Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories

Craig Heacock MD

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.

  • 53 minutes 4 seconds
    Can MDMA save a marriage? One couple's story

    Send BFTA a comment

    Today’s story is the story of so many marriages— starting off with hope and excitement, then settling into careers and kids and unforeseen challenges,  then facing emerging disenchantment and mounting frustrations,  then maybe even reaching a breaking point, where the marriage seems unable to withstand all the stuff life is throwing in its path.  

    For Daniel and Mindy, their initial years of love and hope and adventure were slowly buried by layers of physical and emotional pain, by Daniel’s chronic and worsening depression, by Mindy’s frustration and anger and shame. Teetering on the edge, they decided to begin working with MDMA, hoping to rediscover what they had somehow lost.

    "I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  A intensive experiential workshop exploring transference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, May 28-30 in Victoria BC
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom-tickets-1112117516429?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    31 January 2025, 12:00 pm
  • 18 minutes 6 seconds
    Psychedelics, psychiatric meds, and the question of tapering

    Send BFTA a comment

    One of the more interesting and difficult challenges of integrating psychedelics into psychiatry is how to deal with the fact that so many of the folks who will seek out care for their treatment-resistant depression or OCD or body dysmorphia or PTSD or attachment trauma are on psychiatric meds, many of which can have very significant and even dangerous interactions with certain psychedelics.

    Here Dr. H explores some of the key issues around med tapering with ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA, including a hierarchy of safety in terms of potential med interactions.

    "I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  A intensive experiential workshop exploring transference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, May 28-30 in Victoria BC
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom-tickets-1112117516429?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    17 January 2025, 12:00 pm
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    In the room with Hillary McBride and Saj Razvi--- A moment to moment exploration of psychedelic somatic trauma therapy

    Send BFTA a comment

    Saj Razvi and Hillary McBride return to BFTA, this time together, for one of the most compelling and fascinating episodes we have featured on the podcast-- an in depth, in the room exploration of the moment to moment unfolding of a psychedelic-assisted trauma session. 

    During her training to work with Saj’’s psychedelic somatic model, called PSIP, Hillary did a profound session with Saj that led to some very unexpected gifts for Hillary. Interestingly, the psychedelic used for this session was THC— Saj has spoken extensively in past BFTA episodes why he considers vaped THC a particularly potent catalyst for somatic trauma work, to rapidly cut through dissociation and heighten autonomic reactions.

    First we’ll hear Saj give some background context and an introduction to the theory of his work, then we’ll hear Hillary enter into a very emotional and often physically grueling session, with both Saj and Hillary weighing in occasionally with commentary about the process, then finally we hear them both summarize what happened, how they understand the meaning and the story.

    A heads up, Hillary’s session gets very intense at times, if you don’t feel ready to hear someone walk the fires of their nearly annihilating trauma, maybe save this episode for another time.

    "I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  A intensive experiential workshop exploring transference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, May 28-30 in Victoria BC
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom-tickets-1112117516429?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

    Dr. Hillary McBride
    https://hillarylmcbride.com/

    Saj Razvi and the Psychedelic Somatic Institute
    https://www.psychedelicsomatic.org/

    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    3 January 2025, 12:00 pm
  • 21 minutes 48 seconds
    Recognizing and Treating OCD

    Send BFTA a comment

    In this solo episode, Craig synthesizes the most salient aspects of identifying and treating OCD, with some cool musical interludes to boot-- in just over 20 minutes!

    "I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  A intensive experiential workshop exploring transference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, May 28-30 in Victoria BC
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom-tickets-1112117516429?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    20 December 2024, 12:00 pm
  • 1 hour 12 minutes
    Therapists in the abyss: A journey back to self

    Send BFTA a comment

    You don't end up working in psychiatry/mental health by accident-- therapists and psychiatrists almost always come from their own place of emotional pain. Here Dr. H sits down with his colleague Kristen, a well-respected Colorado psychotherapist who always appeared to have it all together, while battling her own inner demons of feeling like a fraud-- broken, unworthy, irredeemable.  This is Kristen's story of finding a way through her double life, of coming to peace with what she survived, how she coped,  and how this helps her to help others.


    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    6 December 2024, 12:00 pm
  • 23 minutes 56 seconds
    What I'm thinking about now: Working in the Here and Now; Polypharmacy; Diagnostic Parsimony; Ketamine Microdosing; Psych NP Training

    Send BFTA a comment

    In this solo episode Dr. H shares his current thoughts on working in the here and now; polypharmacy; the root causes of suicidality; diagnostic parsimony ; ketamine microdosing; and online psych NP training programs.

    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    22 November 2024, 12:00 pm
  • 1 hour 20 minutes
    Reconstructing the narrative-- Trauma, dissociation, psychedelics, and working in the negative transference

    Send BFTA a comment

    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 remembering,  a story of finding a therapist who was willing and able to sit through years of hateful negative transference and let Kate work through her parent-child wounds. And finally this is a story of MDMA and psilocybin helping someone move forward through the minefield of trauma.

    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    8 November 2024, 12:00 pm
  • 57 minutes 39 seconds
    I had to rebuild who I was-- Finding trust and a pathway out of psychosis

    Send BFTA a comment

    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 tied up in the experience of losing one’s mind.

    Here Dr. H's  patient Corben describes his very early onset illness, how it started with years of depression,  then shifted into profound alienation and increasingly frightening psychosis, and finally into stability and recovery.

    BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    25 October 2024, 10:00 am
  • 57 minutes 54 seconds
    Why med management is mostly doomed to fail-- The top 10 (12!) reasons with Dr. Will Van Derveer

    Send BFTA a comment

    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 down with Dr. H to deconstruct this deeply flawed model and posit a more holistic and hopeful way of thinking about psychiatric care.

     Dr. Van Derveer and the Integrative Psychiatric Institute
    https://psychiatryinstitute.com/


    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    11 October 2024, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 17 minutes
    How do you learn to do psychotherapy? An exploration with Dr. Erin Jacklin

    Send BFTA a comment

    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
    https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

    BFTA/ Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

    27 September 2024, 11:00 am
  • 59 minutes 17 seconds
    BFTA Summer Special-- How to Change Your Mind About Mushrooms with Dori Lewis

    Send BFTA a comment

    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? If so, which types?
    •How should we think about the specific roles of mushrooms and ketamine in psychiatric and psychological treatment?
    •What kinds of problems are most amenable to psilocybin?
    •Why do some people have no psychedelic experience on apparently therapeutic doses of psilocybin?
    •Individual vs group work with mushrooms

    Elemental Psychedelics-- Ketamine and Psilocybin therapist/facilitator trainings
    https://www.elementalpsychedelics.com/

    Revive and Thrive retreat (with Dr. Rebecca Richey)
    https://www.experientialwellnessretreats.com/beaver-run-retreat

    Bringing Therapy into Med Management-- An intensive psychotherapy workshop with Dr. H
    https://www.craigheacockmd.com/training/

    Beyond Psilocybin-- Embracing the Power of Ketamine
    https://www.reflectivehealing.com/blog/fortcollins/therapy/reflectivehealing/beyond-psilocybin-embracing-the-power-of-ketamine-in-mental-health-healing


    5 July 2024, 11:00 am
  • More Episodes? Get the App
© MoonFM 2025. All rights reserved.