Psycholytic Therapy
Psycholytic therapy is a term first used by Stanislav Grof to describe his successful use of moderate doses of LSD to treat a wide range of neurotic and psychotic psychopathologies. Psycholytic therapy involves Connection Supplements and Connection Practices which leads to recovery and resolution of repressed psychodynamic, perinatal and even past life trauma. [1]
Types of Connection Therapy
Connection Therapy > Fusion Therapy, Psychedelic Therapy, Psycholytic Therapy, Transpersonal Nursing
Related LP Terms
Psycholytic Therapy > LP Protocol
Non-LP Related Terms
Psycholytic Therapy > COEX Systems, Perinatal Matrices, Psychedelic Introspection, Psychedelic Therapy, Verbal Psychotherapy
Notes
Grof's Protocol.
Psycholytic therapy is low to moderate dose therapy with a Connection Supplement, conducted within a "analytically orientated psychotherapy."[2]
Grof feels strongly that "LSD-assisted analysis could deepen, intensify, and accelerate the therapeutic process..." [3]
As described by Grof, psycholytic therapy involves an extensive prepatory stage where the therapist administers "drug-free" psychotherapy in order to establish boundaries, client orientation, and healthy and trusting therapeutic relationship. This is followed by several sessions of moderate-dose LSD therapy, starting with 100 micrograms and increasing until an "optimum dosage" is determined. According to Grof (1976: 21), "Criterion for the optimum dose were an adequate depth of self-exploration, the overcoming of important psychological defenses, the emergence of sufficient amount of unconscious material, and, at the same time, the ability to maintain a good therapeutic content." [4]
Grof reports 2-3 weeks of predatory psychotherapy followed by between 15 to 80 LSD sessions with an interval of between 1-2 weeks. "Intensive psychotherapeutic help is offered to the patient during the drug sessions as well as in the intervals between the sessions. This method represents an intensification and acceleration of dynamic psychotherapy. According to the nature of the emerging unconscious material, Freudian, Rankian, or Jungian approach might be used in various stages of the treatment."[5] Compare this to Grof's Psychedelic Therapy protocol which uses high dosages of LSD (300 to 500mg) in a setting aimed at facilitating religious experience.
Note that in sessions, people using LSD had experiences "indistinguishable from those described in the ancient mystical traditions and spiritual philosophies of the East."[6]
Additional Considerations
Careful attention to Set and Setting is critical to the success of psycholytic therapy. This includes a "modification" of the standard impersonality of psychodynamic therapies, and the introduction of "experiential" devices like listening to music, having a pleasing environment, and so on. [7]
During the experience, the therapist stays with the patient (the experiencer). Because of the length of the typical LSD experience, this can require a commitment of between twelve and sixteen hours. Following this, Grof advises patients not be left without supervision. In between sessions, drug-free de-briefing and analysis sessions are provided where the primary therapeutic task is identifying meaninful patterns and recovered traumas to linking clinical and personality problems in an attempt to resolve, reconsolidate, and free the individual of neurotic or psychotic symptoms. Throughout the course of psycholytic therapy, detailed clinical records are kept.
Footnotes
- ↑ Armstrong, Anne. “The Challenges of Psychic Opening: A Personal Story.” In Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crises, 109–20. Penguin Putnam, 1989.
- ↑ Grof, Stanislav. “Varieties of Transpersonal Experiences: Observations from LSD Psychotherapy.” Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 4, no. 1 (1972): 45–80. p. 48.
- ↑ Grof, Christina, and Stanislav Grof. The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth Through Transformational Crises. TarcherPerigee, 1992. https://amzn.to/2UtkgP1. p. 22
- ↑ Grof Stanislav. Realms of the Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research. New York: Viking Pres, 1976. p. 21
- ↑ Grof, Stanislav. “Varieties of Transpersonal Experiences: Observations from LSD Psychotherapy.” Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 4, no. 1 (1972): 45–80. p. 48.
- ↑ Grof, Christina, and Stanislav Grof. The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth Through Transformational Crises. Penguin, 1990. https://amzn.to/2UtkgP1. p. 23.
- ↑ Grof Stanislav. Realms of the Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research. New York: Viking Press, 1976.
