Saturday, May 17: 9 AM - 6 PM, with an in-person only concert at 8 PM, Pacific Time

Sunday, May 18: 9 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Time

Registration closes at 4:30 PM the day before the event begins. Late registrations cannot be accommodated. Please refer our Policies page for more information.

PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• This is a two-day program which is being presented in person and on Zoom. 
• Pre-registration is required. You will receive confirmation and details by email. 
• 12.25 CE/CME credits are offered for this program. Attendance both days is required for credit. Signature is required for credit.
• Contact Byrd at byrdb@n-c-p.org if you have questions.

MANIFEST MIND CONFERENCE III:

The Decentered Self in Psychedelic States

What actually is the altered reality of psychedelic experience? Is there more... or less... of ones self?

The experience of subjective dimensionality is a key scientific conundrum of our age. Sensed but ungraspable, how do you measure that which is beyond measurement? Can such a mystery be explained in naturalistic terms? 

The conundrum is personal. In the physical world there is no “self” center in your brain. Who are you if there is no place of YOU (“self”) in your brain? Is "myself" a distributed function in your brain, or is “myself” an emergent property from another dimension? Is your existence fantasy? How real is the “you” that remains to experience an intense psychedelic experience after the ego-attachments of self are dissolved?

And what do we make of the next step, the mystical revelation of everything being connected? Of contact with a transcendent power, creativity, ever-ness and beyond-ness?  

What are mind and consciousness that emerge from brain function? What distinguishes a human mind from a fish mind? What is meaning, that emotional core of relationship...and the stuff of psychotherapy?  

These and other questions will be considered in NCP’s MANIFEST MIND CONFERENCE, May 17-18, 2025.

This conference promises to be both world-class and intimate. It will provide a thoughtful immersion into group process further examining the decentered self in phenomena that arise in the group-as-a-whole to which each individual contributes. Before closing afternoon on Saturday, Isabella Sledge and Cat Jenson offer a meditative soundbath for integration. Saturday evening we are offering an in-person concert illustrating the “decentered self” theme. The concert will feature PARTCH Ensemble and composer Anne LeBaron, with excerpts of her opera Huxley’s Last Trip (previously titled LSD: The Opera).

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE: 

Saturday – May 17, 2025 

Check-in & refreshments beginning at 8 AM. Presentations begin at 9 AM. Lunch will be provided onsite on Saturday for the convenience of our guests. The presentation portion of the first day ends at 6 PM.  After dining in the neighborhood, return to NCP for the concert. This special portion of the conference, while part of the program in its theme, is not eligible for continuing education credits.

Sunday – May 18, 2025 

Check-in & refreshments beginning at 8:15 AM. Presentations begin at 9 AM. There will be a break at midday, but not a full lunch break, as the conference completes at 2 PM.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL CONFERENCE SCHEDULE.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

As a result of attending this program, participants will be able to:

• Describe the key neurobiological mechanisms underlying consciousness as presented by Solms, and their implications promoting adaptive, creative, and pathological behavioral consequences
• Describe the scientific problem of subjective “transdimensionality” in the psychedelic state
• Summarize the transcendental experience in Huxley’s “Perennial Philosophy”
• Discuss the perennial philosophy as a family of theories and their connection to subjectivity in psychedelic experience
• Explain the role of the brainstem in generating consciousness, emotions, and the core of self-experience
• List the seven Panksepp motivational systems that define mammalian behavior
• Summarize Solms' critique of consciousness as a cerebral cortex function
• List the appropriate ethical safeguards for this kind of drug-assisted psychodynamic treatment
• Describe the neurological basis of “unitive mystical experience” (UME)
• Explain the correlation of UMEs and emotional maturation
• Discuss multiple (even contradictory) psychodynamic perspectives on the metapsychology of “mystico-spiritual” experiences of patients exposed to psychedelic medicine
• Explain how to support positive uses of mystical/ineffable psychedelic experiences in patients
• Contrast and then explain how to reconcile Jaak Panksepp's motivational systems with Abraham Maslow’s “self-actualization” and Sigmund Freud’s Drive theory
• Discuss the “generator model” of consciousness vs. the “reducing valve model” or “transmission model” of consciousness
• Define any of the ontology of unitive mystical experiences (existentialism, idealism, panpsychism, dual-aspect monism) in terms perennial philosophy and explain how that understanding can be of clinical value
• Explain the bidirectional effect of how strong aesthetic experiences trigger UMEs, and UMEs often result in aesthetic expression
• Discuss the clinical aspects of the debate on consciousness as an epiphenomenon of the brain or the brain as an instrument for localizing or canalizing consciousness
• Discuss how experiences of “extreme disassociation” during and after psychedelic experience might have beneficial and adverse long-term psychological and spiritual health effects
• Explain the transdiagnostic value of ketamine in Emergency Departments
• Describe both optimal and inappropriate setting conditions for use of ketamine in Emergency Departments
• Discuss the complex relationship between “spiritual journey” and emotional maturation
• Summarize the clinical applicability of Bion’s concept of “O” and discuss its relationship with Huxley’s “Perennial Philosophy”

