The Dangers of "Ayahuasca Told Me…" with Jerónimo Mazarrasa
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
Release Date: 04/02/2025
Exploring Psychedelic Benefits for Chronic Illness with Christina P. Kantzavelos, LCSW, MSW, MLIS
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Christina P. Kantzavelos, LCSW, MSW, MLIS joins to discuss the use of psychedelics to address chronic illness. Christina is an international psychotherapist, coach, writer and artist, who specializes in treating clients with chronic illness, and complex trauma utilizing various modalities, including psychedelic assisted therapy. In this conversation, Christina overviews the complex mental and physical health impacts of chronic pain conditions and shares her expertise on psychedelic and non-psychedelic treatments for these conditions. Christina mentions that chronic pain can...
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The Dangers of "Ayahuasca Told Me…" with Jerónimo Mazarrasa
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Jerónimo Mazarrasa joins to discuss how to interpret visions and insights disclosed during ayahuasca journeys more effectively. Jerónimo is Program Director at ICEERS, founder of ICEERS Academy, and creator of AyaSafety, an online course for people interested in increasing the safety of ayahuasca ceremonies. To start, Jerónimo emphasizes that answering the question of whether ayahuasca visions originate in the plant medicine itself or if these are just disclosures of one’s own subconscious is actually not what's most important. Instead, he suggests that in either case,...
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Can Psychedelics Lead to False Beliefs? with Hugh McGovern, PhD
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Hugh McGovern, PhD joins to discuss his research on the impact of psychedelics on beliefs. Dr. McGovern is a Research Fellow at the School of Medicine, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. To start, Dr. McGovern introduces the inference or predictive processing framework utilized in his paper . He explains the role of prediction in cognition, showing how insights occur when our existing perspectives are unable to make sense of our experience. In this vein, Dr. McGovern discusses how the psychedelic experience disrupts our normal modes of prediction and perception,...
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Psychedelics for Grief and Loss with Heather A. Lee, LCSW
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Heather A. Lee, LCSW joins to discuss the topic of psychedelic healing for grief and loss. Heather is a licensed psychotherapist, educator, speaker, and consultant. With over 30 years of practice in mental health, her focus is on supporting midlife and beyond women as they navigate life transitions. In this conversation, Heather explores the ways psychedelic healing may have transformative contributions to peoples’ journeys navigating grief and loss. She explains that we live in a culture that doesn’t have a good understanding of grief, how to navigate it, or how to...
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Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety with Thomas Kim, MD
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Thomas Kim, MD joins to discuss ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety. Dr. Kim is the Chief Medical Officer of Noma Therapy, which is a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy program available via telehealth and in-person with licensed therapists. He has devoted 20 years of his professional life to realizing a value-based approach to healthcare through telehealth. In this conversation, Dr. Kim shares his journey of working in early telehealth contexts to now working with ketamine. He discusses the research on ketamine treatments for anxiety and explains the significant...
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Guruism and Cult Dynamics in Psychedelic Practices with Joseph Holcomb Adams
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Joseph Holcomb Adams joins to discuss the important topic of guruism and cult dynamics in psychedelic communities. Joseph is an ethicist who specializes in issues related to psychedelics, altered states, and transformative experiences. In this conversation, Joseph introduces the concepts of a guru, guruism, and cult dynamics. He describes the social-psychological mechanisms behind the devotee-guru relationship and the development of ideological conformity in cults, explaining how the heightened states induced by psychedelics can contribute to these dynamics if participants and...
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Encore episode: Avoiding the Traps of Psychedelic Self-Absorption with Adam Aronovich, PhD(c)
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode of the Psychedelic Medicine Podcast, Adam Aronovich, PhD(c) returns to discuss issues of psychedelic self-absorption—and how to avoid these traps. According to Adam, he is a PhD candidate in medical anthropology, the creator and curator of Healing from Healing, a trophy husband and dad. In this conversation, Adam revisits his previous discussion of psychedelic narcissism and explains why he’s now somewhat more critical of the term. However, Adam still sees issues around cultivating epistemic humility and acknowledging the political dimensions of healing in psychedelic...
