Integrating Experiences of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness

In ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) and MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT), people report a range of novel experiences from the expansive to the contracted, including ecstatic liberation from conditioned mind and deep connection with self, world and others, as well as challenging, paradigm-busting experiences of (perceived) ego- or bodily death, access to ancestral and transpersonal dimensions of trauma, and contact with alien realms and entities. The focus of this talk will be to offer clinical examples of experiences that have been difficult to metabolize and reconcile with prior knowledge and suggest relevant areas of inquiry in the process of integrating such experiences.