FACULTY:

Mark Solms, PhD is a psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist who discovered the brain mechanisms of dreaming. He is director of neuropsychology, Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he lives. He is also honorary lecturer in neurosurgery, St Bartholomew's and Royal London Hospital School of Medicine, and honorary Fellow, American College of Psychiatrists. He has published more than 250 articles and book chapters, and 6 books. His second book, The Neuropsychology of Dreams (1997), was a landmark contribution to the field. His 2002 book (with Oliver Turnbull), The Brain and the Inner World was a best-seller and has been translated into 13 languages. His latest book, on the hard problem of consciousness, is entitled The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (2021). He is the authorized editor and translator of the recently released Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (24 vols) and the Complete Neuroscientific Works of Sigmund Freud (4 vols).

Dana Sawyer is professor emeritus of philosophy and world religions at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland. In addition to numerous academic articles, he is author of the widely-respected 2002 biography Aldous Huxley: A Biography (Crossroad Publishing). Huston Smith, Wisdomkeeper, Sawyer's authorized biography of world religion scholar Huston Smith, was published in 2014. Huxley and Smith were close friends and were leading advocates of the perennial philosophy, which describes an underlying reality to material existence. Huxley's 1945 book, The Perennial Philosophy, argues that the concept is revealed in the mystical branches of all the world's religions. Sawyer has written, “If you are interested in or involved in today’s psychedelic rebirth, you are likely to find the perennial philosophy deeply interesting… Mystical experience is a direct experience of ourselves entwined with the universe. During the unitive experience we know the deepest level of our being as inseparable from the deepest level of all being.”

David Dansky, MD trained in both Internal and Emergency Medicine. He has practiced primarily Emergency Medicine for the last 40 years, in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the Monterey Peninsula. His focus is to employ both conventional and integrative medical techniques and therapies in the hopes of bettering the lives of his clients. Since training with the Ketamine Training Center in 2019, he has been actively engaged in providing ketamine therapy for both body and psyche alike at Monterey Integrated Therapies in Carmel. He lectures frequently at conferences and workshops on the medical and pragmatic aspects of ketamine therapy. 

Thomas M Brod, MD (coordinator) is Sr. Faculty, New Center for Psychoanalysis and a psychoanalyst in psychiatric practice in West Los Angeles. Formerly he was Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He coordinates NCP’s Manifest Mind Series as well as the Film & Mind Series.

John Lundgren, MD (coordinator) is a Training and Supervising Analyst and former President of the Psychoanalytic Center of California. As a former Associate Clinical Professor, UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, he co-chaired the development of a leadership group relations training program for psychiatry residents and psychology interns. As a member of the A.K. Rice Institute and GREX, its local affiliate, he has served as a conference director and staff consultant to Group Relations conferences.

Small-Group Faculty: The following clinicians will facilitate the small breakout groups during the conference.

Alya Ahmad, DO, FAAP;  Eva Altobelli, MD;  Julane Andries, LMFT;  Ray Bakaitis, PhD;  Leonard Bearne, PsyD;  Florian Birkmayer, MD;  Katja Cahoon, LCSW;  David Laramie, PhD;  Mark Mellinger, PhD; and  Gil Spielberg, PhD

TARGET AUDIENCE: This program meets the needs of mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists. All levels.

PROGRAM FORMAT: This program will be held in person and via Zoom. In person participation is encouraged.

FEES: NCP Member Registration $240 | General Registration $300 | Student Registration $150

CE/CME Credits: 12.25 credits - Participants must attend both days to receive credit.

CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT 

PHYSICIANS: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and the New Center for Psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 12.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies* whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.  

*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company. – Updated December 2022

PSYCHOLOGISTS: The New Center for Psychoanalysis is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.  The New Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Psychologists must report CE credits directly to MCEP using this document to verify attendance. Please note that a psychologist must attend the CE program in its entirety in order to receive credit.  

SOCIAL WORKERS, MARRIAGE and FAMILY THERAPISTS (LCSW, LMFT, ASW, IMF, LEP, LPCC, PCCI): The New Center for Psychoanalysis offers continuing education via the organizations listed above whose requirements meet the course content requirements set by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (see 16 CCR section 1887.4.0 for General CE Course Content Requirements). Acceptance of the CE credits for this activity is at the discretion of the licensing board.

Please complete all registration pages until you come to the final "Receipt" page. This will ensure the confirmation email with the meeting details is sent to you. Contact Byrdb@n-c-p.org if you have trouble registering.