Psychedelic Therapy and the Politics of Consciousness

Dr. Keith Witt Cognitive, Intrapersonal, Psychology, Spiritual, Video, Witt & Wisdom: Live with Dr. Keith 2 Comments


Become a supporting member to watch the full conversation

Humanity is entering the Transformation Age, a new era of human civilization, with Integral Consciousness rising at its leading edge. Our members don’t use Integral Life as just another media subscription they use weekly or discard. Instead, most stay with us for years, using Integral Life to learn Integral Philosophy and build an integral mind slowly, methodically and when they need it. We’re here to help you shape the future that’s emerging no matter where your life takes you.

Get Full Access For $1 (30 days)* Or explore all membership plans → * Trial price for the first 30 days, then $20/month. Cancel or switch plans in 2 minutes at any time.

In the recent 2022 midterm elections, Colorado joined the state of Oregon in its decriminalization of psychedelic substances for therapeutic use.

Here Dr. Keith and Corey explore some of the major implications of this profound legal shift, both in terms of our overall emotional, psychological, and spiritual health, as well as our rapidly evolving “politics of consciousness” — those states of consciousness that are sanctioned by the state, versus those that are not.

Watch as we take an in-depth look at the many growth opportunities being surfaced by these changing laws, and how integral concepts such as quadrants, states, and developmental stages help us better understand the effects these substances have on us, as well as the role they have played throughout history.

Previous Episodes of Witt & Wisdom

Integral Perspectives on Alcoholism

Integral Perspectives on Alcoholism

Dr. Keith Witt
Alcohol addiction is a deeply entrenched issue that affects a significant portion of the population, with around 10% of children being raised in a family with at least one alcoholic parent as of 2019. In this episode of Witt and Wisdom, Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos undertake a comprehensive exploration of alcohol addiction, its effects, and the recovery process through the lens of Ken Wilber's integral theory, which encompasses all four quadrants - individual (internal and external) and collective (internal and external).
Toward an Integral Meta-Psychotherapy

Toward an Integral Meta-Psychotherapy

Dr. Keith Witt
Imagine a therapy where everything is interconnected, where every moment is a golden opportunity, and where the journey is as transformative as the destination. Whether you're a therapist, a seeker, or just curious about the intricacies of the human psyche, this episode promises a journey of discovery, connection, and evolution.
The Art and Science of the Intentional Love Affair

The Art and Science of the Intentional Love Affair

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos delve into the intricacies of intimate relationships, exploring the concept of "intentional love affairs" and how they can be cultivated to deepen connection and intimacy. They discuss the importance of fostering better friendships, nurturing love affairs, and developing the ability to solve problems so effortlessly that they may not even appear as conflicts to others.
When Therapists Go Woke

When Therapists Go Woke

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey examine a troubling new trend in psychotherapy, where woke ideologies are being imposed in the therapist’s office and interfering with client-based approaches to mental health. Prompted by Lisa Davis's insightful article "How Therapists Became Social Justice Warriors" in The Free Press, Keith and Corey delve into the evolving role of therapists in the current sociopolitical climate.
Mastery, Collaboration, and Finding Your Unique Healing Style

Mastery, Collaboration, and Finding Your Unique Healing Style

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore the multifaceted nature of integral psychotherapy, emphasizing the importance of therapists finding their own healing style and the role of personal cosmologies in shaping therapeutic practice. They delve into the complexities of blending different integral systems, highlighting potential blind spots in integral cosmology and the challenges of extending beyond one's mastery. The conversation also touches on the impact of generational events and the internet on mental health and societal norms.
What Makes Us Happy? Growing Toward Anti-Fragility

What Makes Us Happy? Growing Toward Anti-Fragility

Dr. Keith Witt
Join Keith and Corey in this enriching dialogue, as they bring forth an integral perspective on the pressing issue of mental health and resilience among youth, and explore the transformative potential of anti-fragility and the happiness strategies that can empower us to create a brighter future for ourselves and the generations to come.
How Self-Hatred Can Lead to Self Transformation

How Self-Hatred Can Lead to Self Transformation

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey explore how feelings of self-hatred and self-loathing, when combined with compassionate self-awareness and the natural resilience of Witness consciousness, can help us overcome our resistance to change and put us back on the path of increasing wholeness, happiness, and self-acceptance. It’s an incredibly powerful discussion that we hope will help you better navigate some of these darkest corners of your own psyche.
How Attachment Theory Can Improve Your Relationships

How Attachment Theory Can Improve Your Relationships

Dr. Keith Witt
As Dr. Keith often reminds us, “Everything is relationships.” And the earliest relationships we form in our lives often set the tone and cadence for all the other relationships we will ever form in our lives. The coping strategies we learn in preadolescence become our inner compass later in life, and our efforts as grownups can often be seen as expressions, compensations, or substitute gratifications for the sense of security we may or may not have felt as children.
Escaping the Comfort Zone: Motivation, Shame, and the Will to Transform

Escaping the Comfort Zone: Motivation, Shame, and the Will to Transform

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey explore the complex psychology of motivation — the various sticks and carrots we use to get out of bed in the morning and keep ourselves moving forward in our lives, sustaining the inertia we need to push us through any number of hardships, setbacks, and growth opportunities.
How Change Works: Supporting Vertical Development

