Podcasts about heffter

Listen to this fun conversationwith @indwell_movement and @abbymwong and myself@artoflivingcounselingcenter as we talk about attachment,somatic body movement, and group work in the context ofstory. I love these fierce, brilliant and playful woman and welove doing our Trauma Focused Narrative Group Trainingsand would love to have you join us for our upcoming springcohort. Deadline for registration is Friday February 24th. Sosign up today. You can find out more information and registerwhen you click the link in my bio or visitartoflivingcounseling.com under Trainings. We would love tojourney with you!The Teaching teach and coaches:@abbymwong@indwell_movement@luisdaniellecastillejo@rebecca.w.walston@artoflivingcounselingcenter#traumainformed#collectivetrauma#somaticmovement#attachment#inclusive#trainings#racialequity#continuingeducation

Angie Hong is a worship leader, writer, and speaker. She has completing her master's of divinity from Duke University and lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her spouse and two children.Angie's Article in the Atlantic "The Flaw at the Center Purity Culture"Atlanta Spa Shooting - March 17, 2021Resources:The Folly of 'Purity Politics'     - A new book by Julie Beck that argues for the value of owning up to your imperfections.Link to The Purity Culture Research Collective that Jenny is a part of.Unpacking Purity Culture, Sex and Race (link here)May 22, 2022, 9AM-12:30PM PST"The Purity Culture teaching and movement has had a profound impact on shaping our identity in terms of our faith, sexuality, body, race, and gender.  It has helped to create an intense shame and beliefs of imbalances and distortions of power.  Left unattended these impacts have contributed to creating environments ripe for greater shame, abuse, and sexual disfunction.  Our hope in creating this panel discussion is to Unpack Purity Culture and to allow space, curiosity, and care for those who have been shaped by its teaching."Abby Wong- Heffter -  I reside and work on Duwamish land and identify as a cis, straight, mixed Chinese woman of color. I graduated from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology with a MA in Counseling Psychology after having completed my clinical internship in war-affected Northern Uganda, East Africa. Since obtaining my MA, I worked as a therapist for children and families in crisis. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Child Mental Health Specialist in the state of Washington. In addition to practicing therapy, I teach at The Seattle School as Affiliate Faculty and created the Concentration in Trauma and Abuse. I am also a founder of the Allender Center where I train and supervise clinicians who seek to specialize in Trauma-Informed Narrative Therapy. In my “former life” I worked in various social service realms where I acted as a case manager at an international adoption agency and a women and family's homeless shelter.Jenny McGrath - I have spent over a decade researching the ways in which the body can heal from trauma through movement and connection. I have come to see that our bodies know what they need.  By approaching our body with curiosity we can begin to listen to the innate wisdom our body has to teach us.  And that is where the magic happens! I was raised within fundamentalist Christianity. I have been, and am still on my own journey of healing from religious trauma and religious sexual shame (as well as white saviorism).  I am a white, straight, able-bodied, cis woman. I recognize the power and privilege this affords me socially, and I am committed to understanding my bias' and privilege in the work that I do.  I am LGBTQIA+ affirming and actively engage critical race theory and consultation to see a better way forward that honors all bodies of various sizes, races, ability, religion, gender, and sexuality. Danielle S. Rueb - Castillejo - I hold an MA in Counseling in Psychology from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate in Washington State, story lover, owner of Way-Finding Therapy, podcaster, avid reader, writer, adventurer and advocate. I love the anticipation of Spring and Summer in the Northwest - the long days and sunlight we miss in the dark winters. You can easily find me out on a trail, laughing, cooking with my kids, or working in my yard.Maggie Hemphill -  Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, I live with my husband and our three kids in the greater Seattle area where we are close to family, water and mountains.  Trained for three years  (2019-2022) at the Allender Center in Narrative Focused Trauma Care learning to listen to and hold stories of trauma, bringing curiosity and kindness, offering attunement and containment and helping people move towards healing and redemption. I'm a Certified Professional Coach doing 1:1 life coaching and Story Groups. 

Jenny McGrath is a licensed mental health counselor who does somatic psychotherapy and teaches movement. She offers online classes and courses that help individuals find their way back to their body. She is passionate about helping folks who grew up in fundamental Christianity work through deconstruction in a way that honors their faith and their body.  She is researching purity culture and Christian nationalism by focusing on the impact of purity culture on people's subjective experience as well as the social impacts of the movement. You can learn more about Jenny and her work at www.indwellmovement.comAbby Wong-Heffter grew up in the Pacific Northwest with a 1st generation Chinese father and a white mother. Her experience of evangelical church and Christian education had her often in the experience of being a minority and haunted with a feeling of being on the “outside.” Abby is passionate about freedom for people at the cross sections of sexual and spiritual abuse, race, and our longing to belong.  She currently teaches at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology as well as The Allender Center for Trauma and Abuse. Her primary work is offering psychotherapy where she specializes in the experience of transracial adopted adults, childhood sexual abuse survivors, and those addressing racial identity. She also supervises new clinicians in a narrative approach and consults and coaches organizations working toward liberation.Purity Culture. Salt-n-Pepa's "Let's Talk About Sex Baby!"Abby's Guilty Pleasure was John Mayer's Your Body's A Wonderland. Jenny says, Salt-n-Pepa were singing these songs about sex and sexuality in the middle of the AIDS crisis. It was so powerful. Danielle remembers being introduced to “secular music” like Missy Elliot and not being able to stop listening to it. She felt deeply connected. Abby says it was right and good for her to have a crush on an older married man because it was “Christian” – speaking of her Michael W Smith poster in her bedroom. Danielle asks who came up with this shit?Jenny said it was a conglomerate but one of the biggest contributors was the True Love Waits Campaign of 1993. A large group of youth gathered in Washington DC to put their “purity cards” staking in government land. This was the time of “purity rings” and “purity conferences.” Soon after the infamous book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” came out. All these things were happening within the first few years of the 1990s.Abby said it feels like it was built upon the work of James Dobson and Focus on the Family –There was a big push on families and for the Christian community to create manuals for “How to Raise Your Children Godly.” There were conversations about appropriate touching, and messaging around massages and dances leading to sex. Purity culture had a big platform to build off of. Focus on the Family was the foundation for the churches Danielle grew up, for how to view family.Jenny adds it was a very narrow, white heteronormative patriarchal view of family. James Dobson talked about how he didn't agree with interracial marriage because people were unequally yoked. There were other racists ideas propagated as well. Focus on the Family was always about focusing on the White Christian Patriarchal Heteronormative family. Danielle says looking back she can now see why I never felt at peace in any of these places. It feels less crazy-making; it was designed to be this way. Abby talks about the intersection of purity culture and race—she says converge in the vision that was cast of a knight in shining armor was saving the damsel in destress who was a Northern European female, pure and virginal. It was this place where the “holiness and goodness” of being chosen met the standard/ideal (of womanhood) that she could never fit as a woman of Asian ancestry. Because she could not change her ethnicity, she focused on what she could control: her purity, and being rigid with rules. Jenny hears in that the set up for continued/perpetuation of harm. The only access to power that Abby would have is by disempowering her own agency, her own body. It was taking any sense of choice and desire off the table. It stripped her of agency, voice and consent. Abby had proximity to the language around “the Jezebel,” though she didn't grow up with it. So where there could be any sense of power, even in being able to flirt, it had already been deemed bad. She could honestly not think of a worse word in the Christian culture to call a woman. Where young people are meant to learn to play, explore and rein in their sexuality, she would be made fun of for not doing it right or she would be called some form of “slut.” This is a place where we come into our power—learning how to bring ourselves sexually into the world. Jenny agrees. Sexuality is not compartmentalized—it is intertwined in how we show up in other areas of our lives. So the purity culture takes away freedom and curiosity. Jenny, as a white heteronormative woman did fit the ideal of “purity” [that Abby was talking about] and it led to a sense of needing to be dissociated. Whether it was flirting or enjoying a PG 13 movie, there was immediately shame for her. She felt she would have to spend hours journaling to purge her sin. The only thing that was safe was to be completely disconnected from sexuality, from eroticism, from life. All the things that are a part of being embodied beings.Danielle, having grown up as a child who's been traumatized sexually, she felt like she would always have to ask for forgiveness and she would never attain it. There was a sense of “will I ever get to heaven?” There was no framework for sexual trauma, abuse or harm. It was all lumped in the same boat of “purity.” At that point, you're always striving for something you know you can never get to. It was maddening and so she eventually gave up. Danielle said others would change themselves, through eating or exercise, to try to get rid of this thing that happened to me since they could never be pure?Abby said even the language is crazy-making. In Youth Group, or in her case she went to a Christian High School, there was “cute-sy” form of sex education – purity culture is married to false naivety that doesn't acknowledge that 1 out of 2 kids has been sexually abused. They treated kids like they have a lack of experience in the world as teenagers, and that there is some way to be pure now without