnicott and Christopher Bollas to explore the psychedelic experience. Finally, I look at the role of mystical experience in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy.