Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories | Psychotherapy, Trauma, and Psychedelics
By Craig Heacock MD
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Episodes: 155
Description
Back from the Abyss will change the way you think about psychiatric illness. Instead of dwelling on diagnoses and treatment theories, you hear patients tell their stories of how they fell into darkness-- and how they found their way back. It's intimate, psychologically rich, medically interesting, sometimes heartbreaking, often irreverent, and ultimately hopeful. Join psychiatrist Dr. Craig Heacock as he hosts this deep dive into powerfully moving stories of hope and healing, as well as topical explorations of psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and psychedelics.
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
|
Psychiatric Illness in Parallel-- Bipolar vs Schizoaffective Disorder, Genes vs Environment, Insight vs Anosognosia
|
Sep 11, 2026 |
|
Summer Special Part 2-- Laura Mae Northrup and her treatment journey
|
Aug 14, 2026 |
|
BFTA Summer Special: Healing sexual trauma with psychedelics and entheogens-- Laura Mae Northrup shares her journey
|
Jul 31, 2026 |
|
Season 7 Wrap-up...plus a farewell and a big change coming for BFTA
|
May 15, 2026 |
|
Complex PTSD vs Classic PTSD-- Medical trauma and MDMA assisted therapy
|
May 01, 2026 |
|
The Hidden Minefield of Positive Countertransference
|
Apr 17, 2026 |
|
The gasoline and the match— Bipolar disorder, THC, and manic activation
|
Apr 03, 2026 |
|
How can we actually prevent suicide? Guns, access to means, and the hope of Donna's Law
|
Mar 20, 2026 |
|
A somatic therapist and her apprenticeship of grief
|
Mar 06, 2026 |
|
A gift of therapy- Discovering the wisdom of the body with psychedelic-assisted therapy
|
Feb 20, 2026 |
|
A Nurse + Grief + Alcohol + Adderall— Finding Hope for Healers
|
Feb 06, 2026 |
|
The Scary Med List-- A Case Consultation with Dr. H
|
Jan 23, 2026 |
|
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Ketamine, and Psychiatry 3.0
|
Jan 09, 2026 |
|
When psychiatric illness isn't just psychiatric-- The immune system, PANS, and psychiatric mimicry
|
Dec 26, 2025 |
|
10 Questions to Deepen Psychotherapy-- Inviting the Here and Now
|
Dec 12, 2025 |
|
Is DID real? Parts, alters, exiles, and what's allowed in the therapeutic space
|
Nov 28, 2025 |
|
Parenting through the storm-- Adoption, trauma, acceptance, and humility
|
Nov 14, 2025 |
|
When our minds forget our bodies remember-- A trauma therapist comes back to life
|
Oct 31, 2025 |
|
Treatment-resistant bipolar disorder-- Finding stability at last
|
Oct 17, 2025 |
|
Hiding in plain sight-- Life, work, and therapy on the autistic spectrum
|
Oct 03, 2025 |
|
Trapped in secrecy and shame-- A boy, his coach, and healing trauma with MDMA
|
Sep 19, 2025 |
|
BFTA Summer Special-- The Wisdom of the Psychedelic Therapy Underground
|
Aug 14, 2025 |
|
Chris, Craig, and Special Guest Fish in Fishbowl 6
|
Jun 06, 2025 |
|
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners in the Treatment Landscape
|
May 23, 2025 |
|
The Enneagram in the Therapeutic Relationship
|
May 09, 2025 |
|
Meds can't fill the trauma hole-- Attachment, maternal wounding, and the challenges of coming off meds
|
Apr 25, 2025 |
|
Desperately seeking safety -- A trauma healing journey with Koelle Simpson
|
Apr 11, 2025 |
|
The Art of Deprescribing
|
Mar 28, 2025 |
|