having named/acknowledged what they've already been exposed to by this age. It required the kid to stay ignorant. Abby said that for Danielle it would be she would have to remain an outcast because she already knew something of this “thing” (sex) that is being talked about. Danielle said it is like already knowing the end of the story, and know more than your teacher. You're not supposed to know, and they know that you're not supposed to know. Danielle says it makes you feel trapped or chained, binding to the sources of additional harm. Abby says “damning” is the word that comes to mind. Jenny says it's very normative categories of gender. This was the message that so many folks who were socialized as “girl experience” heard. The people who were socialized as male were told “you are going to perpetrate harm, you are not in control of your sexuality.” The sense was that “he” feels so threatening. There is an entire sector of people in-between these who don't have language and are not seen. Non-binary and gender fluid received no teaching about what it means to live in a body that doesn't fit in these very binary categories of gender.  Abby was listening to something on the radio recently about the set up for the gay and queer community in the 1980s. This experience of “I only have these two options” bumps up against so many areas of injustice where purity culture is part of oppression. Of course, oppression creates more oppression for people who are already oppressed. Purity culture gives a false sense of being able to accomplish something and gain power. It wouldn't have been as intoxicating if it weren't for the sense that you could be more powerful if you were “pure.” There are so many people who couldn't actually get there, and even more so for non-binary, trans and queer folks. For them, sitting and listening to lectures and sermons on what it means to “pure” there would be an immediate sense that there is nothing they can do here, outside of being a eunuch. Words are weaponized so we know where to stay to be right and good. Danielle said it was often a white male pastor that was preaching this message to young teens. When you dig into some of the leaders' stories, they never held themselves to this standard. The same is true with your parents, it's not what they held themselves to, even coming out of the same faith tradition. So it's almost like these white leaders were able to reenact their own kingdoms, to maintain their own power in their churches and youth groups like mini power centers. You can gain a lot of control over diverse groups in that scenario. Jenny said this reminds her what Danielle was saying earlier: If you're told that you're going to be like chewed up gum, and that you're only value isn't valuable if you have sex or any sexual experience at all, then when you're a survivor of sexual abuse you're not going to tell anyone or go to anyone because in that world it means you're “spoiled.” Rather than giving someone full language around their sexual abuse and telling them that it doesn't take away their value, dignity or worth nor it is a reflection doing something wrong. This idea of spoiling something pure really perpetuates the system, enabling abuse and preying on victims because perpetrators know that victims have nowhere to go to have nuanced caring conversations in that world. Abby says Jenny is speaking to how the purity culture has created a foundation for exploitation. One level of vulnerability to this system is anyone who has felt a sense of not belonging, a sense of orphan-ness, that there was no one there to attune to you, the purity movement would feel compelling because it provides a sense of being contained and parented inside a set of norms and rules. Another level would be to add in places of race, gender, sexual orientation or neurodivergence, all the places where there is marginalization and sexual abuse. Abby has heard again and again in her work of people being betrayed by the purity culture. For instance someone who is “saving themselves” (to have sexual intercourse until they are married) is vulnerable to someone who is in the know of that language. There is a sense of grooming, saying to them, “I'm going to help you become pure.” This is a normal way that predators work within the vocabulary of purity culture. If you want to sexually exploit people, the purity culture is a prime place to find vulnerable people.  Jenny says purity culture, Focus on the Family, James Dobson … they are all part of the system of the Christian Right. She says there is often a myth that it is because of abortion that the religious right exists. However, it was actually in the 1970s when Bob Jones University was going to lose their tax-exempt status because they were discriminating students of color. This was the reason Jerry Falwell and the Religious Right formed in order to fight against what they were calling Religious Freedom in the name of discrimination. From it's very origin, it was a system to uphold racism in the name of Christianity. Jenny believes the Purity Culture was just another reiteration of the same thing, gaining power towards the larger Christian Nationalism movement.  Danielle read Kristin Kobes Du Mez' “Jesus and John Wayne” so she knows the information but hearing it again it shuts her down. “It's staggering that there have been reiterations of this since the first invasion into this land that we're calling the United States. Where sex and race has been married to religion” not faith. She's stuck by the need to continually reinvent this in order to maintain power. In 2022 we're dealing with the aftereffects and it's still circulating in churches and communities today. The legacy of harm has continued and how hard it is to break out of this system. Abby said it reminds her of how distorted Jesus gets as the Religious Right is committed to policing bodies. Purity Culture is a way for our bodies to be policed. In her understanding of reading the Gospels, this is so opposite of who Jesus was. Abby thinks this has been a way to gain power for a particular group of people. Danielle said it wouldn't be reinvented if it wasn't working. Abby adds, exactly. Danielle jokes, “come to our workshop.” Danielle says this is why we continue to talk about it. Abby wonders how many years each of them have spent to detox from this message that was so thorough. As people who are working actively for the liberation of