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Psilocybin for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with Sorcha O'Connor, PhD(c)
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Sorcha O'Connor, PhD(c) joins to discuss the research into the use of psilocybin to address obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Sorcha is completing her neuroscience PhD at Imperial College London, specialising in mental health research. She led PsilOCD, a pioneering study investigating low-dose psilocybin as a treatment for both the clinical symptoms and cognitive features of OCD. In this conversation, Sorcha introduces obsessive-compulsive disorder and discusses the ways medical professionals are currently thinking about this and other related conditions. She mentions that...
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Ending Pill Shaming: How Psychedelics and Pharmaceuticals Can Both Support Healing with Erica Zelfand, ND
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode, Erica Zelfand, ND joins to discuss the important topic of pill shaming in psychedelic communities and how psychedelic medicine and traditional pharmaceuticals can both support healing. Dr. Erica Zelfand specializes in integrative mental health, bridging the gaps between conventional and alternative medicine. In addition to seeing patients in private practice, she also teaches facilitation internationally and leads retreats through Right to Heal. In this conversation, Dr. Zelfand tackles the issue of pill shaming in psychedelic communities, showing why this rhetoric falls short...
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Integrating Challenging Psychedelic Experiences with Keith Kurlander, MA, LPC
Psychedelic Medicine Podcast with Dr. Lynn Marie Morski
In this episode of the Psychedelic Medicine Podcast, Keith Kurlander, MA, LPC, joins to discuss the important topic of integration practices for challenging psychedelic experiences. Keith is the Co-Founder of the Integrative Psychiatry Institute, the largest professional education company specializing in integrative mental health and psychedelic therapy. In this conversation, Keith begins by exploring the different types of challenging psychedelic experiences and various lingering effects one may experience following a difficult psychedelic journey. He discusses these from a trauma-informed...
info_outlineIn this episode, Jerónimo Mazarrasa joins to discuss how to interpret visions and insights disclosed during ayahuasca journeys more effectively. Jerónimo is Program Director at ICEERS, founder of ICEERS Academy, and creator of AyaSafety, an online course for people interested in increasing the safety of ayahuasca ceremonies.
To start, Jerónimo emphasizes that answering the question of whether ayahuasca visions originate in the plant medicine itself or if these are just disclosures of one’s own subconscious is actually not what's most important. Instead, he suggests that in either case, what is crucial is spending time carefully considering how one should respond to these disclosures. Jerónimo shares insights from expert facilitators on how one can best go about interpreting and responding to such experiences, suggesting that an important aspect of this process is that participants feel comfortable taking personal responsibility for whatever decisions they eventually decide to make rather than thinking of these major life changes as necessary consequences of the psychedelic experience itself. In closing, Jerónimo discusses the tension between externalization and psychologization of psychedelic experiences and why both of these can lead to issues.
In this episode, you'll hear:
- The common experience of feeling as though the ayahuasca has communicated something to you
- Examples of where taking an ayahuasca vision literally can lead to problematic outcomes
- The “three confirmations” one should look for before making a major decision based on a psychedelic experience
- The metaphor of ayahuasca as a microscope
- How skilled ayahuasca facilitators ensure proper psychological hygiene with participants
- Judging the validity of potential repressed memories that seem to surface during psychedelic experiences
Quotes:
“The way that ayahuasca becomes useful for people, I think, is that it shows you—it amplifies and shows you—what is already inside of yourself. Now, this is very useful for certain things but one has to understand the nature of the language.” [9:23]
“Facilitators should instruct their participants that one rule is that you shouldn’t make any decisions during an ayahuasca ceremony—unless they are decisions related to taking yourself out of danger.” [14:42]
“Ayahuasca is not a shortcut for personal development—it’s just a flashlight that can help you shed some light on some darker parts of [your] issues and problems, but it is not a shortcut.” [35:47]
“The main contraindication of psychedelics is not wanting to take psychedelics. You should absolutely never ever ever ever ever take psychedelics if you don’t want to because it is going to be horrible. It’s like a kiss—when you want it, its beautiful, intimate, gorgeous; when you don’t want it, it's the most intrusive, disgusting, blech thing ever.” [50:27]
Links:
Previous episode: Guruism and Cult Dynamics in Psychedelic Practices with Joseph Holcomb Adams
Previous episode: Can Psychedelics Lead to False Beliefs? with Hugh McGovern, PhD