How Change Works: Supporting Vertical Development

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey explore some critical strategies to help support ongoing growth to increasing wholeness in ourselves and in other people: finding a psycho-spiritual framework to help organize our knowledge, experiences, and practices (e.g. Integral metatheory), engaging in change work (psychotherapy, coaching, consulting, etc.), and seeking communities of people who we recognize as more developed than ourselves.
How Healthy Relationships Manage Conflict

How Healthy Relationships Manage Conflict

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey discuss "post-issue relationships" — relationships where both partners have the awareness and skill to stay connected in warmth and acceptance all the time, where challenges such as irritation, anxiety, doubt, guilt, and frustration can be transmuted into problem solving and warm feelings towards each other.
Personality as the Base Note of Change Work

Personality as the Base Note of Change Work

Dr. Keith Witt
Watch as Dr. Keith offers a "Psychotherapy Masterclass" that helps us work with various personality types as a foundation for healing, change, and self-actualization. While intended for other psychotherapy professionals, this discussion offers valuable insight for all of us, and can be immediately applied to our personal transformational work, whatever that may be.
Making Sense of Madness: Personality Disorders and Mass Formation Delusions

Making Sense of Madness: Personality Disorders and Mass Formation Delusions

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey explore an Integral understanding of personality disorders, and how they fit into the mass formation distortions that currently seem to be happening all around us in our culture.
Authoring Your Life Story: The Hero’s Journey and You

Authoring Your Life Story: The Hero’s Journey and You

Dr. Keith Witt
Watch as Dr. Keith and Corey take a deep dive into the human superpower of self-authorship, and how we can use that superpower to construct a more resilient, more forgiving, and more integrated sense of “self”.
How to Teach Kids About Sex and Gender

How to Teach Kids About Sex and Gender

Dr. Keith Witt
What exactly are “developmentally appropriate, age-appropriate” ways to teach kids about sex, gender, and identity, not only for kids in kindergarten through third grade, but throughout the rest of childhood and adolescence? Which aspects are more appropriate to teach at home, and which are appropriate to teach at school? Watch as Dr. Keith and Corey share their thoughts.
An Integral Understanding of Narcissism and Gaslighting

An Integral Understanding of Narcissism and Gaslighting

Dr. Keith Witt
In this episode, Dr. Keith and Corey take a careful look at the strategies and intended results of gaslighting (the effort to make you question your very sanity by convincing you that your memories and perception of reality are somehow incorrect, inconsistent, or unreliable) in our personal and professional relationships, as well as in media, marketing, politics, and society at-large. How can we can better inoculate ourselves from this pernicious form of psychological manipulation? Watch to find out!
The Awakened Brain: The Neurobiology of Spiritual Experience

The Awakened Brain: The Neurobiology of Spiritual Experience

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith takes a close look at the physiology of spiritual experience. What parts of the brain are being activated when we are having one of these powerful state experiences, and what does this tell us about the critical intersection between growth (both biological and psychological development) and awakening?
From Codependence to Interdependence

From Codependence to Interdependence

Dr. Keith Witt
Codependent relationships — those relationships where one person needs another, and the other person needs to be needed — are surprisingly common in our lives, regardless of our overall stage of development. In fact, there is a good chance that you have dealt with codependent relationships in the past, or are maybe even struggling with one right now. This discussion will help you to transform those relationships into genuinely interdependent relationships that can transcend and include both healthy dependence and independence.
Transforming Trauma Into Resilience

Transforming Trauma Into Resilience

Dr. Keith Witt
Watch as we take a look at several different kinds of trauma — micro-traumas, big traumas, “pre-verbal” traumas, generational traumas, etc. — and explore how we can shift into a “post-traumatic growth” mindset which, like the kintsugi vase in the image above, allows us to remake ourself into a more resilient, unique, and elegant vessel.
Finding Resilience in a Flood of Disinformation

Finding Resilience in a Flood of Disinformation

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey explore multiple strategies to help us maintain our mental and emotional well-being as our informational terrains become increasingly disrupted and distorted by a constant flood of disinformation.
Honesty, Humility, and Reality Distortion Fields

Honesty, Humility, and Reality Distortion Fields

Dr. Keith Witt
Dr. Keith and Corey discuss “the H Factor” — a variation of the Big 5 personality typology that adds a critical sixth trait, honesty and humility. Watch as we take a deep dive into the psychological benefits of honest self-reporting, a healthy epistemic humility, and the sorts of “reality distortion fields” that seem to emanate from certain personalities.
Dr. Keith Witt

About Keith Witt

Dr. Keith Witt is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and author who has lived and worked in Santa Barbara, CA. for over forty years. Dr. Witt is also the founder of The School of Love.

Corey deVos

About Corey deVos

Corey W. deVos is Editor-in-Chief of Integral Life, as well as Managing Editor of KenWilber.com. He has worked for Integral Institute/Integal Life since Spring of 2003, and has been a student of integral theory and practice since 1996. Corey is also a professional woodworker, and many of his artworks can be found in his VisionLogix art gallery.

2 Comments