Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories
How do we find a way out of the darkest depths of despair? Psychiatrist Dr. Craig Heacock hosts a deep dive into powerfully moving stories of hope and healing, as well as topical explorations of psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and psychedelics.
Episodes
118 episodes
Reconstructing the narrative-- Trauma, dissociation, psychedelics, and working in the negative transference
Kate lived for many years in a hazy and numbing dialectic, thinking that her life was “perfect”, but also having a vague and gnawing sense that just under the surface something was terribly wrong. This is a story of forgetting and remembe...
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Season 6
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Episode 4
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1:20:00
I had to rebuild who I was-- Finding trust and a pathway out of psychosis
Very few people are willing and/or able to share and describe their descent into psychosis— in part because memory formation and consolidation are so impaired during episodes of psychosis…..and also because there is often so much fear and shame...
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Season 6
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Episode 3
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57:39
Why med management is mostly doomed to fail-- The top 10 (12!) reasons with Dr. Will Van Derveer
The prevailing model of psychiatric care in the US is called "med management"-- this typically means a 10-15min appointment to review symptoms and choose medications. Here Dr. Will Van Derveer of the Integrative Psychiatric Institute sits...
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Season 6
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Episode 2
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57:54
How do you learn to do psychotherapy? An exploration with Dr. Erin Jacklin
In this season 6 opener Dr. H sits down with Dr. Erin Jacklin of the Catalyst Center in Denver to explore how we learn to the deeply complex and consistently challenging work of doing good therapy.BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast...
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Season 6
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Episode 1
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1:17:05
BFTA Summer Special-- How to Change Your Mind About Mushrooms with Dori Lewis
Craig sits down with Dori Lewis of Elemental Psychedelics to explore the myths and realities of working with psilocybin mushrooms, including: •What do people not understand about psilocybin mushrooms?•Can mushrooms treat depression?...
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Season 5
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Episode 22
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59:17
Fishbowl 5
Chris and Craig go meta to deconstruct season 5, explore the art of storytelling and music selection, and answer listener questions.BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcasthttp...
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Season 5
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Episode 21
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1:00:39
When Mom is mentally ill-- A story of resilience
Christina grew up with a tumultuous and mentally ill mother, an older brother who decompensated into psychosis and frightening aggression, and just one healthy family member, her father. Dr. H and Christina explore both the wounding of h...
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Season 5
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Episode 20
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54:02
A Psychiatrist Goes to War
Dr. Russell Carr was a career Navy psychiatrist for 20 years and served in Iraq, where today’s story begins. This is a story of a healer, then a terrible wounding, then the healer trying to find his way amidst the chaos of war. This story...
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Season 5
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Episode 19
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49:06
My dog saved my life-- Understanding the story of depression
A huge problem with current psychiatric diagnosis is that it often lumps completely unrelated things under the same vast and vague tent, such as with the diagnosis of "Major Depressive Disorder". Here Craig sits down with his patient Reb...
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Season 5
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Episode 18
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56:30
Psychoanalysis, Dissociation, MDMA and What Lies Beneath
Here Dr. H sites down with Jenny, a psychoanalyst who shares her moving, then horrifying, then eventually cathartic tale of plumbing the depths of her traumatized psyche, first with years of psychoanalysis, then with five MDMA-assisted therapy ...
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Season 5
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Episode 17
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56:14
What I'm thinking about now-- MDMA, Sleep Meds, Motivation, Bipolar vs Borderline, and more
In this solo episode Craig shares his current thoughts on MDMA medicalization, sleep meds, ADD, motivation vs self-discipline, benzos, how long to stay on psych meds, a change and a proposed addition to his top 10 med list, borderline vs bipola...
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Season 5
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Episode 16
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29:00
Eating Disorders, Body Image, and Building an Alliance-- A Conversation with Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani
Dr. H sits down with Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, a nationally recognized expert on eating disorders to explore a wide range of topics including:• etiology and the relative influence of temperament, culture, and concomitant psychiatric illnes...
