Psychedelics as therapeutic catalysts for emotional and spiritual
transformation
- Explores the latest medical research on the healing powers of
entheogens
- Reveals the crucial role of tribal and shamanic wisdom in psychedelic
medicine
- Provides guidelines for working with psychedelics, including the
author's personal healing and recommendations for creating change on the
spiritual and societal levels
Banned after promising research in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, the use of
psychedelics as therapeutic catalysts is now being rediscovered at
prestigious medical schools, such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NYU, and
UCLA. Through clinical trials to assess their use, entheogens have been
found to ease anxiety in the dying, interrupt the hold of addictive
drugs, cure post-traumatic stress disorder, and treat other deep-seated
emotional disturbances. To date, results have been positive, and the
idea of psychedelics as powerful psychiatric--and spiritual--medicines
is now beginning to be accepted by the medical community.
Exploring the latest cutting-edge research on psychedelics, along with
their use in indigenous cultures throughout history for rites of passage
and shamanic rituals, Neal Goldsmith reveals that the curative effect of
entheogens comes not from a chemical effect on the body but rather by
triggering a peak or spiritual experience. He provides guidelines for
working with entheogens, groundbreaking analyses of the concept--and the
process--of change in psychotherapy, and, ultimately, his own story of
psychedelic healing. Examining the tribal roots of this knowledge,
Goldsmith shows that by combining ancient wisdom and modern research, we
can unlock the emotional, mental, and spiritual healing powers of these
unique and powerful tools, providing an integral medicine for postmodern
society.
