"What differentiates me from most psychotherapists is that I don't see “neurotic” behavior as pathological. Instead, I view “neurosis” as the whole organism’s natural response to developmental stress on the path to maturation. In my view, “neurosis” is better seen as developmental challenge, the surmounting of which brings maturity. One of the most negative influences on personal development is the "sick" label itself, which tightens and distorts, keeping people from a natural unfolding and realignment and I find that big-picture understanding, active listening and fundamental positive regard work better. I believe that "healing" takes place only when we rest at the ground of our being, the better to naturally unfold according to our perfect, internal template for development. I use innovative methods drawn from humanistic, transpersonal and eastern traditions, as well as the literature on psychedelics, and have come to define "spiritual" as simply the upper end of normal human development - Wisdom. "The Perils and Promise of Entheogens"

Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D.
www.nealgoldsmith.com

Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and consultant in private practice, specializing in psychospiritual development -- seeing neurosis as the natural unfolding of human maturation and the key to completing one's childhood. His psychotherapy training includes Psychosynthesis, Imago Relationship Therapy, Janovian psychotherapies, Rogerian client-centered counseling, yoga psychology, and other humanistic, transpersonal, and Eastern traditions (in addition to the lessons found in the research literature on psychedelics). He is a founder of several salon discussion groups in New York, including the notorious Poetry Science Talks. He is also an applied research psychologist, working with institutions such as Princeton University, AT&T, American Express, and Gartner to foster innovation and change.

Dr. Goldsmith has a master’s degree in counseling from New York University and a doctorate in public affairs psychology from Claremont Graduate University, with an orientation toward action science in the tradition of Kurt Lewin. He conducted his dissertation research, on the factors that facilitate or inhibit the successful utilization of mental health policy research, as a federally funded doctoral research assistant at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Among his publications, he is perhaps proudest of "The Ten Lessons of Psychedelic Psychotherapy, Rediscovered" (in the new Psychedelic Medicine textbook, Praeger, 2007), his affidavit to the California Superior Court in Santa Cruz on "Rescheduling Psilocybin: A Review of the Clinical Research," and the frequently cited, "The Utilization of Policy Research."