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Season 5
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Episode 15
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1:26:15
Sex, Drugs, and Neglect-- Self-Destruction and the Repetition Compulsion
The driving force of so many of our self-destructive tendencies is not conscious, it’s an unconscious drive called the repetition compulsion, where we try to reenact early child traumas or deficits, often consciously hoping for a different resu...
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Season 5
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Episode 14
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58:47
Psychiatry in the ER
The rising tide of psychiatric emergencies in the US most commonly ends up in the emergency room, where psychiatrists are almost never found and the brunt of the heavy lifting falls on emergency medicine physicians. Here Dr. H sits down w...
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Season 5
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Episode 13
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1:00:48
At the Crossroads of Psychiatry, Psychedelics and Spirituality--- Dr. H on the Radically Genuine Podcast
This is an interview Dr. H did a few months ago on the Radically Genuine podcast. Although we posted about this interview on our Instagram feed back in August, we thought this was worth re-releasing on the main BFTA feed. Of all the podca...
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Season 5
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Episode 12
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1:23:18
Bipolar Mania-- Superpower or Kryptonite?
What does it feel like to be manic? It can be very difficult for people to accurately recall manic episodes— they aren’t stored like typical narrative memories, but rather they often feel like confusing and out of control reveries that se...
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Season 5
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Episode 11
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1:12:53
Moving from the head to the heart-- The gifts and challenges of group therapy
Craig sits down with Carrie Haynes, a colleague and Colorado-based group therapist and host of the podcast The Art of Groups. They explore their shared love of group process, the unique benefits and risks of working with groups, specific challe...
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Season 5
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Episode 10
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59:45
Unhoused and Unwell-- The Nexus of Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Addiction
In the streets and sidewalks of every American city, a slow motion disaster is unfolding, with ever increasing numbers of people suffering from serious mental illness and/or addiction. Why is this happening? What can we do to help our m...
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Season 5
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Episode 9
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1:02:18
What does it take to fill the void? Developmental trauma and dissociation with Saj Razvi
Saj Razvi returns to BFTA to discuss a listener letter, which leads to an exploration of treatment resistance, developmental trauma, the absence of experience ("the void") vs dissociation as experience. Saj and Craig also explore at...
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Season 5
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Episode 8
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32:32
Ketamine-- Lessons from 3000 Sessions
Some of the most basic questions about ketamine are still under investigation— Which patients are ideal responders? What is the therapeutic dose range? Is there a meaningful dose/response curve? Are fully dissociative treatments necessary for o...
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Season 5
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Episode 7
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20:43
Love and Therapy-- A Conversation with Dr. Adele LaFrance
Is there a role for love in therapy, whether in the traditional psychotherapeutic context and/or in the psychedelic space? And if we were to more consciously invite love into therapy, how could we do this in a safe and boundaried way?...
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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49:35
Holding on to hope-- Caring for adult children with serious mental illness, Part 2
Dave and Laurie sit down with Dr. H to share their journey through the denial, fear, grief, and eventual acceptance of their son’s life-altering psychiatric illness.NAMI Family to Family support
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Season 5
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Episode 5
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54:12
What will happen when we're gone? Caring for adult children with serious mental illness
One of the tragic truths of psychiatry is that the sickest patients more often than not either don’t realize they are ill, or are convinced that treatment will do nothing. No group of patients better exemplifies this than those with schizophren...
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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38:14
Psychedelic Psychiatry-- The Swiss Model
Dr. H sits down with Dr. Julia King Olivier, a Swiss psychiatrist and co-founder of the Compassionate Care Center in Geneva, Switzerland, to explore the fascinating landscape of psychedelic-assisted therapy there. Julia is one of a small group ...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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1:04:37
When THC turns on you-- Cannabis, THC concentrates, and psychiatric breakdown
Dr. H's patient Lindsey shares her story of self-medicating her anxiety and depression with cannabis, then steadily building tolerance and moving on to THC concentrates. This led to full-blown dependence and a spiral downward into daily bouts o...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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47:36