others, they too are still having to seek their own therapy, go on yoga retreats… to keep enforcing the goodness of their bodies, desire and arousal. Especially in raising teenagers, Abby says she can feel the ghost of purity culture that she has to constantly fight. Jenny says that is what makes it so insidious and powerful, when you're hearing all the messages from when you're a child. If you question them your eternity is hanging in the balance. It's an ingrained fear of hell, punishment and eternal damnation as well as the fear mongering that happens around what could happen if you have sex outside of marriage or outside of these heteronormative categories. There is so much fear that is takes literal years to work out all the implicit messages. Even if Jenny's head believes something, often times her body responds totally differently. Danielle agrees. Even with all the ups and downs of her relationship with her partner they are still working things out, with things like talking through who does the finances. When they were first together they came in with a set of norms and expectations. She said to him, you have to do the finances because you're the man. He was like okay. But it didn't work for them. Not because he wasn't capable, he just didn't like doing it. One day he said to her, this is nowhere in the Bible! And he was right. And she asked who told them this?! Danielle thinks of all the little things that she and her husband Luis are constantly renegotiating to find out what's in the Bible and ask why they feel terror if they do things a way that is different from their formative faith tradition. Our bodies are trying to constrict and they're not meant to.  Abby asks Jenny if she has come across where the purity culture meets the post-WWII white picket fence and standard gender roles; what a good woman is? What are her duties? Where is the women confided to? Because it does feel connected to Purity Culture. Jenny says the more she has researched, the farther back she's had to go in time. She's looked at the creation of the Bourgeoisie Woman and Pre-US history, the idea of this White European woman. The first US colony was Virginia because the queen was supposedly a virgin. There is the hyper-emphasis on white woman's virginity while we know settler colonial men were raping and abusing indigenous women all throughout the Americas. The justification for raping Indigenous or enslaved African Women was that they were Jezebels and that you couldn't rape someone who always wanted to have sex. This justification was both for harming women of color and creating a distinction what is “proper.” Jenny believe that white women are very much complicit in this through the disembodiment and disavowal of agency, autonomy and sexuality that perpetuations these tropes and gender and racial norms. These racial and gender norms got more infused after WWII when the GI Bill expanded what white meant. Before the GI Bill, Polish and Irish were not “white.” Once “white” expanded, Jenny explains, this is when norms were created around what a white woman should look like, act, do, etc. This is where skirts and casseroles and all these ideas of what being a white woman meant. It was meant to separate white women from women of color who were not able to get the same kinds of home loans through the GI Bill because of redlining, thus continuing (and widening!) the disparity.  Abby says listening to Jenny talk about this history brings to her mind what happened last April in Atlanta with the shoot of 6 Asian Women by a man who claimed that purity culture is what forced him to become mentally ill and justified him acting out in violence. Here again, Abby says, is the convergence of race and purity culture. Here, Asian women are seen as both meek, submissive and demure as well as wild tigers. It is propagating this idea that what women of color offer sexually is different than what white woman offer. Danielle adds, and access. That the body of a woman of color is quick, not literally physically all the time but at least mentally to go there it's “quick” and built-in permission to do that. It makes Jenny think of this “protect the family” at the same time, the government is forcibly removing Indigenous children from their mothers and putting them in foster care system. Missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Anti-Asian hate crimes, crimes against all bodies of color and the LGBTQ community are not protected under the guise of “for the family,” “keeping families together.”Danielle says we saw that in Atlanta: it wasn't only the legal system that let him walk off the scene without being killed. There was also the silence across religious and faith circles. Abby said that when people heard why he justified the killings they felt bad for him, offered him sympathy, “oh he's struggling with a sex addiction…” “I'm going to go on a little patriarchal rant…” Abby said she is not suggesting that the purity culture didn't wreak havoc on the male body, however even when we go back to our youth groups, there's a sense that women are to feel bad about something that is out of control in men, and that makes us as women dangerous. In the Atlanta shootings there was a sheriff that made excuses for the shooter, and this didn't surprise Abby because it comes from the same vein of making excuses for white men doing violence and acting out sexually. Danielle said she's had that same thought (about justifying and excusing white men's behavior) when a youth pastor shares about an on-going struggle with pornography and there was never the impression that they were in danger of not going to heaven. In fact, it seemed like it was kind of expected they would struggle in this way; 1 in 3 pastor's struggles with porn because they're so focused on being pure; they are tempted so much. This has led to permission to not only continue with this behavior but Danielle says it has led to violence and murders, like these shooting in Atlanta. “It's like a blank check.”Because, Danielle adds, if a woman of color walked into a porn shop and shoots seven white men, she would not get out of that alive. “No way” Abby chimes in.Danielle says we have examples of that, a case of that actively in Texas—a woman of color is in jail for murdering her trafficker. She's 17 and has life in prison. https://people.com/crime/zephaniah-trevino-case-texas-teen-accused-murder-says-she-was-sex-trafficking-victim/

