Mind Body Psychotherapy

Compassionate Alternative Paths to Healing and Growth - David J. MacDonald, LCSW

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Diving into The Fractal: My Journey into Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy

Posted on 01/09/2022 Written by Dave MacDonald

In 2018 I began a deep dive to learn about the healing potential and promise that might be offered by the therapeutic use of MDMA, known more commonly as “Ecstasy”. For patients/clients suffering from Complex PTSD this molecule shows phenomenal possibilities to heal formerly intractable wounds and restore the minds and bodies of so many who suffer from severe Traumatic Stress. We are on the cusp of FDA approval for the therapeutic use of MDMA but at the moment it remains illegal for such purposes.

My curiosity and drive led me to be trained by MAPS and then in a complimentary (and ongoing) training to work with Ketamine, the only Psychedelic Medicine available legally throughout in the US.

That’s a lot of what I’ve been devoting my training energy to for the past few years. And so, I’m now providing Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy on a limited basis through my connection with two Asheville Ketamine providers (see below).

The word Psychedelic comes from the Greek words “Psyche”= Mind or Soul and “Deloun”= to reveal or make clear.

The molecule Ketamine is a legal pharmaceutical used daily around the world in ERs and operating rooms for anesthesia and analgesia. When administered at sub-anesthetic doses, Ketamine induces a variety of Psychedelic phenomena from relaxing dream-like states to profoundly visual hallucinatory states comparable to the classic Psychedelics, DMT, Psilocybin and LSD.

Ketamine is a rapid antidepressant for a large portion of the patients who seek it for Major Depressive Disorder. It often reduces or eliminates suicidal thinking after the first session. Ketamine does not work on the SSRI/SNRI pathways like Prozac but with the Glutamate neurotransmission system.

One important consideration about Ketamine is that unlike the classic Psychedelic molecules, Ketamine has a potential for abuse and addiction. This is typically seen in heavy recreational users and has not been seen evolving from its psychotherapeutic use. Evidence is demonstrating that Ketamine, when used within a therapeutic setting has a low potential for abuse. That being said, with any substance which has an abuse potential, clinicians and patients must keep that in mind when working with it.

Psychedelics, when administered to the right client/patient, in the appropriate setting and with proper therapeutic support, can offer tremendous opportunities for healing. Why? As a growing body of research is demonstrating, these substances (both legal and those still illegal but available for research) allow the brain to talk to itself in ways not typically available to us in our normal, day-to-day waking ordinary consciousness.

The suppression of the Default Mode Network (DMN) is one of the leading theories about how and why Psychedelic Medicines can be so helpful. They can allow us to see outside of our usual patterns, ruts, blind-spots and habits and can help us consider options we did not see or could fathom before. Psychedelics can also present us with difficult and sometimes traumatic past material while supporting a deeply mindful compassionate observing self to help metabolize previously stuck and/or calcified traumatic residue. Some of these molecules are credited with promoting the growth of Dendrites and are considered to be “neuro-protective” agents. These are just a few of a multitude of benefits being researched, stay tuned!

It is best to ignore any “HYPE!” suggesting that “One trip will heal it all!”. This is not my experience about how one works with Psychedelic Medicines. These are tools, with different qualities, best used in careful consultation and with a significant Preparation period before dosing and extended personal Integration afterward to discover meaning from the experience(s) and how to carry those into one’s life for lasting change.

This addition to my practice represents for me a further integration of the skills I’ve acquired over the past 35+ years of practice. Analytic Oriented Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, HeartMath BioFeedback and Attachment, Polyvagal and Structural Dissociation Theories and others may all figure in the process of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy from Intake through Preparation, Medicine and Integration sessions.

For more information please contact me. I’m working with Concierge Medicine and Psychiatry (https://www.conciergemedicineandpsychiatry.com/) and with Asheville Integrative Psychiatry (https://www.ashevilleintegrativepsychiatry.com/), two models with different yet overlapping approaches. One size does not fit all and this applies to Psychedelic Medicine as well.

For more information about the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and the organization’s leadership in researching psychedelic medicines visit their website here: MAPS

Filed Under: Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, Trauma, Treatments Tagged With: Ketamine, MAPS, MDMA, Psychedelic, Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, PTSD

MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD: A Psychedelic Cure?

