psychophobia* podcast

psychophobia* podcast“You are an explorer, and you represent our species, and the greatest good you can do is to bring back a new idea, because our world is endangered by the absence of good ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness.”― Terence McKenna—The psychedelic renaissance is being sold as a revolution in healing- but beneath the hype lies something far messier. Michael sits down with Noah Cebuliak to explore the promise, peril, and commercialization of psychedelic therapy, from ketamine telehealth to integration, trauma, narcissism, and the dangerous fantasy of a shortcut to transformation. Together they ask what it actually means to prepare for an altered state, why some people come back more inflated rather than more whole, and what happens when capitalism collides with the sacred. At the heart of the conversation is a deeper challenge: if these substances amplify what is already present, then what exactly are we bringing to them- and what are they bringing out of us?What if the problem isn’t psychedelics— but the culture using them?— —Follow us onpsychophobia.com | Substack | LinkedIn | @psychophobia_projectFollow NoahNoah’s Website | Noah Cebuliak on LinkedinSend us a message: https://www.speakpipe.com/psychophobia— —Noah Cebuliak is a coach, educator, and former psychedelic therapy practitioner specializing in integration, inner work, and transformational experiences. He previously worked as a guide in ketamine-assisted therapy programs, supporting hundreds of individuals through altered-state experiences and their psychological integration.Today, Noah works independently with clients on personal development, psychedelic integration, and nervous system awareness. Alongside his coaching work, he is also a music producer and collaborator on transformational music projects designed to support meditation, breathwork, and psychedelic-informed therapeutic settings.Dr. Michael R. Montgomery Dr. Montgomery is an existential psychoanalyst with international expertise in complex trauma, extreme states, addiction, and conflict resolution. He trained at Regent’s University London, the Tavistock and Portman, and the Anna Freud Centre. He is the founder of Logic23.com and Peacefire.us, and his clinical work is primarily community-based, focusing on patients typically excluded from quality care. A regular contributor to the Society for Existential Analysis, the R.D. Laing Symposium, and ISPS-US, he has over 30 published peer-reviewed works and is currently developing a new book alongside this podcast.— —Episode Chapters00:05— Intro to Psychophobia & Reconnecting with Noah03:21 — Noah’s New Path: Coaching, Independence & Transformational Music04:55 — The New Psychedelic Wave: Hype, Harm & Commercialization12:30— Allostatic Load, Respect for Medicines & Somatic Stress16:54 — What Is Integration? Bridging Trip Worlds into Daily Life23:00— Psychedelic Narcissism, Set & Setting & Container Design43:18 — Foundations: Meditation, Nervous System & Walking the Razor’s Edge1:03:02 — The Industry: Roots to Thrive vs. McDonaldized Ketamine1:24:11 — Breathwork as a Safer Doorway & Group Healing1:33:32 — Music as Medicine & Practical Music Tips for SessionsPlease note that while I am a therapist, I am not your therapist. This podcast explores mental health and the human experience, but it is not a substitute for therapy, medical care, or professional advice. Any decisions regarding your mental health, including changes to medication or treatment, should be made in consultation with a qualified healthcare professional you trust. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit psychophobia.substack.com

psychophobia* podcast“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” — Blaise Pascal— —Inside one of the quietest rooms on earth, the usual assumptions about the mind begin to break down. The anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories was originally built for acoustic research, but it has become something else entirely - a place where people encounter their own perception in ways they rarely have before.In this conversation, Emma Orfield, Director of Therapeutics at Orfield Laboratories, explores how extreme silence can reveal hidden dimensions of sensory experience. We discuss invisible disabilities, sensory sensitivity, autism, PTSD, and the possibility that what psychiatry often labels as a disorder may sometimes be a response to a world that has become overwhelmingly loud.“All you’re left with is you.” — Emma Orfield— —Relevant LinksFollow us onpsychophobia.com | Substack | LinkedIn | Instagram | YoutubeFollow EmmaOrfield Labs Send us a message: https://www.speakpipe.com/psychophobia— —Emma Orfield-Johnston is a researcher and executive at Orfield Laboratories, a multi-sensory design and research firm focused on human perception. Her work explores how environments, sound, light, temperature, and other sensory factors shape human experience and well-being. Emma leads the lab’s therapeutics program, researching the psychological effects of extreme silence using the facility’s renowned anechoic chamber, often described as the quietest place on Earth. Her work focuses particularly on sensory sensitivity and invisible disabilities, including autism, PTSD, and other perceptual differences.Dr. Michael R. Montgomery is an existential psychoanalyst whose work explores the far edges of human experience, including complex trauma, extreme states, addiction, and the psychological aftermath of conflict. Trained at Regent’s University London, the Tavistock and Portman, and the Anna Freud Centre, his clinical work focuses primarily on community-based care for individuals often excluded from traditional mental health systems. He is faculty, and a supervising analyst at the New School for Existential Psychoanalysis, CA. He is the founder of Logic23.com and Peacefire.us and a regular contributor to the Society for Existential Analysis, the R.D. Laing Symposium, and ISPS-US. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed works and is currently developing a new book alongside the psychophobia* podcast.— —Episode Chapters0:00:05 – Introduction: Psychophobia and the Anechoic Challenge0:00:37 – Setting the Scene at Orfield Labs0:02:00 – What Is Orfield Labs? Multisensory Design & Human Perception0:02:20 – Inside the Anechoic Chamber – From Product Testing to People0:04:27 – Invisible Disabilities, Sensitivity, and Self-Selection0:07:02 – Debunking the “You’ll Go Crazy” Myth0:10:58 – First-Time Reactions & “Doing More by Taking Away”0:14:27 – Perceptual Silence and Autism-/PTSD-Informed Design0:19:25 – Measuring the Unconscious & the Harley-Davidson Case Study0:43:53 – Intuition, Embodiment, and the Body Teaching the Mind This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit psychophobia.substack.com

