The Psychology Podcast

Jim Fadiman || Orchestrating Your Symphony of Selves

Episode Notes

Today we welcome Dr. Jim Fadiman. Jim is a psychologist, writer, and lecturer who has been pioneering psychedelic research since the 1960s. He is recognized as “America’s wisest and most respected authority on psychedelics and their use.” Jim received his bachelor and doctorate degrees from Harvard and Stanford respectively. Apart from psychedelics, he has also been involved in researching healthy multiplicity for over 20 years. His newest book with Jordan Gruber is called Your Symphony of Selves: Discover and Understand More of Who We Are.

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Jim Fadiman about multiple selves. The DSM says that having multiple personalities is a disorder, but Dr. Fadiman challenges this notion. In fact, he believes that the opposite is true: the multiplicity of selves is both normal and healthy. It’s not about having one “super self”, but unifying the different parts of who we are. We also discuss psychedelics, its effects on mental health, and how Abraham Maslow would have viewed these mind-altering substances.

Website: jamesfadiman.com

Twitter: @jfadiman

 

Topics

04:54 Modern microdosing

06:49 Microdosing for physical and mental health 

10:00 Healthy vs pathological multiplicity

14:14 What would Maslow think of psychedelics?

23:24 No single self 

26:42 Taking responsibility for all yourselves

30:13 Harmonizing selves

34:28 Is it possible to create a super self?

37:58 All your parts are you

42:07 Unified self is healthy 

44:08 Being in the right mind at the right time

51:17 Practice selves work