Connection Therapy

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Connection TherapyTM is a psychological therapy that focuses on three forms of connection, connection between self and one's Significant Others, connection between self and one's environment, and connection between self and one's Higher Self, Atman, Soul, or Spiritual Ego. Connection Therapy moves forward in three parts, part therapy, part psycho education, and part needs satisfaction.

Types of Connection Therapy

Connection Therapy > Fusion Therapy, Psychedelic Therapy, Psycholytic Therapy, Transpersonal Nursing

Related LP Terms

Connection Therapy > Connection Coach, Connection Supplement, Connection Therapist, LP Protocol, Self Assessment

Non-LP Related Terms

Connection Therapy > Inner Radar, Perinatal Matrices, Psychedelic Introspection, Trauma-Focused Therapy, Womb Room

Notes

CT uses various Connection Practices (including the use of Connection Supplements) to facilitate access to suppressed materials. Connection therapy is aimed at facilitating insight and analysis. Connection therapy leverages the power and wisdom of one's Spiritual Ego (or some other location within the Fabric of Consciousness), to help with the healing process.

Connection therapy may be conducted with the use of Connection Supplements, like LSD. Stanislav Grof pioneered two types of Connection Therapy, Psychedelic Therapy and Psycholytic Therapy.

Connection Therapy facilitates connection to deeper levels of the human psyche, as well as connection with "transpersonal" realities. Operationally, connection therapy helps blast through various Awareness Reduction Mechanisms, making the client aware of various psychological traumas, and putting them in touch with their own Spiritual Ego, or with some other location in The Fabric.

Grof considers connection therapies superior to Verbal Therapies. He notes, "From the practical point of view, it seems that the confrontation of transpersonal levels of the unconscious might be a condition sine qua non for effective treatment of certain clinical conditions."[1]

Grof notes that Connection Therapy works by putting oneself in touch with one's own "healing intelligence" or "inner healer."[2] In LP terms, connection therapy works because it helps connect you to your powerful Spiritual Ego or some other location with thin Fabric of Consciousness

Connection therapies are not magic bullets. Our planet's socialization system is extremely toxic (see Toxic Socialization and the damage done to an individual's brain and Bodily Ego is profound. A Grof notes, several sessions may be required to successfully process the full gamut of traumas created as a consequence of our violent and toxic system.[3]

Phases

Preller and Vollenweider propose three intensity phases of connection therapy of "psychedelic states," that an individual under the influence of longer acting Connection Supplements pass through: onset, peak, and gradual return to Normal Consciousness,[4] as measured by subjectively by Subjective Drug Intensity (SDI).[5] These three phases are modelled neurologically in psylocybin experiences by tracking agonism of the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR binding) using positron emission tomography (PET).[6]

Anxiety during the onset phase has been associated with decreased therapeutic efficacy.[7]

Music

Connection therapy, particularly those conducted with the assistance of Connection Supplements may be facilitated and supported by proper music choices.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Messel et. al. provide a carefully curated Spotify playlist here.

According to Bonny and Pahnke[15] music helps by "helping the patient relinquish usual controls and enter more fully into [their] inner world of experience," "by facilitating the release of intense emotionality," and by "contributing towards a Peak Experience"

Kaelen et. al [16] find that music has both "welcome" and "unwelcome" influences on patients subjective experiences. "Welcome influences included the evocation of personally meaningful and therapeutically useful emotion and mental imagery, a sense of guidance, openness, and the promotion of calm and a sense of safety. Conversely, unwelcome influences included the evocation of unpleasant emotion and imagery, a sense of being misguided and resistance." The authors also provide some speculation on the therepeutic mechanisms of [wiki]Connection Supplements[/wiki].