Dan is back this week with Abby Wong Heffter to talk about trauma in light of their upcoming training, Effective Trauma Care, in just a few weeks. Today's episode is invaluable for anyone navigating the lasting effects of trauma from this past year, but particularly so for parents. Abby shares her own experiences of parenting as a mom and step-mom in this season, ways to know if a child has been significantly affected by trauma, and how to tend to your own mental health.  Effective Trauma Care is coming up this July 22-23! Learn more about what Dan and Abby explore over this two-day event and register today.  Resources Read a blog post, “Good Enough Parenting in a Time of Crisis” Learn more about Effective Trauma Care Listen to a podcast episode, “Parenting in the Midst of a Pandemic”

This week on the podcast, Dan begins the first of two conversations with special guest Abby Wong-Heffter, a teaching staff member at the Allender Center and coordinator of the Concentration in Trauma & Abuse at The Seattle School. Together they dive into the topic of trauma and the parts of Abby's story that reveal how she found her way to becoming a trauma-informed therapist.

I really wanted to study the field of psychedelics as the news of more promising treatments in addiction and depression. I reached out to the Heffter institute after looking through their materials through an open e-mail to whoever would answer from the organization. My motive is to get more information to the public regarding the issue of Psilocybin which is on the ballot. I found out much more than i knew which means you will too. Dr Greer is a pioneer in studies into MDMA where he legally made MDMA for studies. This lasted until the drug was rescheduled but the insight was there and the drive to do more work in the field. The Heffter institute where he is the medical director are heading studies using psilocybin to treat depression in cancer patients and many other studies. Listen up you will hear things you didn't know. Subscribe to the podcast and support if you love the show. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gary-fox2/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gary-fox2/support

In this episode, I had the honor of speaking with Dr. Dennis McKenna, an ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer and author. He’s also the founder of the McKenna Academy and a board member at the Heffter... The post Episode 41: Consciousness and Psychedelics with Dr. Dennis McKenna appeared first on The Consciousness Podcast.

