Grofians Unauthorized
Discussion Group
Grofian Peyotists
The Preparation Period - Part II
The following excerpts are from
LSD PSYCHOTHERAPY. Grof, S. 1980
ISBN 0-89793-166-1
http://promind.com/bk_lps.htm
--excerpts from Chapter 4:
"Every preparation for a psychedelic session should involve discussion about the possibility that the client might experience at some point a profound 'crisis of basic trust,' no matter how good the therapeutic relationship seems to be before the experience. It is vital to prepare the client for this possibility and strongly suggest that he or she try to look inside themselves for possible sources of such mistrust before focusing their attention on the external circumstances. It is obviously more reasonable to assume that one's perception was changed by the influence of a powerful psychoactive drug, than to suspect that within half an hour a drastic and unexpected change occurred in the external situation or in the personalities of the sitters. The very fact that the possibility of the crisis involving trust was discussed in advance usually helps to mitigate it when it occurs.
A basic rule of critical importance in LSD psychotherapy is to keep the sessions internalized. Since the . . . experience represents a process of deep self-exploration, a journey into one's own mind, consistent introspective orientation is by far the most productive approach. . . . subjects are therefore encouraged to stay for most of the experience in a comfortable reclining position with their eyes closed; the best technical solution here is the use of soft eyeshades. Exposure to complex stimuli from the external world, especially if combined with moving around, excessive talking and social interaction is, in general, counterproductive. It tends to keep the experience on a superficial level and interferes with the process of self-exploration. On occasion, expressive dancing can be very useful in experiential sessions if the subject keeps his or her eyes closed and does not lose the introspective connection with the inner process." (p. 133)
"An even more important reason for keeping the focus on the inner process is the element of safety. The ratio between the potential benefits and the possible risks is much more favorable for internalized sessions conducted in a simplified and protective setting, than it is for outward-oriented experiences. It is essential for the good outcome of the session that a balance be kept between the lowering of psychological defenses and effective working through of the emerging unconscious material. Whatever deep contents have been released, the energy associated with them should be channelled to the periphery. Maximum awareness of the inner process and its full emotional, perceptual and physical expression is of paramount importance for a good integration of the . . . experience. Sessions in which areas of difficult emotional material are activated and the individual tries to avoid facing them can lead to prolonged reactions, unsatisfactory integration, subsequent residual emotional or psychosomatic problems, or a precarious mental balance that becomes the basis for later 'flashbacks.'
In view of the above observations, much emphasis is placed during the preparation period on explaining to the client how important it is to maintain a reclining position during the . . . session, to keep on the eyeshades and music, and to face, experience and express fully whatever is surfacing. Most of the technical problems in the sessions occur when the client, instead of treating the experience as an internal process, projects the emerging unconscious material onto the sitters and the treatment situation. This attitude functions as a powerful defense and represents a serious obstacle to therapeutic progress. Instead of facing the problem in the inner world where it can be identified and resolved, the client creates a pseudoreal situation by projecting and focusing attention on manipulation of the external world. Preventing such counterproductive situations is one of the important tasks of the sitters and it begins in the preparation period with a detailed description and explanation of the basic rules.
One more important aspect of psychedelic therapy should be discussed with the patient in considerable detail. In medicine and conventional psychiatry, there is an implicit rule that in successful therapy the degree of improvement should be directly proportional to the number of therapeutic interventions or to the duration of treatment. In the psychedelic procedure, as in other forms of uncovering therapy that focus on solving the problems instead of relieving symptoms, this is not necessarily true. Here it can happen that the symptoms are temporarily intensified after some of the sessions; this frequently occurs just before a major therapeutic breakthrough. It should be explicitly stated in the instructions that it is not a failure of . . . therapy if after certain sessions the client feels worse. It simply reflects the fact that important unconscious material was activated in the preceding session and remained unresolved. The concept of temporary worsening as an unfinished gestalt helps the patients to tolerate difficult post-session intervals, approach them constructively, and maintain optimism in regard to the final outcome of the treatment." (pp. 134-135)
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