Wisdom from the Psychedelic Underground with Rachel Harris, PhD

Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 684 Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One of the hottest topics in modern psychology is utilizing psychedelics to aid psychotherapy. Research is being conducted on the potentially beneficial use of substances like psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and MDMA in a controlled environment. In recent years, it’s gotten attention for its efficacy in treating treatment-resistant depression and PTSD, addiction, and end-of-life anxiety. Related to this is the psychedelic underground, a movement that similarly wants to use these substances to improve lives but takes a different, more spiritual approach. I spoke with Rachel Harris, who has experience in both, about this exciting world. Rachel is the author of Swimming in the Sacred: Wisdom from the Psychedelic Underground and Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope for Depression, Addiction, PTSD, and Anxiety. A psychologist who has been in private practice for 40 years, she spent ten years in an academic research department where she published more than 40 scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals and received a National Institutes of Health New Investigator’s Award. Join us for the fascinating interview! Learn more about Steven Hassan and Freedom of Mind Resource Center. Visit freedomofmind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Hassan with another episode of the influence continuum.
0:09.2	Today we have a fascinating psychologist with us, and we're doing the first topic of psychedelics,
0:19.8	or otherwise known as ethiogens.
0:22.6	But I wanted to, Rachel Harris, please, before I introduce you formally in your book.
0:27.6	I just want to give a little frame in the background that I recently returned from San Francisco
0:33.6	at the American Psychiatric Association Conference, and I was surprised, I shouldn't have been,
0:41.7	at how many presentations involved MDMA, ayahuasca, psilocybin, and other psychedelic
0:51.6	medications for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other things.
0:56.7	And it's clear that there is now much more emphasis going to trying to research. Is there a way
1:05.6	that these powerful agents could be a tool to help people heal, which is the ethical frame of it.
1:13.6	And of course, my work, I've had people contact me because they've gotten involved with cults
1:19.6	who were using ayahuasca or using psilocybin or LSD or MDMA in order to exploit and abuse people.
1:29.9	And that is my topic.
1:31.7	I was introduced to you, Rachel, by a famous forensic psychologist who said,
1:38.2	you really should interview Rachel.
1:40.1	She's got this great new book out called Swimming in the Sacred.
1:43.5	I'll hold it up several times.
1:45.9	But first, I just want to give a little bit more background if my listeners are not tuned
1:51.1	into what's been happening and just say that there are more than 30 million people now estimated
1:59.2	in the U.S. that have used psychedelics, according to a 2010
2:03.1	national survey. I think there's a lot more. Best-selling author Michael Pollan wrote about
2:08.8	his trips. The National Institute of Health is studying the efficacy of psilocybin and MDMA for
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