In our third episode, we talk with Aaron Orsini, co-founder of the Autistic Psychedelic Community, collaborator with neuroscientists, and author of the book Autism on Acid, about how LSD helped him understand, navigate, alter, and appreciate his autistic perceptions. Follow Aaron: Websites: AutisticPsychedelic.com & AutismOnAcid.com Twitter: @AutisticPsyched & @AutismOnAcid Aaron's book: Autism on Acid ----more---- Psychedelic research websites: MAPS website: MAPS.org Heffter website: Heffter.org Topics of discussion: 01:16 Aaron's diagnosis 04:20 Aaron coming out as autistic 05:15 Wrestling with the pood, the bad, and the ugly of autism 06:35 The stages of grief and autism diagnosis 09:20 Dealing with depression and other blocks in personal development 10:36 Neurological contact lens 15:00 Autism, psychedelics, and neural rewiring 17:50 Alexithymia and autism 21:00 Autistic Roomba 23:25 Martin's tree experience 26:26 Hypersensitivity and trauma 31:35 Synesthesia 33:40 Psychedelics aiding a person with overwhelming synesthesia 35:00 Comparing and contrasting conscious experiences in NTs and autistics 36:47 Serotonin is (seemingly) ubiquitous: the model neurotransmitter 39:10 Parallels between infant brains and adult brains on psychedelics 40:10 Aaron's role as a bridge between autism and psychedelic neuroscience 42:40 Other autistics' positive experiences with psychedelics 43:44 Meditation and then mushrooms help Matt with his alexithymia 45:10 Martin embraces empathy on MDMA 45:40 Aaron's first LSD trip 49:00 Dissolving the mask: LSD improves Aaron's social intuition 50:55 Attempting to explain the ineffable, such as falling in love for the first time 52:48 Aaron takes control of his meta-programming 54:10 Aaron's struggle to manifest his goals 55:55 PSA on doing and acquiring psychedelic substances 57:15 Collabs & more collabs: Aaron's goals for autism and psychedelic research 59:45 Psychedelics' medicinal uses 1:00:00 Lessons learned 1:04:00 LSD saves Aaron's life 1:05:00 Taking interest in others 1:07:20 Research on psychedelics as disorder treatment 1:08:45 Psychedelics easing defense mechanisms and facilitating trauma resolution 1:09:56 Aaron embraces his autism post-LSD trip 1:11:30 Founding Embrace ASD 1:11:57 Love yourself 1:12:30 Knowing an experience vs. knowing about an experience 1:13:32 Insights don't come for free 1:16:00 Aaron makes binaural beats 1:16:30 Set and setting 1:17:55 Alicia Danforth's study on MDMA to alleviate social anxiety in autistic subjects((Reduction in social anxiety after MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with autistic adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study (Danforth et al., 2018))) 1:18:55 Aaron's vision for psychedelic-assisted therapy for autistic people 1:21:10 Aaron finds his calling in life 1:22:40 Weekly autistic meetup group 1:23:00 Tempering expectations 1:23:30 Growing support and Aaron's identity as a community-grower 1:24:18 Aaron's social media/wrapping up

Abby Wong-Heffter and Derek McNeil sit down for a conversation that leads them to discussing the realities of trauma and the hope to live a more integrated life.

On this episode of the Chicago Psychology Podcast, Dr. Hoye speaks with Dr. George Greer, the president of the Heffter Research Institute.  The Heffter Institute has been at the forefront of research into psychedelic medicines for treating addiction and depression.  Dr. Greer is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Past President of the Psychiatric Medical Association of New Mexico. He was also the Clinical Director of Mental Health Services for the New Mexico Corrections Department during the 1990s. He was the Medical Director of the Heffter Research Institute from 1998 to 2017 when he became President. Dr. Greer and Dr. Hoye speak about the vast research into psychedelic medicines, the positive results of that research, and the promise they hold for treating treatment-resistant PTSD, addiction, and depression. We also discuss the increased sense of spirituality and well being that often attends psychedelically assisted therapy session and the potential for reconnection of psychiatry within the realm of psychotherapy through these powerful medicines. Links are available at the episode's webpage @ http://www.chicagopsychologypodcast.com   

This is Entheogen. Talk about tools for generating the divine within. Today is December 18, 2016, and we are discussing the recent publication of studies from NYU and Johns Hopkins showing that psilocybin can reduce anxiety and depression in cancer patients, and we’re pleased to be joined by Dr. Sarah Mennenga from the NYU Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory. Find the notes and links for this and other episodes at EntheogenShow.com. Sign up to receive an email when we release a new episode. Follow us @EntheogenShow on Twitter and like EntheogenShow on FaceBook. Thanks for listening. TOPICS: We are grateful to be joined by Dr. Sarah Mennenga, Doctor of Neuroscience, NYU Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory NYU and Johns Hopkins just released studies showing that psilocybin can reduce anxiety and depression in cancer patients 80 percent of participants showed significant reduction of anxiety and depression “One theory is that psilocybin interrupts the circuitry of self-absorbed thinking that is so pronounced in depressed people, making way for a mystical experience of selfless unity” i.e. interrupting or disrupting the Default Mode Network? What is the neurological basis for the geometric shapes and auditory effects that characterize the psilocybin experience. What part does suggestibility play in the experience? The “intensity of the mystical experience described by patients correlated with the degree to which their depression and anxiety decreased” – Why is that? What is it about the nature of the psychedelic or mystical experience that does this? Octavian Mihai “saw black smoke rising from my body” Kevin, a participant in the Johns Hopkins study saw “spirals of iridescent spheres that folded in on themselves”. “But you have to approach the session with the right intentions of why you’re doing it. Because you’re going to meet yourself.” Study protocols, and the unique considerations for psychedelic session “seven-hour music playlists.[...] N.Y.U. leaned toward New Age and world music — Brian Eno; sitars; didgeridoos. Johns Hopkins favored Western classical.” Chalice Buddha statue Collaboration among the few institutions doing psychedelic research Criticism from the academic/scientific community? Political concerns; safety concerns around legalization Stigma in the academic community? fMRI scanning during a psychedelic experience? NYU seeking participants in two upcoming studies: Psilocybin for alcoholism and addiction Psilocybin for clergy/mysticism; see also Griffiths’ 2006 study at Johns Hopkins Contact NYUCancerAnxiety.org for more information Enroll in Clinicaltrials.gov NYU seeking $10 million funding for center to study psychedelics HOW TO HELP: Contact NYUCancerAnxiety.org for more information Email nyualcoholdependencestudy@nyumc.org to donate Give to Heffter, helping fund the NYU studies Tim Ferriss raising money for psilocybin research FURTHER READING: NY Times: A Dose of a Hallucinogen From a ‘Magic Mushroom,’ and Then Lasting Peace Big Think: One Dose of "Psilocybin" from Magic Mushrooms Relieves Depression in 80% of Cancer Patients AlterNet: 'Magic Mushroom' Drug Eases Cancer Patient Anxiety

