Intoxication and Dissociation in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy

Solid clinical research is key to psychedelic therapy earning its place as a safe and effective mainstream treatment. However, even as that data is presently being produced, many clinicians express uneasiness about a treatment that evokes intoxication, dissociation, or both, as a central part of a potentially deeply therapeutic process. This talk will examine and question the presumption that intoxication and dissociation are likely to be detrimental to mental health, and are unlikely to be part of a safe and enduring process of growth and positive change. These beliefs stand in the way of understanding psychedelic therapy and integrating it meaningfully into traditional clinical work. We will look at both intoxication and dissociation from a number of perspectives, in an attempt to expand our understanding of how psychedelic therapy works and help it find its place in mainstream psychiatric and psychological discourse. This course offers 2 hours of CE credit.

Learning Objectives:  
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the state of intoxication as a part of psilocybin assisted therapy models

• Describe how dissociative states during psychedelic states may be therapeutic

• Compare and contrast dissociative states to psychedelic state.