Therapy with Substance

Therapy with Substance: Psycholytic Psychotherapy in the Twenty-First Century by Friederike Meckel Fischer provides insights into therapeutic processes that aim to draw out deeply-rooted mental problems onto the surface, by administering patients low dose psychedelics across multiple sessions, while facilitating therapeutic interactions that are conducive to this process. Friederike Fischer explains her understanding of the healing processes and provides tools for conducting psycholythic therapy, drawing on her experiences as an underground therapist. These entail suggestions on how to use different substances, how to teach patients to access their unconscious more intentionally, and how to initiate or deepen these processes during psycholythic therapy.

Publisher Summary

“Psychedelic drugs were routinely used in clinical research and psychotherapy until the 1960s. Since then they have been illegal except for a short period in the 1990s in Switzerland. During this window of opportunity, Dr. Fischer began using psychedelics to assist the progress of those of her patients who were “stuck.” This book is a description of her use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: the group work, the technical approach, the substances themselves and how to work with them. There is a special focus on the preparation of the mindset, the setting and the integration as these are the most important determinants of good outcomes. This is a unique account and the definitive guide for the new generation of psychedelic psychotherapists.”