Developing field awareness: Working with transference and countertransference
|
Mar 14, 2025 |
|
Sex Hormones and Psychiatric Illness with Dr. Neill Epperson
|
Feb 28, 2025 |
|
Adventures in Exposure Therapy (Re-release)
|
Feb 14, 2025 |
|
Can MDMA save a marriage? One couple's story
|
Jan 31, 2025 |
|
Psychedelics, psychiatric meds, and the question of tapering
|
Jan 17, 2025 |
|
In the room with Hillary McBride and Saj Razvi--- A moment to moment exploration of psychedelic somatic trauma therapy
|
Jan 03, 2025 |
|
Recognizing and Treating OCD
|
Dec 20, 2024 |
|
Therapists in the abyss: A journey back to self
|
Dec 06, 2024 |
|
What I'm thinking about now: Working in the Here and Now; Polypharmacy; Diagnostic Parsimony; Ketamine Microdosing; Psych NP Training
|
Nov 22, 2024 |
|
Reconstructing the narrative-- Trauma, dissociation, psychedelics, and working in the negative transference
|
Nov 08, 2024 |
|
I had to rebuild who I was-- Finding trust and a pathway out of psychosis
|
Oct 25, 2024 |
|
Why med management is mostly doomed to fail-- The top 10 (12!) reasons with Dr. Will Van Derveer
|
Oct 11, 2024 |
|
How do you learn to do psychotherapy? An exploration with Dr. Erin Jacklin
|
Sep 27, 2024 |
|
BFTA Summer Special-- How to Change Your Mind About Mushrooms with Dori Lewis
|
Jul 05, 2024 |
|
Fishbowl 5
|
May 31, 2024 |
|
When Mom is mentally ill-- A story of resilience
|
May 16, 2024 |
|
A Psychiatrist Goes to War
|
May 03, 2024 |
|
My dog saved my life-- Understanding the story of depression
|
Apr 19, 2024 |
|
Psychoanalysis, Dissociation, MDMA and What Lies Beneath
|
Apr 05, 2024 |
|
What I'm thinking about now-- MDMA, Sleep Meds, Motivation, Bipolar vs Borderline, and more
|
Mar 22, 2024 |
|
Eating Disorders, Body Image, and Building an Alliance-- A Conversation with Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani
|
Mar 08, 2024 |
|
Sex, Drugs, and Neglect-- Self-Destruction and the Repetition Compulsion
|
Feb 23, 2024 |
|
Psychiatry in the ER
|
Feb 09, 2024 |
|
At the Crossroads of Psychiatry, Psychedelics and Spirituality--- Dr. H on the Radically Genuine Podcast
|
Jan 26, 2024 |
|
Bipolar Mania-- Superpower or Kryptonite?
|
Jan 12, 2024 |
|
Moving from the head to the heart-- The gifts and challenges of group therapy
|
Dec 29, 2023 |
|
Unhoused and Unwell-- The Nexus of Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Addiction
|
Dec 15, 2023 |
|
What does it take to fill the void? Developmental trauma and dissociation with Saj Razvi
|
Dec 01, 2023 |
|
Ketamine-- Lessons from 3000 Sessions
|
Nov 17, 2023 |
|
Love and Therapy-- A Conversation with Dr. Adele LaFrance
|
Nov 03, 2023 |
|
Holding on to hope-- Caring for adult children with serious mental illness, Part 2
|
Oct 20, 2023 |
|
What will happen when we're gone? Caring for adult children with serious mental illness
|
Oct 06, 2023 |
|
Psychedelic Psychiatry-- The Swiss Model
|
Sep 22, 2023 |
|
When THC turns on you-- Cannabis, THC concentrates, and psychiatric breakdown
|
Sep 09, 2023 |
|
Healing the Wounds of Sexual and Spiritual Abuse
|
Aug 27, 2023 |
|
BFTA Summer Special at Psychedelic Science 2023 with Dr. Hillary McBride
|
Jun 26, 2023 |
|
Chris and Craig in Fishbowl #4
|
May 17, 2023 |
|
Brothers across the divide: Treatment-resistant depression, faith, and compassion
|
May 04, 2023 |
|
The 10 Best Psychiatric Medications
|
Apr 20, 2023 |
|
A bridge between the Western and Indigenous ways— The curandera, plant medicine, and spirit
|
Apr 06, 2023 |
