Kile M. Ortigo 
Beyond the Narrow Life [EPUB ebook] 
A Guide for Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration

With the second renaissance and re-emergence of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, the general public and therapists alike are confronting new areas of exploration with few systematic frameworks available. With questions surrounding legal access to care, ongoing criminalization, and medical restrictions to care restricting to the therapies available, the immediate future of psychedelic-assisted therapy remains shrouded uncertainty, even in the face of expanding interest. Beyond the Narrow Life: A Guide to Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration seeks to ‘thread a needle’ by addressing shared elements of these intersecting complexities and possibilities. It introduces the reader to significant themes elicited by psychospiritual and therapeutic use of psychedelics but avoids exclusively ‘preaching to the choir.’ These themes integrate several frameworks, from third-wave cognitive-behavioral therapy to Jungian depth psychology, existentialism to scientific understandings of the cosmos, and mindfulness- and compassion-focused traditions to popular and secular culture. Such an approach provides value to people regardless of their history using psychedelics because it connects to the greater mysteries and concerns of the human experience.

About the author

William A. Richards (Bill) is a psychologist in the Psychiatry Department of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a consultant/trainer at sites of psychedelic research internationally, a teacher in the Program of Psychedelic Therapy and Research at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a clinician in private practice in Baltimore. From 1967 to 1977, he pursued psychotherapy research with LSD, DPT, MDA and psilocybin at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, including protocols designed to investigate the promise of psychedelic substances in the treatment of alcoholism, depression, narcotic addiction and the psychological distress associated with terminal cancer including their use in the training of religious and mental-health professionals. He is the author of Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences released in 2015.