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Scott Hill Proposal Dissertation Proposal, PCC November 2008 A Jungian Framework for Understanding Psychedelic-Induced Psychotic States A Dissertation Proposal Scott Hill, Ph.D. Candidate 703 Tupper St. Santa Rosa, CA 95404 [email protected] 707-544-2428 Committee Members: Sean Kelly, Ph.D., Committee Chair Richard Tarnas, Ph.D., Committee Member David Lukoff, Ph.D., External Committee Member Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Philosophy and Religion California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco Scott Hill Dissertation Proposal Abstract Given the notable references to Jungian psychology in the psychedelic literature, on the one hand, and the lack of in-depth treatments of psychedelic experience from a Jungian perspective, on the other, there is a clear need to develop a Jungian framework for elucidating the nature of psychedelic experience. The framework I envision would highlight the nature of short-term psychotic reactions to psychedelic experience. This framework would also indicate implications for psychedelic psychotherapy as well as the treatment of short-term psychotic reactions to psychedelic experiences. The paucity of in-depth theoretical treatments of the relationship between Jungian psychology and psychedelics can be attributed to a variety of reasons, most notably Jung’s own criticism of the use of psychedelics. Although the problems Jung identifies should be taken seriously, I see the value of looking beyond Jung’s dismissive critique to his psychology in order to take advantage of its penetrating insights into the nature of psychedelic experience. The relationship of Jung’s psychology to psychedelic experience and psychedelic psychotherapy therefore are subjects ripe for scholarly investigation and theoretical development. This dissertation is based on an in-depth examination of Jung’s theoretical and clinical approach to the structure and dynamics of the psyche in general and to trauma, psychosis, psychotherapy, and integration in particular. This dissertation could make a significant contribution to transpersonal psychology and Jungian psychology by employing a Jungian interpretation, or Jungian hermeneutics, of psychedelic experience. This study could also improve the practice of psychedelic psychotherapy and the treatment of psychedelic-induced disorders. i Scott Hill Dissertation Proposal Table of Contents Abstract . i Table of Contents . ii Historical Background . 1 Early References to Jung’s Psychology in the Psychedelic Literature . 1 Contemporary References to Jung’s Psychology in the Psychedelic Literature . 2 Papers Relating Jungian Psychology to Psychedelic Experience . 3 The Need for a Jungian Framework For Understanding Psychedelic Experience . 5 Research Objectives, Scope and Limitations . 7 Research Objectives . 7 Scope and Limitations . 8 The Range of Psychedelic Experiences and Substances Treated . 8 The Psychological Nature of Psychedelic Experience . 8 The Tentative Nature of My Jungian Framework . 8 The Hypothetical Nature of the Proposed Jungian Guidelines . 9 The Limited Scope of the Proposed Jungian Guidelines . 9 My Approach to Trauma . 9 The Scope of Jung’s Work Treated . 9 Literature Review . 10 Psychedelics and Trauma . 10 Psychedelically-Induced Trauma . 10 Psychedelic Psychotherapy as Treatment for Trauma . 11 Traumatic Psychedelic Experiences and Childhood Trauma: A Jungian Link . 11 Psychedelics and Psychosis . 12 Psychedelics as Psychosis-Inducing Substances . 12 Psychedelic-Induced Psychotic States and Schizophrenia Compared . 12 Criticism of the Psychotomimetic Model . 13 The Psychotomimetic Model Reconsidered . 14 Psychedelics, Psychosis, and Trauma: The Transformative Potential . 15 The Transformative Potential of Psychedelics . 16 The Transformative Potential of Psychotic States . 18 Psychedelics, Psychosis, and Transformation . 19 Jung’s Approach to the Therapeutic Process of Integration . 21 The Therapeutic Value of Abreaction: Jung’s and Grof’s Views Compared . 22 ii Scott Hill Dissertation Proposal Literature Review (cont.) Psychedelics, Psychosis, and Trauma: The Transformative Potential (cont.) Psychedelic Psychotherapy . 23 The Psycholytic and Psychedelic Models . 23 Therapeutic Frameworks . 24 Rationale and Plan for Completing the Literature Review . 27 Significance . 29 Theoretical Perspective and Methodology . 31 Hermeneutics and Hermeneutical Attitude . 31 Jungian Hermeneutics . 32 Understanding and Explanation . 33 Three Basic Elements of This Investigation . 35 Chapter Breakdown and Timeline . 36 Tentative Outline . 36 Discussion . 38 Tentative Timeline . 39 Research Bibliography . 40 Primary Sources . 40 Secondary Jungian Sources . 40 References . 