I think meditation teachers should have access to clinical psychology resources in the event that something goes wrong, and psychologists should be better trained to understand the kinds of experiences that may arise in contemplative practices.
-
-
Even the "mindfulness therapy" psychologists don't really have much of a clue, IME.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
They probably have less of a clue, unfortunately.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
I've actually found this to be true. It tends to confuse them for some reason. Although I've definitely met a few ACT and MBCT folks who have at least some useful traditional understanding, albeit not at an ideal level.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
alright, been biting my tongue but it seems appropriate at this point. this is controversial but fine, whatever. these blindspots would not be so common if more teachers (and more therapists) had a serious background in psychedelics and psychedelic integration.
2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
Psychedelics definitely create similar concerns. This raises the general problem around the Western psychological models and understanding of psychosis. I have some draft essays on this that I never got around to finishing. Maybe that's content for a future tweetstorm.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
a short-lived name for those substances (before Humphry Osmond coined "psychedelic") was psychotomimetic drugs. That's not quite right but it's understandable why a naive interpretation would lead there. psychedelic means "mind manifesting" and that's a bit more accurate.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto @Failed_Buddhist and
other labels that have been proposed: phanerothyme (means "spiritedness") which Lisa Bieberman wrote about helpfully here http://www.csp.org/practices/entheogens/docs/bieberman-phanerothyme.html … entheogen (means "giving rise to the divine within") which is reasonable for the mushroom and ayahuasca shamanic traditions.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @danlistensto @Failed_Buddhist and
I would suggest this class of drugs might be usefully regarded as "path of perturbation" aids. where sitting meditation shows you your mind by making it still, the drugs show it to you by making it vibrate with enough amplitude to drown out the normal background noise.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto @Failed_Buddhist and
we need not understand psychosis or clinical treatment of it. that's not what the psychedelic experience is, really. it's an awakening. it ought to be treated just the same as awakening from meditation.
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
All good points. I was actually trying to say that the current psychological understanding of psychosis is flawed, and this leads to viewing psychedelic and contemplative effects as psychosis, as many of the descriptive components can sound a lot like psychotic symptoms.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.