Psychedelics are going mainstream, but society’s views on addiction and recovery models are still behind. Is the recovery community ready for psychedelics?

In this episode, Joe interviews Dan Ronken: licensed professional counselor and addiction counselor with a private practice in Boulder, CO, called Inclusion Recovery, and lead trainer and facilitator for the Integrative Psychiatry Institute (IPI).

He tells his story of going from a sponsored BMX racer to three stints in rehab before the age of 14, and what he’s learned from his experiences in recovery over the years: that there is a wide range of what ‘in recovery’ actually means, that abstinence-only and 12-step models don’t work for many, that connection and community – and consistency in both – are enormous parts of what actually leads to overcoming an addiction, and more. As recovery communities cautiously begin to talk about psychedelics, he highlights the importance of nuance in understanding addiction, the need for open-mindedness toward new therapeutic approaches, and the need for diverse support networks that welcome discussions around psychedelics.

He talks about::

• Inducing alcohol cravings before an intramuscular ketamine shot as a way of using neuroplasticity to rewire the brain’s relationship with alcohol
• How Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, benefitted greatly from LSD in the 50s, and how Ronken originally scoffed at such a concept
• The growing visibility of psychedelics in popular media, as seen in shows like “Loudermilk” and “Ted Lasso”
• The benefits of sober communities coming together for active and healthy activities

and more!

Links

Inclusionrecovery.com

Nature.com: Ketamine can reduce harmful drinking by pharmacologically rewriting drinking memories

Psychedelics and Addiction Recovery: Microdosing and Redefining the Path to Sobriety, featuring: Danielle Nova

Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transendence in Psychotherapy (Suny Series in Transpersonal & Humanistic Psychology), by Stanislav Grof

Hazeldenbettyford.org

Alcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book

Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life, by Allen Frances, M.D.

Psychedelicsinrecovery.org

Imdb.com: Loudermilk

Imdb.com: Ted Lasso

Thephoenix.org

Lucid.news: Bill Wilson, LSD and the Secret Psychedelic History of Alcoholics Anonymous

Distilled Spirits: Getting High, Then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk, by Don Lattin

YouTube: Bill W. (2012 documentary)

The Rose Of Paracelsus: On Secrets & Sacraments, by William Leonard Pickard

Pubmed: Percentage of Heavy Drinking Days Following Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy vs Placebo in the Treatment of Adult Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial

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