What if the institutions designed to help us understand the human psyche are actually afraid of them? Hosted by Dr. Michael R. Montgomery, this podcast explores the uncomfortable questions. Together, we’ll examine how the mental health systems meant to heal us instead perpetuate cycles of dependency. Welcome to the Psychophobia* Podcast.—Follow us on*psychophobia.com — Substack — LinkedIn — @psychophobia_project — Youtube—Dr. Michael R. Montgomery is an existential psychoanalyst whose work explores the far edges of human experience- including complex trauma, extreme states, addiction, and the psychological aftermath of conflict. Trained at Regent’s University London, the Tavistock and Portman, and the Anna Freud Centre, his clinical work focuses primarily on community-based care for individuals often excluded from traditional mental health systems. He is the founder of Logic23.com and Peacefire.us and a regular contributor to the Society for Existential Analysis, the R.D. Laing Symposium, and ISPS-US. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed works and is currently developing a new book alongside the Psychophobia podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit psychophobia.substack.com

psychophobia* podcast“Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be breakthrough.” — R.D. Laing— —What if the institutions designed to help us understand the human psyche are actually afraid of them? Hosted by Dr. Michael R. Montgomery, this podcast explores the uncomfortable questions. Together, we’ll examine how the mental health systems meant to heal us instead perpetuate cycles of dependency. Welcome to the psychophobia* Podcast.Leah Giorgini has lived on both sides of the psychiatric system - as a patient diagnosed with psychosis in her teens, and as a clinician working inside the very institutions she once feared. In this conversation, she and Dr. Montgomery pull apart the seams of modern mental health care: the DSM’s grip on human suffering, the silent violence of self-stigma, and why the fire truck shows up when all you needed was someone to sit with you for two hours. They confront the uncomfortable truth that care, real care, can’t be billed, coded, or timed. And they ask the question the system refuses to answer: what if recovery isn’t about fixing someone, but returning their agency to them?“No one is coming. And when people find their own agency, they are liberated.” — Dr. Michael R. Montgomery— —Relevant LinksFollow us onpsychophobia.com | Substack | LinkedIn | Instagram | YoutubeFollow LeahISPS-US | Leah Giorgini on LinkedinSend us a message: https://www.speakpipe.com/psychophobia— —Leah Giorgini is an occupational therapist and a person with lived experience of psychosis. She serves as Executive Director of ISPS-US (the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis), an organization that questions whether conventional psychiatry has misunderstood some of the most extreme states of mind. Her work focuses on trauma-informed and recovery-based approaches that attempt to understand psychosis as a human response to overwhelming experience rather than simply a disease to be medicated away.Dr. Michael R. Montgomery is an existential psychoanalyst whose work explores the far edges of human experience, including complex trauma, extreme states, addiction, and the psychological aftermath of conflict. Trained at Regent’s University London, the Tavistock and Portman, and the Anna Freud Centre, his clinical work focuses primarily on community-based care for individuals often excluded from traditional mental health systems. He is faculty, and a supervising analyst at the New School for Existential Psychoanalysis, CA. He is the founder of Logic23.com and Peacefire.us and a regular contributor to the Society for Existential Analysis, the R.D. Laing Symposium, and ISPS-US. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed works and is currently developing a new book alongside the psychophobia* podcast.— —Episode Chapters00:00 — Introduction & What Is Psychophobia?00:45 — The DSM-5: Bible or Blunt Instrument?02:28 — Defining Psychosis — and Leah’s Own Story04:13 — Stigma, Self-Stigma & Identity After Diagnosis09:16 — Medication, Hospitals, and the Pharmakon Idea11:29 — The Pharmakon Paradox: When Treatment Is Also the Poison14:17 — Culture, Anti-Psychiatry, and Carceral Trends16:23 — Crisis, Containment, and Systemic Failure19:26 — Crisis Response: the Fire Truck, Police Car & Ambulance23:41 — Trauma, Meaning, and “No One Is Mad”26:49 — UK vs. US Systems & McDonaldization of Care29:29 — No Tick Box for Love32:47 — What Actually Helps in Crisis?36:30 — Iatrogenic Harm and Tick-Box Care39:55 — Agency, Iatrogenic Harm & What Recovery Actually Requires41:36 — Clozapine, “Treatment Resistance,” and Medication Dogma49:20 — Love, Therapy, and Dependency vs. Self-Efficacy51:44 — Homelessness, Housing First, and Basic Needs59:58 — Agency, Suicide, and the Limits of Non-Intervention1:06:53 — Radical Agency, Neurodiversity, and Knowing Your Mind1:09:56 — Rediscovering Agency as the Heart of Recovery1:14:02 — “No One Is Coming” and the Fear of Suffering1:16:30 — The Painful Work of Healing & Safety as a Precondition1:19:26 — ISPS-US, Informed Consent & What’s Next1:22:58 — ISPS-US: Conferences, Negative Symptoms & Advocacy1:24:58 — Informed Consent, Polypharmacy, and Veterans1:26:08 — Closing Reflections: Hope, Momentum & Mutual SupportPlease note that while I am a therapist, I am not your therapist. This podcast explores mental health and the human experience, but it is not a substitute for therapy, medical care, or professional advice. Any decisions regarding your mental health, including changes to medication or treatment, should be made in consultation with a qualified healthcare professional you trust. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit psychophobia.substack.com