Posted on 21/03/2019 Written by Dave MacDonald

MDMA for PTSD


PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!

Over several decades I’ve felt a subtle, yet growing call to revisit my relationship with psychedelics. This call, similar to the one that beckons me to travel to India, whispers to me regularly suggesting that I have more to learn from psychedelics than the mostly frightening and disturbing experiences I had as a curious teenager. Although until now I’ve done little more than make note of this call….I have been paying attention to its persistent presence and I am open to what it wants to teach me.

I’m slow but sure! Fast-forward four and a half decades and thousands of hours of Continuing Education / certification training later and you’ll know me to be quite accomplished at the treatment of Trauma and PTSD. Treatment however is a relative term in this field of practice because for all my efforts and learning the cutting edges of trauma treatment, the work is still hard and often very slow. It has been hard to define what a “cure” looks like although we have thankfully moved from the limited solutions of helping people only cope with the symptoms of a chronic illness to discovering means of effectively helping many patients to completely resolve their traumatic memories and live symptom free. But many is not enough!

It is often the nature of our brain/mind/body to attempt to manage the painful injuries that cause PTSD by employing something called “avoidance”. It makes sense! If we can find ways to not think about, feel or sometimes even know the depth of what hurt us then we can get on with our daily life right? Like when we break a bone….. if we just ignore it and keep on trying to live our lives, everything will get back to normal.

OK…so you can see where I’m headed, while avoidance does “help” in some ways, it tends to have very serious consequences and prevents us from really getting on with life. The moral of the story is this: In order to treat PTSD effectively we have to manage avoidance and fear so we can SAFELY revisit the terrible and typically overwhelming experiences that led to its development. Once we can do this safely, the brain/mind/body are wired to heal themselves much like a broken bone, when set and stabilized properly, will heal most completely. Remove the dirt, clean the wound and bandage it and our amazing bodies typically do the rest! Believe it or not, our brain/mind wants to heal psychological injury in a similar fashion but we’ve struggled to find ways to help this happen.

It is early March 2019 and I’m sitting in a room with 50+ other clinicians, researchers and psychedelic medicine professionals from all over the globe watching and listening intently to researchers Michael and Annie Mithoefer present their methods and findings on the successful treatment of Complex PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in a patient/participant group identified as “treatment resistant”.

The Mithoefers are researching the use of the drug MDMA (the pure version of a street drug know as “Ecstasy”) and how it is enabling people with complex cases of PTSD to not avoid their emotional wounds, to put their overwhelming experiences into perspective, to SAFELY feel and know -whatever they need to feel and know- in order to heal themselves and to re-enter there lives fully. For me, hearing and watching this is nothing short of a miracle (a word I do not generally use).

Their research, sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS – a 501(c)(3), Not-For-Profit research and educational organization) is now in its third phase and based of the findings from each phase of the study, the US Food and Drug Administration has granted MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD a “Breakthrough Therapy” designation. This is a REALLY BIG DEAL….PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!

I’ve been treating PTSD and trauma for most of my career and I’ve been excited about each new model of therapy and intervention that I’ve added to my repertoire, always hopeful that my skills would help lessen the suffering of the human beings who trusted me with their care. At this training, I sat with my colleagues reviewing and discussing hours of video tape recordings documenting the Mithoefer’s research using MDMA. I watched as they gently guided warriors, broken from combat in the Middle East and civilians wounded by very broken caregivers and/or from violent confrontations. They guided the participants to listen the “The Medicine” (viz. MDMA) and consult with their “Inner Healing Intelligence”, to notice what was happening in their bodies and to stay as close to what they were experiencing as possible.

MDMA has properties that seem perfectly tailored to help treat PTSD. First, It helps dampen a structure in the brain called the Amygdala – a sort of fear signal detector that becomes overly active with PTSD and contributes to many symptoms. Next, MDMA helps the patient to gain clear access to memories that have been previously avoided while also allowing those memories to be rewritten with new more appropriate information that is more adaptive to the present day (example: Before: “I”m going to die!” After: “It’s over…I survived and I’m OK!”). It’s important to note the memories are not erased or altered in some way that changes their factual nature but they are changed in this way: They are typically given a new meaning by the patient, one that is often understanding, forgiving, kind and coherent. The MDMA helps create the capacity to stay close to these memories/feelings/experience while not being overwhelmed by them. In fact, it appears to offer a clear ability to observe, often with a benevolent perspective, things that were previously the source of tremendous fear, shame, pain and judgement.