Footnotes

  1. Grof, Stanislav. Theoretical and Empirical Basis of Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy: Observations from LSD Research. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 5, no. 1 (June 1973): 15–53. p. 51.
  2. Grof, Stanislav. Psychology For the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research.” Spirituality Studies 2, no. 1 (2016): 3–36. p. 31. https://www.spirituality-studies.org/dp-volume2-issue1-spring2016/#2.
  3. Grof, Stanislav. Theoretical and Empirical Basis of Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy: Observations from LSD Research. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 5, no. 1 (June 1973): 15–53.
  4. Preller, Katrin H, and Franz X Vollenweider. “Phenomenology, Structure, and Dynamic of Psychedelic States.” Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 36 (January 2018): 221–56. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2016_459
  5. Stenbæk, Dea Siggaard, Martin Korsbak Madsen, Brice Ozenne, Sara Kristiansen, Daniel Burmester, David Erritzoe, Gitte Moos Knudsen, and Patrick MacDonald Fisher. “Brain Serotonin 2A Receptor Binding Predicts Subjective Temporal and Mystical Effects of Psilocybin in Healthy Humans.” Journal of Psychopharmacology 35, no. 4 (April 1, 2021): 459–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881120959609.
  6. Stenbæk, Dea Siggaard, Martin Korsbak Madsen, Brice Ozenne, Sara Kristiansen, Daniel Burmester, David Erritzoe, Gitte Moos Knudsen, and Patrick MacDonald Fisher. “Brain Serotonin 2A Receptor Binding Predicts Subjective Temporal and Mystical Effects of Psilocybin in Healthy Humans.” Journal of Psychopharmacology 35, no. 4 (April 1, 2021): 459–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881120959609.
  7. Aust, Sabine, Matti Gärtner, Laura Basso, Christian Otte, Katja Wingenfeld, Woo Ri Chae, Isabella Heuser-Collier, et al. “Anxiety during Ketamine Infusions Is Associated with Negative Treatment Responses in Major Depressive Disorder.” European Neuropsychopharmacology : The Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology 29, no. 4 (April 2019): 529–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2019.02.005
  8. Messell, Catharina, Lisa Summer, Beck, and Dea Siggaard Stenbaek. “Music Programming for Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy: Guided Imagery and Music-Informed Perspectives.” Frontiers in Psychology 17, no. November (2022): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.873455.
  9. Frederick Barrett, Katrin Preller, and Mendel Kaelen, “Psychedelics and Music: Neuroscience and Therapeutic Implications,” International Review of Psychiatry 30 (September 21, 2018): 1–13, doi:10.1080/09540261.2018.1484342
  10. Messell, Catharina, Lisa Summer, Beck, and Dea Siggaard Stenbaek. “Music Programming for Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy: Guided Imagery and Music-Informed Perspectives.” Frontiers in Psychology 17, no. November (2022): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.873455.
  11. Mendel Kaelen et al., “The Hidden Therapist: Evidence for a Central Role of Music Inpsychedelic Therapy,” Psychopharmacology 235, no. 2 (February 1, 2018): 505–19, doi:10.1007/s00213-017-4820-5
  12. Frederick S. Barrett et al., “Qualitative and Quantitative Features of Music Reported to Support Peak Mystical Experiences during Psychedelic Therapy Sessions,” Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2017), https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01238
  13. Helen L. Bonny and Walter N. Pahnke, “The Use of Music in Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy.,” Journal of Music Therapy 9 (1972): 64–87, doi:10.1093/jmt/9.2.64
  14. E. Thayer Gaston and Charles T. Eagle Jr., “The Function of Music in LSD Therapy for Alcoholic Patients.,” Journal of Music Therapy 7, no. 1 (1970): 3–19
  15. Bonny, Helen L., and Walter N. Pahnke. “The Use of Music in Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy.” Journal of Music Therapy 9 (1972): 64–87. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/9.2.64
  16. Kaelen, Mendel, Bruna Giribaldi, Jordan Raine, Lisa Evans, Christopher Timmerman, Natalie Rodriguez, Leor Roseman, Amanda Feilding, David Nutt, and Robin Carhart-Harris. “The Hidden Therapist: Evidence for a Central Role of Music Inpsychedelic Therapy.” Psychopharmacology 235, no. 2 (February 1, 2018): 505–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4820-5.