Andrew Feldmár Explained

Andrew Feldmár
Native Name:Feldmár András
Birth Date:28 October 1940
Birth Place:Budapest, Hungary
Occupation:psychotherapist
Website:https://www.andrewfeldmar.ca

Andrew Feldmár (Feldmár András; born 28 October 1940, in Budapest) is a Hungarian-born psychotherapist living in Canada. He is most known as the Hungarian follower of R. D. Laing, the Scottish psychiatrist who was one of the leading figures of the counterculture of the 1960s. Laing, who later became his friend, was his teacher and therapist first.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Following his mentor, Feldmár practices and popularizes a form of radical psychotherapy, where the main goal of the therapist is to engage in a real, spontaneous and honest relationship with the patient.[6] [7] This approach is based on the findings of research on interpersonal phenomenology, spiritual emergency, the anthropology of healing, existential psychotherapy and community therapy. Feldmár rejects the labelling of human suffering, and therefore distances himself from the mainstream forms of psychiatry and psychotherapy which are based on the concept of mental illness.[8] [9] [10] [11] He has published many books in Hungarian, and he lectures, teaches, and provides supervision and therapy internationally, he has worked as a psychotherapist with over 52 years of experience, having spent more than 100,000 hours in psychotherapy with clients. He has been noticeably successful treating psychotic patients. He is a well-known expert in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

Biography

Andrew Feldmár was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1940 in a non-religious Jewish family. When he was 3 and a half years old his mother was taken to Auschwitz, his father to a labor camp, and his grandmother to the Budapest ghetto. However, his father managed to arrange for a young Catholic woman to take the young Andrew. For a year and a half he was living with a woman named Irén Igaz (in Hungarian her last name means ‘true, truthful, righteous’) and her kids. To protect him, he had to be called by a different name. His relatives came back around 1945. After the defeat of the 1956 revolution, at the age of 16 he immigrated to Canada alone.

Feldmár holds an Honours BA in mathematics, physics and chemistry from the University of Toronto, as well as an MA in psychology from the University of Western Ontario. He is an Honorary Life Member of the Canadian Psychological Association. Feldmár is married; he has a daughter and a son.

Career

Feldmár had been trained in the practice of psychotherapy and was trained and supervised in LSD therapy under R.D. Laing in London between 1974-75.[23] [24] During this year he also studied from a wide range of well-known experts of their fields: Francis Huxley, John Heaton, Hugh Crawford and Leon Redler. Feldmár also worked with one of the founders of transpersonal psychology Stanislav Grof at the Esalen Institute in California. He gained further experience in the field while volunteering at Hollywood Hospital in New Westminster, where LSD was legally used for research and therapy. He gained experience in Brief psychotherapy in Palo Alto in the research group of Paul Watzlawick. While still legal, he had been involved in different projects concerning the use of MDMA in psychotherapy. In 2008 Feldmár was involved in a research study, sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) to show the efficacy of MDMA as an adjunct to psychotherapy with severe cases of PTSD.[25] [26] [27] [28] He is currently a mentor in the Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research program in California.[29] Although he promotes the benefits of research and use of psychedelics in therapy he does not practice it due to its illegality.

He has participated in many research projects and taught, lectured and lead workshops at the Simon Fraser University (SFU),[30] University of British Columbia (UBC),[31] Emily Carr and Douglas College,[32] The Cold Mountain Institute,[33] The Collingwood Institute and meetings of BC Psychologists Association as well as in Europe (e.g. London[34] and Stuttgart[35] [36]). In Hungary he is a frequent participant of popular open lectures and podiums,[37] he has a regular column with Dorottya Büky in the Hungarian newspaper HVG.[38]

In 1989, he was a guest on a 3-part CBC Ideas radio series entitled R.D. Laing Today.[39] He has also worked as a consultant in both television and film (e.g. Showcase's Kink series).[40] He founded the Integra Households Association, a non profit charity working with those in extreme mental distress. In the 1987 film, Did You Used to be R.D. Laing? which he co-produced, Feldmár played together with Laing. He also played in the 2013 documentary, From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines.[41] In 2007, he appeared in an episode of the Colbert Report,[42] after he was banned from the US for several years as the result of a border guard googling his work.[43] [44] [45]

Feldmár worked for several international organizations as a specialist in mental health. In 1993 he took part in the UNESCO Chernobyl Program in Minsk, Belarus. He participated in training specialists for the Community Mental Health Centers for the victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe. For two weeks in 1996 he was a consultant for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bosnia and Croatia.

