Dr. Michael Lukens has been a practicing clinical psychologist for more than 3 decades and has developed a theory of human motivation that is based on a specific understanding of the dynamics of the emotional response system.
His approach to psychotherapy is revolutionary in its emphasis on untangling people’s ambivalence. Dr. Lukens refers to all unfinished emotional business as "incompletions". Core Issue Completion Therapy (CICT) and its subsequent Coaching method (CICC) are the methods he developed to address people’s incompletions and ambivalence
His methods are based on his theoretical book, “The Physics of Emotioning: A Constructivist’s Understanding of the Motivational Forces Governing Volitional Behavior.” Those who complete the training courses in these methods become certified psychedelic-assisted therapists.
Both methods helps people deal with deep-seated emotional issues in a quicker way. The goal is to support clients in resolving these issues so they can improve their relationships and achieve their life goals. The therapy method is designed to get people up and out of their despair while the coaching method is designed to put them on the right track and help them stay there.
His methods were designed as a solution to the human experience of ambivalence and self-defeatism. Ambivalence is when and where we find ourselves with mixed emotions, or conflicting feelings. Certain forms of our ambivalence lie at the nexus of all of our self-defeating tendencies and behavior. The ‘deconstruction’ of ambivalence is a cornerstone technique of his approach -- it involves the clear identification and a clarifying understanding of why we act against our own interest.
For instance, when we have desires that are ‘blocked’ by our fear, or we have sadness and we have ‘anger’ about our sadness, leading us to refuse the call to ‘surrender’ to it, we will stay stuck as ‘one response’ is set up to conflict with or block another. This self-defeating state of affairs will continue until we see the internal conflict for what it is and where it comes from.
When we can actually see how we set up roadblocks and impediments to our own goal-oriented commitments, we find ourselves able to untie our own knots and that releases us from self-imposed imprisonment. Getting unstuck is the goal, and helping clients untie this knot sitting at the center of their stuckness is facilitated by the open-minded awareness that the Ketamine provides.
Dr. Lukens brings this fine-tuned focus on the root cause of self-defeating behavior patterns to the client’s awareness supporting a more optimal outcome during the actual Ketamine journey and a more comprehensive and helpful self knowledge into client’s lives going forward in the integration work that follows.
Dr. Lukens obtained his Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Temple University in 1980 and his doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1987. He has been a practicing psychotherapist/coach since then, and is the author of 4 books.
He began studying Ketamine and other psychedelic potentiating agents about 5 years ago when research studies began to appear in scientific journals demonstrating their efficacy with recalcitrant mood disorders and other difficult to treat conditions such as complex PTSD.
