Healing with Psychedelics by Chris Becker
Healing with Psychedelics
Essays and Poems on Spirituality and Transformation
Illicit drugs are good. Or at least they can be, when used with intentionality to spur personal growth and healing.
This was once an unpopular opinion, but as science and society reexamines the role of psychedelics, and MDMA and Ketamine, the conclusion seems inevitable. Psychedelics compounds, MDMA and Ketamine each have the potential to heal old wounds, remove psychological scar tissue, and help those who are already well achieve further personal growth and contentment.
Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind has become an international bestseller, and is an unabashed love story for psychedelics. Our article Using the Psychedelic Experience for Personal Growth has been viewed over a million times since its publication in 2019. Ketamine is already being used to treat depression and is highly effective helping people with suicidal thoughts. And absent political interference, MDMA and psilocybin will be legal for supervised use in the United States by mid-2022, with FDA trials showing outstanding preliminary results. In short, science and society is catching up with what has been well known in psychedelic circles.
Chris H. Becker author of Healing with Psychedelics
Chris Becker holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley and was a postdoctoral associate at MIT in chemistry and physics. He is an author on 130 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and 20 U.S. patents. He is also a practicing Buddhist and a man who struggled with substance abuse and interpersonal relationship challenges.
Healing with Psychedelics is Becker’s autobiographical examination of the role of guided MDMA and psychedelic experiences as well as Zen practices in healing his childhood psychological wounding. In addition to a series of essays, several poems punctuate the volume, reflecting the themes of the book. The work combines spiritualism and science to examine the path he followed to wellness.
Becker first examines the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs are defined to include any abuse, neglect or other trauma experienced by a person under 18 years old, and includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Becker notes that 2/3rd of us have experienced an ACE, and 87% of those people go on to experience multiple ACEs, according to one study. The damage from ACEs can be hard to escape: unstable romantic relationships, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and other addictions can become the lifelong shadow of those afflicted.
Becker argues that American religious culture plays a significant role in perpetrating ACEs, in part by creating lifelong guilt and dysfunction, noting “…we can look to the widespread (mis)application of Christian beliefs as a major source of societally sanctioned childhood trauma.”
Buy Healing with Psychedelics
Amazon
eBook vendors
The Audiobook
Trippingly.net is a zero revenue website. It receives no compensation from any affiliate fees or otherwise.
Becker, a Buddhist, identifies several Buddhist spiritual leaders that struggled with dysfunction and addiction in their lives, and asks the obvious question: “Why didn’t these spiritual leaders heal their trauma when they were experts in methods to do so?” And immediately provides his answer: “Because they couldn’t see their early childhood trauma.” Whether the reader is persuaded by the author on this point may well depend on whether one is predisposed to the line of thinking that the memories and impact of their injuries were hidden in their unconscious as the argument is more of a thought-provoking assertion than a persuasively argued thesis.
While the book covers multiple themes, Becker’s most inspired writing focuses on his personal journey, which includes his experience moving past functional alcoholism, spousal neglect (resulting from his avoided attachment style) and challenged interpersonal relationships. Becker links these struggles he’s faced throughout adult life to his upbringing, and primarily to his distant relationship with his strict father.
In his mid-20s, the author began practicing Zen Buddhism, including zazen, the classic form of Zen Buddhist meditation. He had been raised by a Presbyterian mother and a Jewish father, a happenstance that he found fortuitous, as it gave him “a little stereovision and a lack of attachment to any one religion.” While studying at Columbia in the early 70s he enrolled in an Eastern religions class, and happened upon a book by Nāgārjuna, a highly influential Buddhist philosopher. After reading a few pages he decided he was a Buddhist, and continues to practice Buddhism with varying enthusiasm until present day.
In the early to mid-70s he also began exploring psychedelics, including mushrooms and LSD. He found, however, peyote to be most rewarding, in part inspired by the writings of Carlos Castaneda, whose reports of drug-fueled mystical journeys captured the imagination of many in the 1970s, some of whom would go on to seek divine truth with the help of psychedelics.
After a hiatus, Becker returned in earnest to Zen practices in 1986, following the death of his father only to find his practice interrupted as he dealt with the emotional complexities of a failed marriage. Issues with addiction and continued interpersonal problems continued to weigh on him, although around 2010 he jumpstarted his spiritual practice once again.
In 2019, the author undertook his first MDMA journey, which was spiritual and mystical in quality, unlike the typical MDMA experience. He described becoming one with a golden light, which he interpreted as love and eternal life. Becker reports tremendous and rapid personal growth, which he attributes to the experiences with MDMA, aided by a psychotherapist. He notes, without much detail, that the MDMA guided therapy “successfully uncovered and healed the bulk of the source of my pain and dysfunction”. A more detailed description of the process of finding an underground therapist, and methodology of the experience would have been a valuable elaboration, and more details on Becker’s personal healing would have provided additional heft to the book.
Visit Chris Becker’s Website
Becker then takes us on a valuable detour into meditation practices. Science has begun to explain the affinity between meditation and psychedelic compounds, both of which suppress activity in the brain’s default mode network, an area that is especially active when people are “wallowing in depression”. For those well versed in Zen practices, this section will prove to be a basic refresher, but for those with less exposure to these concepts, the author provides a well-written and thoughtfully focused examination of the challenges and benefits of meditation.
Becker goes on to undertake three psilocybin guided trips, two solo trips and one group experience. Each trip he describes as a celestial washing machine; “It cleans you if you’re ready, and you get tossed around in the process.”