To popularize Feldmár's work, his theoretical and practical approach to mental health Andrew Feldmár and a group of professionals in 2006 founded an institute in Budapest, Hungary, called Feldmár Intézet (in English: Feldmár Institute). The nonprofit organization is organizing and hosting popular events and an annual summer school.[46] The Institute sponsors a reintegration program for inmates which has proven to be significantly successful. (Only 5 out of the 65 convicted participants are registered as re-offenders, while the national rate is 50%.)[47] The Institute is also involved in the sponsorship and professional work of the Soteria Shelter program in Budapest, a non-coercive alternative to psychiatric hospitalization.[48] In 2019, Feldmár Institut Stuttgart was officially founded.[49] [50]

Feldmár has been writing poems since his childhood. In the mid 60's he was the Poet of the Month on Toronto's CHQM radio, and his poetry was read at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2007 a selection of his haikus was published in a bilingual (English-Hungarian) poetry book.[51] His poems were translated by the famous Hungarian contemporary poet Dezső Tandori.[52] He translated Géza Gárdonyi's novel, Slave of the Huns which was first published in English in 1969.

Two full-length portrait films have been made about him in Hungary: Bence Fliegauf's 2002 documentary Van élet a halál előtt? ("Is There Life Before Death?") and the 2024 film Amit egyedül egyikünk sem látna ("What None of Us Would See Alone"), directed by András Krámli.

Andrew Feldmár's debut book in English, Credo: R. D. Laing and Radical Psychotherapy[53] was published in the UK in June 2023 by Karnac Books.[54]

Bibliography

Selected works (in English)