Playing for Team Human today is psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, and psychedelics researcher Dr. Julie Holland. Dr. Holland explains the role of psychedelics in helping people gain the new forms of information and awareness they need to become more fully human. Is there the potential for greater understanding and human connection through the psychedelic experience? Together Holland and Rushkoff explore this question, charting out a path toward greater empathy and solidarity.Today’s monologue features Rushkoff on Timothy Leary and “Finding the Others.” Visit XY Magazine for his complete essay, featured as part of the recent relaunch of the magazine.Dr. Holland’s latest book is Moody Bitches: The Truth about the Drugs You’re Taking, the Sleep You’re Missing, the Sex You’re Not  Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy Visit Dr. Holland’s website for useful links to educate yourself about psychedelics. Here are a few places to start with:MAPS – The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studiesmaps.orgDrug Policy Alliance – for education and reform of America’s drug lawsdpa.orgErowid (excellent resource for drug education)erowid.orgHeffter (supporting psychedelic research worldwide)heffter.orgOrsha Magyar’s NeuroTrition siteneurotrition.ca  Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We are honored to be joined by Robert J. Barnhart, producer of A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin. For historical context, we review the groundwork laid in the 1980's by organizations such as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and Heffter Research Institute. Robert serves on the Boards of Directors of both organizations. Basic research began as early as the 1940's and continued through the '50's and '60's, until Nixon's Drug Control Act of 1970 when the highly promising research was extinguished. In the words of Roland Griffiths, "Can you think of another area of science regarded as so dangerous and taboo that all research gets shut down for decades? It’s unprecedented in modern science." Only as recently as in the last decade, thanks entirely to private fundraising by organizations like MAPS and Heffter, researchers have completed Phase I and Phase II studies. Plans for Phase III trials are on the horizon, and by some predictions, entheogens like psilocybin could be rescheduled to Schedule II (from Schedule I) perhaps as soon as 2020. At $10/pill an effective one-time-dose treatment like an entheogen might not be economically feasible or lucrative enough for today's pharmaceutical companies to pursue taking to market. But what about regular, ongoing "microdosing" of something like LSD? And moreover, the potentially vast application of entheogens toward the "betterment of well people" (in the words of Bob Jesse) would seem to be highly interesting to a pharmaceutical company. Robert recounts the story of how his would-be high school film project about the psychedelic experience may have serendipitously inspired his new film. In addition to supporting MAPS and Heffter, Robert recommends the Beckley Foundation in England. Also, write to Congress and talk to people about your own entheogenic experiences. For more about the studies, check out Anthroposophia: A different kind of love story: One woman's psilocybin experience by Sandy Lundahl. Thanks again to Robert Barnhart for joining us. Stay tuned for the release of A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin.

It is with much pleasure and honor that we present, Psychedelicast: A conversation with Dr. Dennis McKenna Dr. Dennis McKenna is an ethnopharmacologist with extensive experience in using these plant tools and teachers. He has conducted ethnobotanical fieldwork in the Peruvian, Columbian and Brasilian Amazon . Dr. McKenna is currently Assistant Professor in the Center…