Finally, the drug increases the release of the hormone Oxytocin, often referred to as the “love hormone” or “bonding hormone”. Oxytocin helps the participant feel safe, bonded with and trusting of the process and the therapist team during the lengthy (8+ hour) MDMA therapy sessions.

As we watched the videos of each participant, supported by the properties of the MDMA and the gentle and limited direction of the team of therapists, a consistent theme emerged: The participants were healing, at a very deep level, from severe PTSD. The fact of this has been demonstrated by the science, the research. More than 80% of the participants, now years out from their original 2 or 3 Eight-hour MDMA therapy sessions are no longer showing clinical evidence of PTSD.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around what I’ve witnessed BUT I feel deeply in my gut that we are on the brink of a method that can bring great healing to terrible trauma and perhaps begin to interrupt the deadly cycle of untreated trauma the drives so much suffering in our world. Making MDMA accessible to those most in need of it, especially in marginalized and undeserved communities and in corners of the world marred by generations of war will be a formidable challenge.

We are at an important next frontier, the groundwork of which has been laid by the shamans and by indigenous peoples for thousands of years, nurtured by those willing to work outside of the law because of a commitment to use the healing properties of psychedelic medicines to heal trauma and now by those scientists determined to investigate the role that these medicines might play in healing the mind/body/spirit. I’m very excited to be a part of this next wave of treatment and the possibilities it offers to the world and each of us.

MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD is in the final phases of research and awaiting FDA approval for the Expanded Access phase. Expanded Access will open the research to a larger number of qualified participants at sites around the United States. If all goes well we hope to see MDMA approved for clinical use by the FDA in 2021. For more information about MAPS follow this link: https://maps.org/

Filed Under: Anxiety, Dissociation, IFS, Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, PTSD, Shame, Stress, Trauma, Treatments, Veterans Tagged With: Entheogens, MDMA, Psychedelic, Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, PTSD

5 Free Mobile Apps to help with PTSD, Stress & Anxiety

Posted on 22/03/2013 Written by Dave MacDonald

contact Dave MacDonald for artist info
Brave Heart – 2013

For well over 2 decades, I’ve been a big fan of the clinical guided imagery developed by Belleruth Naparstek and distributed though her company Health Journeys.  I was introduced to her guided imagery by my colleague and friend, Atlanta psychotherapist Cynthia Smith.  Through my formative years as a young Clinical Social Worker, Cynthia was my reference point for good judgment, outstanding clinical direction and she was a deep and wise guide for my own introspection.  I could always count on her good guidance and she was so right about Belleruth, whose soothing hypnotic voice is a prominent feature on her vast list of guided imageries.  Belleruth blogged about 5 FREE mobile apps useful in managing the symptoms of PTSD, Anxiety & Stress.  I’ve checked them out and offer you my thoughts about several of them. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anxiety, Dissociation, Guided Imagery, PTSD, Relaxation, Stress, Trauma, Treatments Tagged With: Android, Anxiety, APP, Healing, IOS, Mobile, PTSD, Stress

PTSD, EMDR and the Children of Combat Veterans

Posted on 30/01/2012 Written by Dave MacDonald

Captain H. Martin MacDonald - B-29 Commander

Captain H. Martin MacDonald, Jr. - B-29 Commander
Dad in his B-29

I read recently an article by Dr. Francine Shapiro concerning combat veterans suffering from untreated PTSD, the impact this had on their children and the hope of undoing or preventing such damage in the future because of a psychotherapy called EMDR.

My dad was a combat veteran.  During WWII he commanded a B-29 Superfortress on bombing missions over Japan.  On one of those missions dad’s plane was shot down and they had to ditch (a controlled landing of a distressed aircraft on water) into the Sea of Japan.  One of his men was killed on impact; the rest escaped as the plane sank.

