I’m using this blog post to advertise Part 2 of our salon series. If you were with us last month, then you know what to expect. A short presentation — 20 minutes tops — then much discussion. The discussion that emerged during Part 1 took off from a perspective Shaun and I share: that it […] (Read the rest ..read more

Hello again. This is a follow-up to my recent post, concerning the online salon hosted by Shaun Shelly and me, tomorrow at 1pm EST. I just wanted to remind anyone interested in attending to please register and get your ticket right away. The $20 cost for the first of our salons will be waived if […] (Read the rest ..read more

Hi all. Shaun Shelly (a frequent contributor to this blog) and I are co-hosting a series of four “salons” webcast (if that’s the word) by a splendid organization called Interintellect. These salons are Zoom-based meetings of people from various disciplines: IT, mental health, consciousness, culture, art and literature, drug use, philosophy, neuroscience, and science more […] (Read the rest ..read more

This post links to a recent podcast, where I join Dick Schwartz, the founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Gabor Maté, a well-known commentator on addiction and its impact on marginalized communities. As I’ve blogged about lately, I rely on IFS as a ground-breaking therapeutic tool in my psychology practice. Here in this podcast, […] (Read the rest ..read more

Self-destructive thoughts and feelings grow from ripples to tidal waves in people who develop addictions. But how does self-directed aggression become entrenched in our inner worlds, and how can it be dislodged? Everyone who’s ever been addicted to anything is bound to know two feelings — craving and self-hatred. These feeling states essentially define addiction. […] (Read the rest ..read more

Hi again. Sorry I’ve been so…absent…lately, but I’ve had a number of ideas I’d like to share with you in the next few weeks. The first involves psychedelics, whose benefits have long remained mysterious. We are finally getting a glimpse of how psychedelics work to improve mental health. And it’s fascinating. So consider this a […] (Read the rest ..read more

A 30% increase in overdose deaths in 2020? Sure, the year of the pandemic. Most agree that isolation has been a huge causal factor, but what does isolation mean in a world patched together by social media? Rat Park and Social Baseline Theory help us see the full picture. Over the last few months there […] (Read the rest ..read more

In response to some of your requests, this guest-post portrays the context, experience, and potential value of psychedelic therapy for those struggling with addiction (and other stuff). By someone who’s been there and can talk about it with precision and depth.   …By Eric Nada… I was very nervous the first time I drank ayahuasca. […] (Read the rest ..read more

I have not posted anything on this blog for over three months. I sometimes feel I’ve said all I have to say about addiction, and now is one of those times. But new ideas come in clusters. It’s hard to know whether and when a new cluster is about to pop up. Maybe it’s now. […] (Read the rest ..read more

…By Shaun Shelly… Here is a very special guest post by Shaun, a frequent contributor to the blog. Shaun’s view of drug use is deeply humanistic — he goes well beyond “harm reduction” to urge sensitivity and respect for the needs of diverse individuals, groups, and societies. As the title suggests, he moves beyond labelling […] (Read the rest ..read more