Grofians Unauthorized
Discussion Group
Grofian Peyotists
Critical Situations in Psychedelic Sessions - Part II
The following excerpts are from
LSD PSYCHOTHERAPY. Grof, S. 1980
ISBN 0-89793-166-1
http://www.promind.com/bk_lps.htm
--excerpts from Chapter 5:
[THE EXPERIENCE OF DYING]
"The situation that creates the most problems in psychedelic sessions is the 'experience of dying' that occurs in the context of the death-rebirth process. This encounter with death is so authentic and convincing that it can easily be mistaken for a real, vital emergency, not only by the experient but also by external observers and inexperienced sitters who are in a normal state of consciousness. Because of this confusion between symbolic and biological dying, the resistance against the psychedelic process can be particularly powerful. Deep seated anxiety and activation of survival programs can make the subject fight the effect of the drug with the intensity and determination characteristic of an actual life-and-death struggle.
From the technical point of view this is a most critical and important situation. It is absolutely essential to the smooth course of the session and its positive outcome that subjects stay with eyeshades and music at this point, and keep the process internalized. If the psychological aspects of this experience are projected onto the therapeutic situation, this can result in dangerous acting-out behavior. Subjects may feel drawn to windows and doors, seeing them as escape routes out of the unbearable psychological situation; they may physically fight with the sitters, seeing them as the oppressive element; or be driven to violent self-destructive actions mistaking them for the liberating ego death. The dangers of the externalization of this process extend beyond the framework of the drug session itself. Unresolved psychedelic experiences of this kind can result in very difficult emotional states in the post-session period, which may last for days or months unless properly treated.
If the client tries to tear off the eyeshades, and create a projective pseudoreal situation of the above kind, this is the time for active intervention. Since the issue has been discussed during the preparation period, the sitters can make references to that conversation to connect the client's intellectual knowledge of the process with the actual experience. This in itself can be helpful, although there is usually a fundamental gap between the death experience and its verbal description. This process can be so elemental and of such unimaginable experiential dimensions that no words in the world are adequate to convey it. In any case, the critical factors in dealing with this situation are the non-verbal aspects of the sitters' approach; under these circumstances, metacommunication is more effective than anything that is said or done.
The sitters should emphasize, repeatedly if necessary, that the client is not facing real biological death, however convincingly he or she might feel this. They should offer reassurance that the feeling of lack of oxygen is only subjective, and that the breathing itself is adequate. It is also important to encourage the subject consistently to surrender to the process and accept the psychological death. Insistence that the quickest way out of this experience lies in going through its most difficult parts, and references to the positive 'other side' can be of great help. However, the sitters' centeredness, familiarity with the process, and trust in its intrinsic trajectory are ultimately the most critical factors, since they supply the non-verbal or metacommunicative components which make their statements experientially real and convincing.
In the course of repeated . . . sessions that focus on the perinatal level, the experiences of dying usually become deeper and more complete. When the process reaches the stages of the final 'ego death,' special technical problems can occur. The ego death involves an experience of the destruction of everything that the subject is, possesses, or is attached to. Its essential characteristics are a sense of total annihilation on all imaginable levels, loss of all systems of relation and reference, and the destruction of the objective world. As it is approached in different directions and on different levels, the process requires more and more psychological sacrifice. In the final stages, subjects have to face and confront experiences, situations and circumstances that are unacceptable or even unimaginable to them.
The nature of the experiences that represent the final obstacle for the completion of the death-rebirth process varies from subject to subject. For some, it can be certain critical physical conditions, such as a high degree of suffocation, agonizing physical pain, blacking out, or violent seizure-like activity. Others have to face a situation which is psychologically utterly unacceptable to them, and surrender to it. The most frequent of these is vomiting, losing control of the bladder or bowels; sexually unacceptable behavior; confusion and disorientation; making various inhuman sounds, and humiliation or loss of prestige. A very difficult and important experience that occurs in the context of the ego death is the expectation of a catastrophe of enormous dimensions. Subjects face agonizing tension increasing to fantastic proportions and develop a conviction that they will explode and the entire world will be destroyed. This fear of disintegration represents a difficult experiential barrier; in their special state subjects may generate a strong conviction that not only their own fate, but the fate of the entire world depends on their ability to hold on. In this situation it is extremely important that the sitters repeatedly emphasize the safety of this experience. No matter how catastrophic it might appear from the subjective point of view, this explosion is ultimately emotionally and spiritually liberating. What is destroyed in this process is the old, limiting concept of oneself and the corresponding restrictive view of existence and of the universe. Once the process reaches this point, it is absolutely essential to complete the experiential gestalt. Unfinished and poorly integrated sessions in this area can result in serious destructive behavior and suicidal ideation." (pp. 157-158)
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