Virtual Grand Rounds: Illusion-Disillusionment: A Winicottian Framework for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
May 28, 2025
Presented by: Dr. Lawrence Fischman
Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst
In this video, Dr. Fischman:
- Describes what Winnicott meant by the need in healthy development to allow for illusion-disillusionment, and how this can be translated into a clinical attitude towards transpersonal experiences
- Describes the caregiver’s role in mediating the tension between “continuity of being” and “falling to pieces" during infancy, and how this bears on the therapist’s role in mediating transpersonal experience in psychedelic-assisted therapy
- Discusses when it would be risky to implement an illusion-disillusionment approach to experiences arising under psychedelic drugs, and what the concept of “double-entry bookkeeping” means
Download the slide presentation here »
Presented by: Dr. Lawrence Fischman
Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst
In this video, Dr. Fischman:
- Describes what Winnicott meant by the need in healthy development to allow for illusion-disillusionment, and how this can be translated into a clinical attitude towards transpersonal experiences
- Describes the caregiver’s role in mediating the tension between “continuity of being” and “falling to pieces" during infancy, and how this bears on the therapist’s role in mediating transpersonal experience in psychedelic-assisted therapy
- Discusses when it would be risky to implement an illusion-disillusionment approach to experiences arising under psychedelic drugs, and what the concept of “double-entry bookkeeping” means
Download the slide presentation here »