|
Psychedelic Assisted Therapy: Ketamine vs MDMA vs Psilocybin
|
Mar 23, 2023 |
|
What's the deal with Psychiatry? What's hopeful, what's gone amiss with Dr. Will Van Derveer
|
Mar 09, 2023 |
|
Trauma in the Transference—Repairing the therapeutic relationship
|
Feb 23, 2023 |
|
The lives I didn’t get to live- Shame, psychedelics, and owning one’s story
|
Feb 09, 2023 |
|
Thinking Through Emotions— DBT Part 2
|
Jan 26, 2023 |
|
DBT, Self-Harm, and Suicidality with Dr. Kelly Sonnenfeld
|
Jan 12, 2023 |
|
Why psychiatric illness strikes young (and what to do about it)
|
Dec 29, 2022 |
|
Psilocybin comes to Colorado
|
Dec 15, 2022 |
|
The way out of psychosis-- Psychopharmacology as magic
|
Dec 01, 2022 |
|
Abortion in Three Acts
|
Nov 17, 2022 |
|
From Beauty Queen to Psychedelic Guide
|
Nov 03, 2022 |
|
Autism Spectrum Disorder-- A journey from alienation to attachment
|
Oct 20, 2022 |
|
Psychedelics, Psychosis, and Risk Reduction
|
Oct 06, 2022 |
|
Understanding ADD/ADHD with Dr. Jeremy Sharp
|
Sep 22, 2022 |
|
Finding a way back to each other: Addiction, a mother, and her daughter
|
Sep 08, 2022 |
|
BFTA Summer Special-- Trauma, Spirit, and Psychedelics with Laura Mae Northrup
|
Jul 23, 2022 |
|
Fishbowl 3
|
Jun 02, 2022 |
|
Psychedelic Somatic Therapy with Saj Razvi
|
May 19, 2022 |
|
Psychotherapy Twice Told
|
May 05, 2022 |
|
MDMA, MAPS, and Cover Story's Power Trip-- Another perspective
|
Apr 21, 2022 |
|
Working with families and psychiatric illness
|
Apr 07, 2022 |
|
Attachment and Adoption Part 2– Ridghaus and the Six Word Adoption Memoir
|
Mar 24, 2022 |
|
From Seoul to Wichita-- Attachment trauma and adoption
|
Mar 10, 2022 |
|
The nature of gender-- A story of transitioning
|
Feb 24, 2022 |
|
Twenty years in psychiatry: Insights and clinical pearls
|
Feb 10, 2022 |
|
The Dark Side of Psychedelics
|
Jan 27, 2022 |
|
Treatment resistant depression: Ketamine vs ECT vs TMS with Dr. Daniel Fisher
|
Jan 14, 2022 |
|
Ketamine in context-- From substance abuse to psychedelic therapy
|
Dec 31, 2021 |
|
Conversation with an underground psilocybin therapist
|
Dec 16, 2021 |
|
Body dysmorphia, disordered eating, and embodiment
|
Dec 02, 2021 |
|
Hold on to memories-- The aftermath of suicide with Doug Friedman
|
Nov 18, 2021 |
|
Doing the loving thing-- An exploration of couples therapy with Jeff Pincus
|
Nov 04, 2021 |
|
When psychiatric meds don't work: Diagnostic confusion, trauma, sleep, hormones, and mistaken expectations
|
Oct 21, 2021 |
|
The Secret Sauce-- Treating PTSD with MDMA
|
Oct 07, 2021 |
|
Craig and Antonio Sacre talk shop
|
Sep 23, 2021 |
|
I felt the world too much-- On being a highly sensitive person
|
Sep 09, 2021 |
|
Where did our son go? A family faces schizophrenia
|
Aug 24, 2021 |
|
The Quickening-- A healing journey through AA, Psilocybin, and Ayahuasca
|
Aug 08, 2021 |
|
Spiritual gaslighting, sexual trauma, and psychedelics
|
Jul 23, 2021 |
|
Fishbowl #2-- Chris and Craig talk shop
|
May 16, 2021 |
|
(Almost) Everything about psych meds... in under 16 minutes
|
Apr 27, 2021 |
|
All we have is now-- A psychotherapist faces mortality
|
Apr 13, 2021 |
|
How healing happens with Dr. Hillary McBride-- Eating disorders and body dysmorphia
|
Mar 29, 2021 |
|
Addiction treatment-- What works, what definitely doesn't with Dr. Jeremy Dubin
|
Mar 13, 2021 |
|
A superhero at night-- Lucid dreaming, opioids, and ibogaine
|
Mar 01, 2021 |
|
Why is it so hard to find a good psychiatrist?