As is common during guided trips, each was facilitated by an experienced guide who incorporated traditional spiritual accouterments, included an impactful dose of psychoactive mushrooms (3.5 grams to 5 grams), involved an eye shade and featured curated music. He ingested the mushrooms in the Mexican spiritual tradition: slowly nibbling the mushrooms with one’s front teeth, only swallowing after a prolonged period, which allows the active ingredient to be absorbed quickly and efficiently through the mouth. Many also report the process helps focus the mind for the coming journey.
Refreshingly, his trip descriptions are relatively brief, describing the set and setting, as well as his personal revelations, rather than trying to capture the mystical aspects of the journey. Anyone who has attempted to recreate the spirit of a psychedelic experience in the written word has become intimate with their ineffable qualities, and too many books have lost impact by trying to describe the indescribable. His focus provides an education on how guided trips are often facilitated, while also giving the readers insight to and connection with the author’s personal voyage.
Healing with Psychedelics can be a quick read, but includes plenty of depth to spur personal reflection. Anyone entering the world of using psychedelics for personal growth will find it engaging and informative, and an excellent launching pad for further investigation. The Kindle edition is currently only $2.99, a spectacular deal for such an engaging work.
Becker notes that his use of psychedelic has been solely for personal growth and healing, and his psychedelic journeys were done under supervision of experienced guides. While we at Trippingly.net advocate the use of MDMA and psychedelics for recreation as well as growth, Becker’s approach makes for a focused read and is effective. Becker’s personal story is interesting and well presented, and the book could easily have doubled in length while still holding the reader’s attention. Healing with Psychedelics is a welcomed addition to the growing list of books that recount transformational stories, while including enough instructional information to help guide its readers who are exploring psychedelics themselves.
A Note on Guided Trips
Since Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind (re)introduced the concept into popular culture, guided trips are once again a touchstone for debate in the psychedelic community. Many have no practical access to an experienced psychedelic guide in the United States and Western Europe, with the use of psychedelics being largely illegal outside of certain religious practices. Psychedelic integration therapy is becoming popular in the US, but provides only for guidance before and after the psychedelic experience, and many find this far less impactful than having a trained guide present to lead the psychedelic journey. (See our article How to Find a Psychedelic Guide or Integration Counselor).
Some have argued that the focus on guided trips in popular literature is disenfranchising the significant majority of the population that is likely to never have access to these hard-to-find, and increasingly expensive resources. One argument is that since the early days of exposure to psychedelics in the west, and in the United States in particular, the narrative around psychedelics has been largely written by wealthy and well-educated white men, who have shaped the psychedelic journey to fit their own narratives.
Perhaps the best known article on psychedelic mushrooms, Seeking the Magic Mushroom, which graced the cover of Life Magazine in 1957, introduced many in the west to psychedelics via the experience of a well-to-do PR man from JP Morgan, financed by Henry Luce to take hallucinogenic mushrooms in a Mazatec ceremony. Timothy Leary and Ram Dass continued the tradition of academic elitism in psychedelics, while Michael Pollan represents a modern take on wealthy white guys providing a narrative for the effective use of psychedelics. Chris Becker holds advanced degrees and professional accomplishment, while the editorial board of Trippingly.net is composed of wealthy Silicon Valley types.
“[R]esearchers believe it is not the molecules by themselves that can help patients change their minds. The role of the guide is crucial. People under the influence of psychedelics are extraordinarily suggestible — “think of placebos on rocket boosters,” a Hopkins researcher told me — with the psychedelic experience profoundly affected by “set” and “setting” — that is, by the volunteer’s interior and exterior environments. For that reason, treatment sessions typically take place in a cozy room and always in the company of trained guides.”
So what is one to make of this all? The evidence is admittedly anecdotal. We know of no double-blind scientific study that shows guided psychedelic experiences are more beneficial than ones taken alone or with friends. Nonetheless, the weight of personal and anecdotal experience is heavy here. Although people experience significant breakthroughs on their own, psychedelics break habitual thought patterns and render people unusually subject to the power of suggestion. Small pushes and prods, or even curated changes in music or environment can lead people down one path or another. Having an expert who knows just when to give a gentle nudge can help guide the trip to the most fertile fields. Professional guides are also skilled at helping psychonauts prepare themselves with clearly defined intentions, and the well-tuned mental attitudes for explosive growth. Finally, the very act of seeking out a guide and attending a ceremony places an expectancy on the encounter that may lead to more intense healing and growth.
Can one achieve meaningful growth without a guide? Of course. But the odds increase by setting a clear intention of what is to be accomplished. More growth is likely when a carefully curated path is followed, as we set out in our admittedly dense article, Using the Psychedelic Experience for Personal Growth. But ultimately, we believe that combining intentionality, a curated path to growth and an in-person guided session produces the highest odds of achieving meaningful change.
We acknowledge the hard reality of this assertion: those without access to guides will face a more challenging path than those seeking growth on their own. The answer, however, is to not only legalize the use of psychedelics and MDMA, but to provide social resources, insurance and destigmatization to make psychedelic guides available to all who need them.
Further Reading
How to Find a Psychedelic Guide or Integration Counselor to start one’s own journey with psychedelics
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn to learn more about mediation.
Buddha’s Brain by Dr. Rick Hanson to learn practical tools to re-wire your brain for increased happiness.
Using the Psychedelic Experience for Personal Growth for those attempting psychedelic assisted personal growth on their own.