Publications

Interviews

Videos

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Feldmár . Andrew . Entheogens and Psychotherapy . Academia.edu.
  2. Book: Theodor Itten and Courtenay Young. R.D.Laing: 50 years since The Divided Self. PCCS Books. 2012. 978-1-906254-54-4. Chapter II/12 – Andrew Feldmár: Love, will, and the hatred of reality.
  3. Web site: R.D. Laing Radio Series with Andrew Feldmár and Patricia Wilensky, 1989, CBC Radio. British Universities Film and Video Council.
  4. Web site: R. D. Laing and the Courage to Be. 2013-06-12. Saybrook University.
  5. Web site: Andrew Feldmár: RD Laing - Existentialism and Buddhism (a lecture on video at UBC, 2017). .
  6. Web site: Radical Therapy And Radical Life with Andrew Feldmar . MANTORSHIFT.
  7. Web site: Andrew Feldmar's page on Karnac Books .
  8. Web site: The Depression Confessions - Vancouver, 2017. YouTube.
  9. Web site: Deconstructing Psychiatry (Vancouver Co-op Radio, 2011). YouTube.
  10. Web site: Andrew Feldmár on Psychotherapy - Feldmár Institute, 2016. YouTube.
  11. Web site: Andrew Feldmár - Lunar Eclipse -- A Life Worth Living (TEDxDanubia, 2011, Budapest). YouTube.
  12. Web site: Feldmár . Andrew . 2023-11-27 . Andrew Feldmár – Psychedelic Assisted Therapy – Seminar for the APA, Humanistic Psychology Division .
  13. Web site: Therapeutic Use of Psychedelics Overview & Personal Journey - Andrew Feldmar . Psychedelic Psychotherapy Forum, Victoria, BC, Canada -- October 3, 2015.
  14. Web site: 2014-10-24 . Andrew Feldmár: "Entheogens and Other Medicines for the Soul, for the Spirit, for Us." . Spirit Plant Medicine.
  15. News: High hopes: Why science is seeking a pardon for psychedelics. 2019-09-07.
  16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7kIMLLhgcA The Vancouver Psychedelic Society - Andrew Feldmar on Entheogens & Radical Psychotherapy, 2020
  17. Web site: The Maudsley Psychedelic Society. February 2021. Andrew Feldmar – Radical Adventure: Prolegomena to Psychedelic Psychotherapy. .
  18. Web site: Psychoanalysis and Psychedelics: The Inaugural Event. The Maudsley Psychedelic Society. February 2021. Panel discussion with Andrew Feldmár, Paul Zeal and Nathan Gorelick. .
  19. Book: Feldmár, Andrew. On the Therapeutic Stance during Psychedelic Psychotherapy. Park Street Press. 2021. 978-1-64411-332-5. English. 1.
  20. Web site: Institute of Psychedelic Therapy. 3 January 2022. Psychedelics & Psychotherapy Book Launch, 2022.
  21. Web site: Andrew Feldmár: LSD, MDMA, & Therapy . Change Truth, 2016.
  22. Web site: Andrew Feldmar: MDMA for PTSD . MAPS, 2012.
  23. https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9741296 R.D. Laing : 50 years since The divided self / edited by Theodor Itten & Courtenay Young
  24. Web site: Entheogens and Psychotherapy. Janus Head.
  25. News: Andrew Feldmár: Psychedelic drugs could heal thousands. 2008-08-19. The Guardian. Feldmár. Andrew.
  26. Web site: Interview with Andrew Feldmar About Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy. MAPS.
  27. News: 2014-10-08. The Rainbow States of Consciousness - Andrew Feldmar - Conscious Living Radio. en-US. listen the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2miJutf0ls. Conscious Living Radio. 2018-07-02.
  28. Web site: Andrew Feldmár: MDMA for PTSD. YouTube.
  29. Web site: Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research. California Institute of Integral Studies.
  30. Web site: Andrew Feldmár: A Laingian/Psychedelic/Therapeutic Perspective on The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker Legacy conference (2015). The Ernest Becker Foundation.
  31. Web site: Spirit Plant Medicine Conference (2014). 2016-04-06.
  32. Web site: Andrew Feldmár: The dangers of taking R.D. Laing seriously (2018).
  33. May 1985. A practical therapy workshop by R.D. Laing and Andrew Feldmár. Yoga Journal.
  34. Web site: The LSD Psychotherapists - King's Society for Psychedelic Studies (2016). 2016-12-17. Vimeo.
  35. Web site: International Colloquium of the Centre for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning (2018). University of Stuttgart.
  36. Web site: Dream a little Dream - International Colloquium 2019 . 2019-07-04 . 2019-07-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190704102029/https://www.zlw.uni-stuttgart.de/das-zlw/tagungen/ . dead .
  37. https://m.facebook.com/events/354925605112007?view=permalink&id=402217423716158 Most recently: CEU, 2019
  38. Web site: Feldmár András: "Trauma bármilyen élmény, aminek a végét várom". 2018-03-11. HVG.
  39. Web site: Ideas - R.D. Laing. CBC Radio.
  40. Web site: Andrew Feldmár on IMDB. IMDB.
  41. Web site: Andrew Feldmár ☆ From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines ☆ 2013. YouTube.
  42. Web site: Nailed 'em - Northern Border (2007). Comedy Central. 2018-09-19. 2018-08-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20180813143625/http://www.cc.com/video-playlists/kw3fj0/the-opposition-with-jordan-klepper-welcome-to-the-opposition-w--jordan-klepper/9a8i9h. dead.
  43. Web site: LSD as Therapy? Write about It, Get Barred from US. 2007-04-23. The Tyee.
  44. News: Closed doors of perception. 2007-08-08. The Guardian. Feldmár. Andrew.
  45. Web site: Viktor Mayer-Schönberger: Delete - The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age. Zhejiang University School of Public Health.
  46. Web site: Summer School with Andrew Feldmár in 2017. .
  47. Web site: Story-circle in the Prison.
  48. Web site: Soteria Shelter Program in Hungary: Crisis as Danger and Opportunity. 2017-01-21. Mad In America.
  49. Web site: Feldmár Institut Stuttgart . 2019-07-04 . 2019-04-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190412125451/https://feldmarintezet.hu/feldmar-institut-stuttgart/ . dead .
  50. https://www.facebook.com/feldmarintezet/posts/2576075779122520?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBkQWS5MstepahmaXGDYyaADexR4C47KKd1a2d1-1aBkbsOBD2O-MzFShA24tAsni9ZgRNjzJOl1GSKej4HRI4dTXtSpXR0JXLAy8BlfwoDzT-9jvaPPvJtXr1zu9fUTQupINeFSlCu7ZeTe3ROJa-KEZmRGq33sJByyVz48_zpa0Jy2wocf4qlyORBmevgzpTclNpSyisQGLR7M3Qu3rF6e0r9h-KfIQzYtIHK5XPduP8JFpBDqy8hVOlzOoN864jBHyZxHSJpVv6z9uJ5YuUVeVu2Yo1CuWETE_jcmqkep2h_tyeg-pqy3-_PV-12RoTpZt4lAW2DI3hinBPGCCkkcQ&__xts__%5B1%5D=68.ARA6Zj60rjuUFKCsBEAzQpoDc2ckhTUt8d5suOQ2cnvDV87fKfsrZyc7EyO9_c7X8dxxFciGsJWo15_rg-kKmjBZkFLuqVH0TKC2Gdovxwhmy5twlvCLZG6v7rWXKE6xrf1TP0PgwskZVeMdW18MwO4eU1G8gp7SeZX6t7CepssDRt3s4qJFwuEBtoBpp0FMoOlp0pVeCDgm2WVVyRpvF9Igg8H80izWqeiTGvN93G9UvhbMENufsg_KDqw7ZAnqPWXbtP0uSLA0Hy7dUlD7ejlnjw9clkMDSRl7t52SqxEB6rxxOClWe2nffu4UmFWMw9aaQwFBYtcMIk9dr4sXzUftbA&__tn__=-R The founders
  51. Web site: Küszöbgyakorlatok.
  52. Web site: Terebess Online.
  53. Web site: Credo: R. D. Laing and Radical Psychotherapy by Andrew Feldmár . firingthemind.com.
  54. Web site: Credo: R. D. Laing and Radical Psychotherapy on Karnac Books' website .
  55. Book: Psychedelics and Psychotherapy: The Healing Potential of Expanded States. 978-1644113325 . Read . Tim . Papaspyrou . Maria . 5 October 2021 .

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