Ann Shulgin worked as a lay therapist for several years before 1985, using mostly the drug MDMA (also known as Ecstasy) for both individual and marital problems as well as for spiritual growth.
She stressed the need for a mutually agreed protocol between physician and patient before administering MDMA. This agreement included in brief, that:
(1) All sexual feelings were allowed but not to be acted out.
(2) All feelings of hostility were allowed but were not to be acted out.
(3) If the patient saw the death door they would not enter it. The therapist must extensively define the 'shadow self' and its functions. The purpose of the shadow is survival. It usually takes the form of a dark animal. This primal element of our psyche needs to be understood and embraced rather than ignored.
She said that the therapist must tell the client of the existence of the 'healer within'.
She underscored that the therapist should never cut short a session, but should continue until a breakthrough is achieved.
She concluded that in her opinion the world in general has an intense fear of the human psyche, but fortunately there are indications of slight beginnings of change.
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