Voices welcomes submissions in the form of personal essay, research- and case-based inquiry, poetry, art, cartoons, and photography.

Please direct questions and submissions to the editor, Carla Bauer, LCSW at crbauer01@bellsouth.net.

Submission Guidelines available here and in any Voices issue.

Psychedelics and Psychotherapy: Healing and Transformation

Spring 2024

Direct questions and submissions to the editor, Carla Bauer, LCSW at crbauer01@bellsouth.net.

Guest editors:

Steve Eichel, PhD
steveeichel@gmail.com

John Rhead, PhD
jrheadphd@gmail.com

See Submission Guidelines hereor in any issue of Voices.

Psychedelics—mind/mood/cognition/perception-altering chemicals that either exist in nature or have been manufactured by humans—have been used for their spiritual and healing benefits for all of recorded human history. Only recently has our culture—including organized psychology and psychiatry—begun to realize the potential and promise (and hazards) of psychedelics. In 1955, the same year that the American Academy of Psychotherapists (AAP) was born, R. Gordon Wasson kicked off the first wave of modern psychedelic exploration with his mushroom experience with a curandera in Mexico—a very interesting coincidence of events.

AAP came into existence when a collage of psychotherapists from different schools of thought came together to foster a particular and somewhat novel way of viewing the art and practice of psychotherapy.  They came to view psychotherapy as a very intimate interpersonal process between a therapist and a client that is meant to facilitate the client’s journey of deep introspection. Adding the use of psychedelic medicines into this model of psychotherapy can accelerate the journey for both client and therapist. It can also deepen and widen the inner territory being traversed in such a way that not only are psychological and interpersonal realms being explored, but spiritual realms as well. These explorations may facilitate the healing and growth of both client and therapist, and perhaps of the rest of humanity as well. They can also change the reasons for entering into the psychotherapy journey and the expected outcomes.

For this issue of Voices, we invite papers that explore how psychedelics have impacted you and your view of yourself, of life, of what psychotherapy is, and of how it should be practiced. How have psychedelics impacted your clients, whether used outside a therapeutic context (recreationally) or within one (i.e., organized psychedelic therapy)? What therapeutic benefits have you seen from psychedelics? What do you think may be possible as the current psychedelic tsunami sweeps the world, and what do you see as the potential dangers? What multicultural and multi-ethnic aspects have you encountered in psychedelic experience, research, and treatments? If there is some potential danger to you personally in going public with your experiences and ideas, the editors will consider anonymous publication.