(The new psychiatry, utilizing psychedelic assisted therapy, is religious, not medical.)
The interpretation of dreams was considered by Freud to be the "royal road to the unconscious," as dreams contain an inexhaustible source of psychic material manifesting itself in our unconscious, albeit in a cryptic way. The psychedelic experience could be considered an even "better" royal road since it can be induced at will and allows a better recollection of the experience. Freud hypothesized in 1940 that if we were ever to discover "specific chemical substances" that influenced the "psychic apparatus," this would result in unsuspected possibilities for therapy. Today, these substances are at our disposal....
Jung's analytical psychology is perhaps one of the most useful schools for the analysis of psychedelic content, given its spiritual nature....
There are many techniques that use body movement as a tool for introspection or transcendence: Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms (1989), trance dance, ecstatic dance, the Sufi dances of the dervishes....
Rather sophisticated ways of using song and musical composition are found in traditions such as in the ayahuasca church of the Santo Daime, in which some participants "receive" songs--or hymns--during their sessions and later compile them into a "hymnal," which then becomes part of the doctrine.
There is a particular synergy between meditation in all its different varieties and the integration of non-ordinary experiences that makes their combination especially useful. Those with prior meditation experience often find their meditation practice is more effortless and more profound after an experience in non-ordinary states of consciousness. It seems that it becomes easier, after a visionary experience, to remain in states of concentration, mindfulness, and equanimity. In turn, people experienced in non-ordinary states of consciousness often feel that meditation allows them to ground the contents of the experience and remain connected to the higher states they have encountered in their psychedelic experiences.
Although the spiritual dimensions of the psychedelic experience are perhaps the best known or at least the most historically emphasized, they are often the most difficult to truly integrate.
Although sometimes a spiritual experience manifests so clearly and overwhelmingly that it leaves an indelible mark, it can prove quite difficult to reconcile these states with our baseline physical reality and all its contradictions and painful situations. However, these dimensions hold perhaps the most tremendous therapeutic and evolutionary potential, with the power to help humanity as a whole, beyond our individual intra-psychic conflicts.
The altar becomes a tangible and observable testimony of our experience. It contains elements related to the transcendental dimensions of the experience, reflecting our personal connection with the spiritual dimensions.... For some people, the altar is considered sacred during their integration processes, and it can become a permanent fixture in our homes, dedicated to our relationship with spirituality.
Responsibility for our own decisions and actions is a sign of spiritual maturity.
Rituals focused on healing have been used in practically all traditions, from shamanic cultures--such as the Andean people--all the way to Christianity, which still carries out exorcisms. Some schools of psychotherapy prescribe ritualized behavioral sequences with therapeutic intentions. Perhaps Alejandro Jodorowsky has come the closest to a new psychological shamanism, articulating and describing his psychomagic (psicomagia) practices--clearly another form of the ritual.... The prescription of rituals in the way we have outlined here requires a skilled and creative therapist who is honest, humble, and sensitive.
I totally love his phrase, "...a new psychological shamanism."
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