Psychoanalytic Dialogues
September 3, 2022
Kevin M. Barrett
12 citations
After a two-decade moratorium on psychedelic research in the United States, new studies on psychedelic assisted psychotherapy have shown promising results for treating psychiatric disorders and improving well-being. Little has been written in contemporary psychoanalytic journals about using psychoanalytic theory to underpin this research. This paper examines three psychoanalytic concepts that may explain what is curative in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy: psychedelics as a catalyst for changing implicit relational patterns, the work of Winnicott and Christopher Bollas to explore the psychedelic experience, and the role of mystical experience in the therapy.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues
November 2, 2023
Noelle Burton
2 citations
A man diagnosed with psychopathy made dramatic therapeutic improvements after a psilocybin-induced mystical experience during psychoanalysis. Key therapeutic factors included tactful confrontation of his behavior, disclosure of the diagnosis, focusing on his resentment toward existence, using mental time travel to imagine his future self, and the analyst's spiritual work shaping countertransference. The patient was able to use psychoanalytic work done before the mystical experience afterward. This case adds to evidence for psychedelic-induced mystical experiences and offers guidance on providing psychoanalytic treatment prior to psychedelic medication.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues
November 2, 2025
David Raniere
1 citation
Psychoanalytic theory and practice can be extended to engage expanded states of consciousness induced by psychedelic medicine. Using a clinical illustration of ketamine-assisted psychoanalysis, the author proposes the concept of the intra-collective as a transpersonal holding environment that contains the intersubjective field, where highly organized, undifferentiated, and developmentally mature psychic states occur. A new lexicon is needed to access unitive experiences beyond the traditional analytic register. The term Spirit establishes a pathway to this non-dualistic level of consciousness and preserves sacred experiences that exist beyond the symbolic realm.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues
November 2, 2025
Karen Peoples, Megan Rundel
The authors argue that psychedelic-assisted therapy does not simply cause regression to an earlier developmental stage, as some psychoanalytic theories suggest. Instead, they propose that psychedelics expand consciousness along a continuum from ordinary discursive thought, through dreamlike liminal states, to unitive experiences of oneness. They contend that traditional psychoanalytic regression models do not align with findings from psychedelic neuroscience or infant observation research. Oceanic experiences under psychedelics are explored as a powerful healing force from a new psychoanalytic perspective. A case example of a patient using ketamine in analytic treatment illustrates the theoretical points.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues
November 2, 2025
D. Brenner
Expanded states in psychedelic treatment need not be regressive but can expand consciousness. The self enables survival yet contributes to suffering; perspective transforms transient ego-dissolution into lasting growth. Pain and suffering are differentiated, and ketamine's modulation of the default mode and anti-reward networks uniquely fosters equanimity and analytic space. Preparation and set-setting are decisive because psychedelics can overwhelm defenses. Integration practices consolidate an observing stance—observing ego, thirdness, mindful awareness, or Atman. Psychedelic psychoanalysis builds on analytic commitments, translating oceanic states into enduring reflection, equanimity, and relatedness. A clinical vignette and proposals for distinguishing restorative union from defensive fusion, sequencing ketamine-assisted analysis, and sustaining perspective are offered.