In the distance, as Japanese destroyers were growing ever closer while executing a patterned search for the downed fliers, dad and his crew were silently spirited to safety, below the surface of the water, when they were rescued by the submarine USS Ronquil.  Meanwhile, back on the base, back at Isley Field on the Island of Saipan, dad’s longtime regular crew, flying that one mission aboard another B-29 to help orient a new pilot, crashed on takeoff killing all aboard. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dissociation, EMDR Therapy, Grief / Loss, PTSD, Trauma, Veterans Tagged With: EMDR Therapy, PTSD, Veterans, War

EMDR Therapy for Trauma, Anxiety & Growth

Posted on 29/10/2010 Written by Dave MacDonald

EMDR Therapy for PTSD, Anxiety and Personal Growth EMDR  Therapy, also know by its long name – Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing – was first formally taught as a therapeutic approach in the early 1990’s.  Francine Shapiro, Ph.D.,  is credited with the discovery and (ongoing) articulation of EMDR Therapy and she continues to develop the theory behind this fascinating form of psychotherapy. [Read more…]

Filed Under: EMDR Therapy, Grief / Loss, PTSD, Trauma, Veterans Tagged With: EMDR Therapy, PTSD, Shame, Trauma

Heart of Healing: A Compassionate Unfolding

Posted on 23/08/2010 Written by Dave MacDonald

Dave MacDonald LCSW

Thank-you for your interest in my practice

Currently I’m accepting new patients/clients into my practice only for short-term Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy using Ketamine (KAP).  I also offer Trauma-Informed Case Consultation and Consultation for EMDR Clinicians.

If you are searching for a Trauma-Informed psychotherapist, I encourage you to take some time to look through the Your Treatment Options section of my site for information on current and effective models of psychotherapy.

If you are interested in help with a referral to a clinician who practices in a manner similar to me please check my Links to Resources page.  There I’ve listed professional organizations which oversee the training I’ve received.  Each has a directory of practitioners which is searchable by geographic location.

If you are a student or clinician seeking consultation or training, please use my Contact page to e-mail me or call.

Dave MacDonald MSW, LCSW
Fall – 2022

I’m Dave MacDonald with David J. MacDonald LCSW, PLLC.  I’m a Clinical Social Worker licensed to practice psychotherapy.  I’m specially trained to offer you leading-edge and research based complimentary therapies like EMDR Therapy® for PTSD or HeartMath® Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback training for lower stress and more coherent decision making.

I have advanced training in the Internal Family Systems® and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® models of psychotherapy and offer the Alpha-Stim SCS® a non-drug treatment for anxiety, depression and insomnia.  For the treatment for grief, I can provide the Induced After-Death Communication® or IADC, a somewhat unconventional very short-term treatment method based on EMDR Therapy®.

Many of the most promising therapies today are those which are informed by recent developments in Attachment Theory, Somatic (or body) oriented models of therapy and the growing field of Interpersonal Neurobiology;  these newer therapies are frequently able to touch and heal certain types of emotional problems which conventional so called “talking” based styles of therapy have failed to resolve.  These therapies recognize and seek to activate the  natural healing tendencies existing in the body-mind of every person.

I believe that the body’s experience of feeling safe in the moment by moment unfolding of a therapeutic relationship is an essential aspect of healing;  that therapy is a collaborative process between the patient and therapist and that therapy, at its core, is about learning to live more fully and creatively.

Filed Under: EMDR Therapy, Grief / Loss, HeartMath, IFS, PTSD, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Trauma Tagged With: EMDR Therapy, Heartmath, IFS, Psychotherapy, PTSD

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Thank-you for your interest in my practice

Currenty I’m accepting new patients/clients into my practice only for short-term Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy using Ketamine (KAP).  I also offer Trauma-Informed Case Consultation and Consultation for EMDR Clinicians.

If you are searching for a Trauma-Informed psychotherapist, I encourage you to take some time to look through the Your Treatment Options section of my site for information on current and effective models of psychotherapy.

If you are interested in help with a referral to a clinician who practices in a manner similar to me please check my Links to Resources page.  There I’ve listed professional organizations which oversee the training I’ve received.  Each has a directory of practitioners which is searchable by geographic location.

If you are a student or clinician seeking consultation or training, please use my Contact page to e-mail me or call.

Dave MacDonald MSW, LCSW
Fall – 2022

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