PT413 – Alex Belser, Ph.D. – Queering Psychedelics, The Dark History of Conversion Therapy, and The EMBARK Approach
Psychedelics Today
Psychedelics Today, LLC
4.6 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2023
⏱️ 92 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, David interviews Alex Belser, Ph.D.: clinical scientist; author; licensed psychologist; Co-Investigator for a psilocybin and OCD study at Yale University; and co-creator of the EMBARK approach, a new model of psychedelic-assisted therapy that focuses on six clinical domains that typically arise during psychedelic experiences.
He is also one of the editors of "Queering Psychedelics: From Oppression to Liberation in Psychedelic Medicine," the new anthology from Chacruna featuring 38 essays from queer authors and allies looking at the heteronormative aspects of psychedelic culture and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, self-acceptance, psychedelics and pleasure, and ways the queer community can become allies with other groups. As they serendipitously recorded this episode on June 1, it only made sense to celebrate Pride Month by releasing it now, as well as launching a giveaway, where you can win one of five copies of "Queering Psychedelics."
Belser talks about the concurrent emergence of the psychedelic and queer communities; the need to research the effects of transphobia and homophobia in psychedelic work (as well as the internalized phobias often realized during an experience); why it's more important than ever to talk about the psychedelic space's dark past with conversion therapy; why the Mystical Experiences Questionnaire needs to be updated; the idea of queer people being boundary walkers; recreating the Good Friday Experiment, the immense importance of long-form interviews and other forms of qualitative research, the power of love and community, and the question: how does anyone not want to change after a powerful psychedelic experience?
www.psychedelicstoday.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody, it's David here, letting you know that we are launching two rounds of navigating psychedelics for clinicians and wellness practitioners in July. |
| 0:08.6 | This is our best-selling group course, and it meets live online every week for nine consecutive weeks, and this time with our co-founder and VP of Education and training Kyle Buller as the lead teacher. |
| 0:20.3 | Choose between two separate groups, |
| 0:22.6 | Wednesdays at 7pm or Thursdays 2pm EST from July 12th and 13th, respectively. Each week, |
| 0:30.1 | Carl will be joined by a different specialist guest teacher. These include Jasmine Verdi, |
| 0:35.3 | Angie Leek, Edo Cohen, Juliana Mulligan, Courtney Barnes, Michelle Hobart, and even me. |
| 0:41.2 | In navigating psychedelics we cover the fundamentals of psychedelic history, science, harm reduction, integration and transpersonal theories. |
| 0:49.2 | We then apply this knowledge to real-world scenarios and cross-cutting themes of trauma, addiction, mental |
| 0:55.7 | health and integrative wellness practices. Students also get lifetime access to an online |
| 1:01.8 | education library of 20 plus hours of video masterclasses, ongoing membership to your group's |
| 1:07.6 | online community platform, and two best-selling journals with street smart guidance |
| 1:12.8 | at-home integration practices, writing prompts and meditations. If you've been wondering how to |
| 1:18.9 | incorporate psychedelic knowledge and tools into your practice or even learn how to get started |
| 1:23.7 | in the field of psychedelics, then this course is for you. To enroll, we'll find out more |
| 1:29.0 | about the syllabus and structure of the course. Go to psychedelic education center.com. And payment |
| 1:35.2 | plans are also available, folks. Best of luck. Hello everybody, welcome back to psychedelics today. |
| 1:52.5 | David Drapkin here, having a very long conversation with Dr. Alex Belser. |
| 1:57.3 | We chatted last week, so it is super fresh, and we're releasing it in honor and in celebration |
| 2:02.6 | of Pride Month and Pride Day every single bloody day. Let's celebrate queerness and being free and |
| 2:09.9 | liberated and celebrating just life with all of its diversity, color and love. So Alex and I speak about love quite a bit. |
| 2:19.4 | And the concept of, |
| 2:20.9 | yeah, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Psychedelics Today, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Psychedelics Today, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.