Difference between revisions of "Psycholytic Therapy"

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[[Is a::Connection Therapy Type| ]]
[[Is a::Connection Therapy Type| ]]
[[Is a related term::Grof, Stanislav| ]]
[[Is a term::Grof, Stanislav| ]]
[[Is a term:Transpersonal Psychology | ]]
[[Is a related term::Transpersonal Realm| ]]
[[Is a related term::Transpersonal Realm| ]]
[[Is a related term::Psychedelic Therapy| ]]
[[Is a related term::Psychedelic Therapy| ]]

Revision as of 15:38, 24 December 2022

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

Groff calls the use of LSD (a Connection Supplement) to facilitate psychological therapy -- Psycholytic Treatement. "I felt strongly that LSD-assisted analysis could deepen, intensify, and accelerate the therapeutic process..." [2]

Notes that in sessions, people using LSD had experiences "indistinguishable from those described in the ancient mystical traditions and spiritual philosophies of the East."[3]

As described by Grof (1976), 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]

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. [5]

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.

Groff calls the use of LSD (a Connection Supplement) to facilitate psychological therapy Psycholytic Treatement. "I felt strongly that LSD-assisted analysis could deepen, intensify, and accelerate the therapeutic process..." [6]

Footnotes

  1. Armstrong, Anne. “The Challenges of Psychic Opening: A Personal Story.” In Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crises, 109–20. Penguin Putnam, 1989.
  2. 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
  3. 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.
  4. Grof Stanislav. Realms of the Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research. New York: Viking Pres, 1976. p. 21
  5. Grof Stanislav. Realms of the Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research. New York: Viking Press, 1976.
  6. 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