|
Feb 09, 2021 |
|
No one believed me-- Complex PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder
|
Jan 26, 2021 |
|
Psychedelic mushrooms and the magic of life
|
Jan 12, 2021 |
|
The clinical moment in psychotherapy-- A conversation with Dr. David Puder
|
Dec 22, 2020 |
|
Psychiatric diagnosis guides treatment....except when it doesn't
|
Dec 08, 2020 |
|
Craig Plays Goalie-- The Psychedelics Today interview
|
Nov 24, 2020 |
|
Steering into the hard stuff-- A father and husband's story
|
Nov 10, 2020 |
|
Touching the edges of life-- Healing from divorce
|
Oct 20, 2020 |
|
Craig's letters from the past: Mistakes made, lessons learned
|
Oct 06, 2020 |
|
A mother's story-- Body dysmorphia, psychosis, and powerlessness
|
Sep 22, 2020 |
|
Trauma, yoga, and spiritual recovery
|
Sep 01, 2020 |
|
Psychiatry in one question + When ketamine therapy gets difficult
|
Aug 18, 2020 |
|
Craig and Saj Razvi talk shop— Dissociation, the unconscious, countertransference sadism, and psychedelics
|
Aug 04, 2020 |
|
A special place in my drug addict heart-- Finding safety with Suboxone
|
Jul 21, 2020 |
|
Losing patients, one after another--Craig's meditation on loss and life
|
Jun 23, 2020 |
|
Bonus episode-- Inside Eyes: Ayahuasca and sexual trauma
|
Jun 09, 2020 |
|
Bonus Episode-- Conversations with a Wounded Healer (Interview with Dr. Hillary McBride)
|
May 26, 2020 |
|
Chris and Craig in the Fishbowl
|
May 12, 2020 |
|
Adventures in Exposure Therapy
|
Apr 28, 2020 |
|
OCD in the Time of Corona
|
Apr 14, 2020 |
|
Ketamine therapy update + Listener questions
|
Mar 31, 2020 |
|
The two loves of her life-- Alcohol, self harm, and the path of recovery
|
Mar 17, 2020 |
|
MDMA and the Inner Healer
|
Mar 01, 2020 |
|
When a tree falls twice-- OCD, emotional neglect, and resilience
|
Feb 17, 2020 |
|
Bright and Shiny and Exciting: An Adderall story
|
Jan 31, 2020 |
|
Understanding Depression
|
Jan 17, 2020 |
|
Can you take someone where you haven't gone yourself? A therapist faces death
|
Jan 03, 2020 |
|
Therapists in the abyss: Vicarious trauma
|
Dec 20, 2019 |
|
My desert island psych meds-- Psychiatry in three medications
|
Dec 05, 2019 |
|
Healing trauma with psychedelics with Saj Razvi— Part 2
|
Nov 19, 2019 |
|
Healing trauma with psychedelics with Saj Razvi— Part 1
|
Nov 05, 2019 |
|
How to think about anxiety
|
Oct 23, 2019 |
|
The Delta Flight Attendant-- Borderline Personality Disorder, Ketamine, and Self-Harm
|
Oct 06, 2019 |
|
One phone call changed everything: EMDR and Trauma Part 2
|
Sep 22, 2019 |
|
When the past haunts the present: An EMDR story
|
Sep 04, 2019 |
|
Can cannabis be medicine? A psychiatric perspective
|
Aug 21, 2019 |
|
Desperately NOT seeking meth: A harm reduction story
|
Aug 07, 2019 |
|
Ketamine treatment for depression: Seven questions
|
Jul 24, 2019 |
|
A power wash of the brain-- Ketamine, depression, and suicidality
|
Jul 09, 2019 |
|
Why it's so hard to find (or be) a good therapist-- The challenges of psychotherapy
|
Jun 25, 2019 |
|
One foot in the darkness— A path through treatment resistant depression and eating disorder
|
Jun 24, 2019 |
|
Strawberries-- A story of bipolar disorder
|
Jun 18, 2019 |