42 iii Scott Hill Dissertation Proposal Historical Background Early References to Jung’s Psychology in the Psychedelic Literature The fact that Jung’s psychology has long been appreciated for the insights it provides into the nature of psychedelic experience is well illustrated by the tribute Leary, Metzner, and Alpert paid to Jung in their seminal manual, The Psychedelic Experience (1995, pp. 19-25), which was first published in 1964 and was based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, to which Jung had written an appreciative commentary (1935/1953). Leary et al. characterize Jung as a psychiatrist cum mystic who had credited The Tibetan Book of the Dead for stimulating many of his own ideas, insights, and discoveries (1995, pp. 20-21, 23). In their eyes, by the later part of his life, Jung had committed himself wholly “to the inner vision and to the wisdom and superior reality of internal perceptions” (ibid. p. 23). We can see why they would say this when we consider the following observations that Jung made in his Psychological Commentary to The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation (1939/1954). The conscious mind, in Jung’s view, naturally resists the emergence of what it experiences as, in his words, “the intrusion of apparently incompatible and extraneous tendencies, thoughts, feelings” (par. 779). The most startling instances of such unacceptable intrusions, Jung notes, are found in schizophrenic patients (ibid.). But in cases such as those illuminated in The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, Jung adds, “it is tacitly agreed that the apparently incompatible contents shall not be suppressed again, and that the conflict shall be accepted and suffered. At first no solution appears possible, and this fact, too, has to be borne with patience” (par. 780). The relevance of such observations by Jung to my thesis can be summarized as follows: Jung’s conception of the ego’s terrifying but potentially transformative confrontation with unacceptable elements of the unconscious provides a uniquely valuable theoretical framework for understanding and defining the therapeutic benefits of what initially appear to be only psychedelic-induced eruptions of irrational and even psychosis-inducing content from the unconscious. The conscious, rational mind naturally resists such content as overwhelmingly alien. Through proper therapeutic integration, however, such content can become deeply meaningful and psychologically beneficial to the individual. 1 Scott Hill Dissertation Proposal Contemporary References to Jung’s Psychology in the Psychedelic Literature Notable contemporary theorists, who are also former practitioners of psychedelic psychotherapy, continue to draw upon Jung’s insights. In her treatment of psychedelic- assisted therapy, “The New Psychotherapy: MDMA and the Shadow” (2001), Ann Shulgin discusses ways to work with the difficult process of facing the shadow, Jung’s term for the personality’s dark side. Besides Stanislav Grof’s work, Shulgin recommends the writings of Jung and Jungian psychiatrist John Weir Perry to people struggling to integrate challenging psychedelic experiences (Shulgin & Shulgin, 1997, p. 161). Resisting such difficult experiences, says former psychedelic therapist Myron Stolaroff, intensifies their painfulness and leads to “disturbing, unsatisfactory experiences, or even psychotic attempts to escape” (2002, p. 97). Like Shulgin, Stolaroff draws upon Jungian concepts of the shadow and integration in his guidelines for working through psychic defenses that arise when someone stumbles into a difficult psychedelic experience (ibid., pp. 94-103; Stolaroff, 1994). Shulgin’s and Stolaroff’s treatments of encountering and integrating problematic unconscious material in psychedelic psychotherapy provide invaluable perspectives on working through difficult psychedelic experiences. However, their mention of Jungian concepts lacks any direct reference to Jungian sources, let alone thorough theoretical articulation. Shulgin and Stolaroff were both influenced by underground psychedelic therapist Leo Zeff, who was a Jungian analyst. The only record Zeff seems to have left of his psychedelic psychotherapy practice, however, is a published interview Stolaroff conducted with him (Stolaroff, 2004), which unfortunately contains no explicit discussion of the relationship between Zeff’s Jungian foundation and his practice of psychedelic psychotherapy.1 Among contemporary theorists of psychedelic psychotherapy who draw on Jung’s psychology, only Ralph Metzner and Stanislav Grof discuss at any length the correspondence between their own work and Jung’s psychology. And even though both Metzner and Grof generously draw on Jung’s theories and clinical experience to support 1 I use the generic term psychedelic psychotherapy to refer to any use of psychedelic substances with psychotherapy. There are different types of psychedelic
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