Summer Communitas
As the summer rolls along and I spend time gathering with others I have reflected on how good it feels. It conjures up thoughts from a book by anthropologist Victor Turner discussing the value of communitas. Here’s a definition: Communitas is a Latin noun that means "community" and can refer to a feeling of shared humanity, intimacy, and solidarity that develops among people who experience liminality as a group. And another definition: Liminality is a state of being in between two stages or places, or on the verge of transitioning to something new. That is a particularly potent concept now [...]
Addiction and Spirituality
What is addiction? My philosophy is that addiction is a behavioral response to feel better, to avoid pain or discomfort. Our society has driven us to become less tolerant of discomfort so one part of an addiction treatment model would be distress tolerance education. There is often a deeper wound that Carl Jung and William James explored, they viewed addiction as spiritual thirst for wholeness– a misguided search for spiritual connection. Alcohol was referred to as spirits originally and was seen as a way to relax into making a spiritual connection; kind of ironic because addiction has become something we [...]
Paradigm Shift. Addiction, Mental health and Transformational Healing
Addiction is not the core problem, it is an invitation to look deeper. The abstinence only model keeps us bound to a model where relapse and shame become barriers to getting help. Psychedelic therapies invites a broader scope of contemplation around the driving forces behind our behaviors and allow us to see ourselves with a greater sense of compassion and curiosity. Therapeutic use of psychedelics can allow us to change the way we view addiction and recovery and help us come up with language that better suits the process. Neglect and developmental trauma are present in a significant number [...]
Paradigm Shift. Mental Health and Transformational Healing Opportunities.
We are in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance exploring transformational healing with different tools. Western psychopharmacology has developed to reduce symptomatology— as we minimize and mask symptoms we become less connected from the messages the symptoms are trying to share with us. Our progress driven society encourages striving for peak performance-but at what cost? It seems we have lost our sense of connection to culture, to body, to nature and our own innate healing wisdom. The art and science of psychedelic healing is being integrated into our current mental health system through the use of psychotherapy [...]
Guest on Sex, Psychics, Psychedelics with Banana Jane
Dr Eva Altobelli, an Addiction Psychiatrist who runs HOME-LA, a wellness center integrating therapy, psychiatry, and psychedelics. In this episode Eva guides us through the burgeoning world of Ketamine therapies assessing Ketamine’s applications for pain, depression and talk therapy, as well as its costs, shortcomings and future possibilities. And then there’s that deeper question we’re invited to explore: does Ketamine in fact have a soul? And how is it helping at large?
Guest on Andrew Susskind’s Podcast
A conversation between Dr. Altobelli and Andrew Susskind (a specialist in addiction and sexuality). In this podcast we discuss therapeutic uses of ketamine, MDMA and psilocybin in psychiatry.
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June 2, 2026
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