Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories | Psychotherapy, Trauma, and Psychedelics

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Latest Episodes:

Doing the loving thing-- An exploration of couples therapy with Jeff Pincus Nov 04, 2021

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Here Craig sits down with Jeff Pincus, a nationally recognized couples therapist and trainer from Boulder, they explore why it’s so challenging to be an effective marriage therapist, why we are all destined to marry the wrong person (hint….our partners eventually become a mirror for us and our issues), and how marriage can be the most nourishing yet also the most difficult and painful relationship of our lives.
Jeff's work is informed by cognitive neuroscience, somatic psychotherapy, systems thinking, and Tibetan Buddhism. He is an expert in PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy) and was one of the original core faculty for the PACT Institute. He currently offers transformational three-day intensives for couples interested in healing, growing and loving.
https://jeffpincus.com
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https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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When psychiatric meds don't work: Diagnostic confusion, trauma, sleep, hormones, and mistaken expectations Oct 21, 2021

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When psychiatric meds work well, it can be nothing short of miraculous. Yet so often, patients accumulate a long list of med failures, leading to a sense of deep frustration and even hopelessness.
Here Dr. H explores five central reasons why psych meds fail:
1. Misdiagnosis, largely due to overlapping and confusing diagnostic categories and the general lack of a coherent nosology in psychiatry
2. The role of trauma as the great imitator
3. Sleep issues
4. Hormonal status
5. Confused and/or unreasonable expectations
BFTA/Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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The Secret Sauce-- Treating PTSD with MDMA Oct 07, 2021

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An amazing healing journey deserves a detailed post-game analysis and deconstruction. Here Elizabeth, a participant in the MAPS MDMA study, sits down with Craig and co-therapist Karen Cooper to look back at what were the crux moves and essential ingredients that shifted Elizabeth's PTSD into remission.
BFTA/Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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Craig and Antonio Sacre talk shop Sep 23, 2021

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Craig sits down with LA-based Cuban American storyteller, author, BFTA super-advisor, and longtime dear friend Antonio Sacre to explore the art and power of storytelling, their personal abyss moments, friendship and vulnerability, and their shared love of air conditioning.
Antonio Sacre
https://www.antoniosacre.com
BFTA
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I felt the world too much-- On being a highly sensitive person Sep 09, 2021

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Life would be so much easier if we each came with an individual instruction manual, to both guide us and also warn us of how our inherited temperament and predilections might cause us great suffering.
The first page of Emily's manual would have started with a capitalized bold face warning:
"You are a highly sensitive soul, you will feel others' hurt and anger and sadness as if it were your own....you will experience the world as if you had no protective skin, no shield....you will need to find people who see you and understand who you are, who can help nurture the beautiful flower that you can and will become."
Emily eventually found her healthy place in the world, but in the process the darkness almost took her.
BFTA/ Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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Where did our son go? A family faces schizophrenia Aug 24, 2021

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Just after starting his career, Dr. H met Matthew, a middle school student in the midst of a horrifying psychotic break. Here Dr. H sits down with Meg and Phil, Matthew's parents, to explore their 15 year journey of grief, acceptance, recovery, and eventually becoming a source of support, connection, and wisdom for other families on this brutal and often deeply isolating journey.
NAMI Family to Family classes
https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/Mental-Health-Education/NAMI-Family-to-Family
NAMI support groups
https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/Support-Groups
BFTA/Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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The Quickening-- A healing journey through AA, Psilocybin, and Ayahuasca Aug 08, 2021

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12 step programs have helped millions of people, but they can't address everything. Randy got clean and sober and found a supportive community in AA....yet something was missing. He couldn't find peace, he couldn't connect in intimate relationships, he felt deeply broken and spiritually empty. It turns out that when Randy's little brother drowned when Randy was just 4 years old, his family became a numbed archipelago of grief, leaving him to grow up without the mirroring and attachments that he desperately needed. Enter ayahuasca, followed by psilocybin....Randy was finally able to reach the parts of his unconscious where his childhood trauma was blocking his attachment and safety circuitry.
BFTA/ Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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Spiritual gaslighting, sexual trauma, and psychedelics Jul 23, 2021

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We're back!!
Sometimes it's irresistible, necessary even, to lose ourselves into the greater collective, to become a honeybee buzzing with the ecstatic singular purpose of the hive.
In this season 3 opener, Jamie tells Dr. H her story of trying to save herself by losing herself, then finally coming to face the fact that she had to plumb the depths of her trauma alone, culminating in a high dose DIY psilocybin session and the rediscovery of herself.
A heads up-- this episode contains a description of a sexual assault.
BFTA/Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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Fishbowl #2-- Chris and Craig talk shop May 16, 2021

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In this final episode of season 2, Chris and Craig explore the highs and lows of the last year and plans for season 3.
Craig discussing the psychedelic revolution in psychiatry on the Modern Therapist Survival Guide podcast
https://therapyreimagined.com/modern-therapist-podcast/psychedelic-assisted-therapy/
BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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(Almost) Everything about psych meds... in under 16 minutes Apr 27, 2021

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Antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, stimulants.....READY SET GO!
Med cheat sheet
SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)-- Prozac, Lexapro, Paxil, Celexa, Zoloft, Luvox, Trintellix, Viibryd-- They are generally NOT antidepressants
Mainly helpful for OCD, body dysmorphia, panic (if not from trauma), depression if postpartum or fueled by neuroticism or ruminative anxiety
SNRIs (serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors)-- Effexor/venlafaxine, Cymbalta/duloxetine
Mostly helpful for combined depression/anxiety, especially with insomnia
Wellbutrin/bupropion-- very stimulating (prison crack!), true antidepressant; can trigger/worsen anxiety
MAO (monoamine oxidase) inhibitors-- powerful antidepressants, lots of side effects and med interactions
Lamictal/lamotrigine-- definitely ALL THAT and a bag of chips (see My Desert Island Meds in Season 1)
Atypical antipsychotics- Abilify/aripiprazole, Latuda/lurasidone, Seroquel/quetiapine, Saphris/asenapine, Vraylar/cariprazine, Risperdal/risperidone, Zyprexa/olanzapine, Geodon/ziprasidone, Invega/paliperidone
Generally good mood stabilizers (in contrast to the putative "mood stabilizers" below); typically more helpful for severe depression and bipolar disorder than true psychosis (Zyprexa and Risperdal excepted)
"Mood stabilizers"- (big misnomer, most effective for mania/agitation, not depression)-- Depakote/valproic acid, Trileptal/oxcarbazepine, Tegretol/carbamazepine
Lithium- it's not clozapine, but gets the silver medal as a true mood stabilizer (see My Desert Island Meds in Season 1)
Clozapine- the winner of the psychiatric med decathlon in most every event; needs weekly blood monitoring and has a few very serious potential side effects
Benzodiazepines- Xanax/alprazolam; Klonopin/clonazepam, Librium/chlordiazepoxide, Ativan/lorazepam, Valium/diazepam
Stimulants- Adderall/amphetamine; Vyvanse; Ritalin/Concerta/Focalin/methylphenidate
Amphetamines are more euphoria-inducing, thus more abused and addictive and also tend to have more side effects; both amphetamines and methylphenidate are roughly equally effective for ADD/ADHD
BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

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