Dr. Paul Conti: Therapy, Treating Trauma & Other Life Challenges

My guest this episode is Dr. Paul Conti, M.D., a psychiatrist and expert in treating trauma, personality disorders and psychiatric illnesses and challenges of various kinds. Dr. Conti earned his MD at Stanford and did his residency at Harvard Medical School. He now runs the Pacific Premiere Group—a clinical practice helping people heal and grow from trauma and other life challenges. We discuss trauma: what it is and its far-reaching effects on the mind and body, as well as the best treatment approaches for trauma. We also explore how to choose a therapist and how to get the most out of therapy, as well as how to do self-directed therapy. We discuss the positive and negative effects of antidepressants, ADHD medications, alcohol, cannabis, and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin and LSD), ketamine and MDMA. This episode is must listen for anyone seeking or already doing therapy, processing trauma, and/or considering psychoactive medication. Both patients and practitioners ought to benefit from the information.

For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) Dr. Paul Conti, Trauma & Recovery 

(00:02:48) Sponsors: AG1, LMNT

(00:07:00) Defining Trauma 

(00:14:05) Guilt & Shame, Origins of Negative Emotions

(00:21:38) Repeating Trauma, the Repetition Compulsion 

(00:28:23) How to Deal with Trauma & Negative Emotions/Arousal 

(00:37:17) Processing Trauma, Do You Always Need a Therapist?

(00:45:30) Internal Self-talk, Punishing Narratives & Negative Fantasies 

(00:51:10) Short-Term Coping Mechanisms vs. Long-Term Change

(00:53:22) Tools: Processing Trauma on Your Own, Journaling 

(00:57:00) Sublimination of Traumatic Experiences 

(01:02:34) Tool: Finding a Good Therapist 

(01:07:20) Optimizing the Therapy Process, Frequency, Intensity  

(01:14:51) Tool: Self-Awareness of Therapy Needs, Mismatch of Needs

(01:16:35) Self-talk & Journaling, Talking to Trusted Individuals 

(01:19:00) Prescription Drugs & Treating Trauma, Antidepressants, Treating Core Issues  

(01:28:35) Short-term vs. Long-Term Use of Prescription Drugs, Antidepressants

(01:32:18) Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) & Prescription Drugs 

(01:37:31) Negative Effects of ADHD Prescription Drugs 

(01:40:37) Alcohol, Cannabis – Positive & Negative Effects

(01:44:53) Psychedelics: Psylocibin & LSD, Therapeutic Uses, Trauma Recovery    

(01:54:32) Sentience, Language, Animals  

(01:55:48) Psychedelic Hallucinations, Trauma Recovery 

(02:00:01) MDMA (Therapeutic Uses)

(02:04:47) Clinical Aspects of MDMA

(02:07:28) Language, Processing Trauma, Social Media, Societal Divisions 

(02:15:09) Defining “Taking Care of Oneself”

(02:21:13) Dr. Conti, Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous Supplements, Instagram, Twitter, Neural Network Newsletter

Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac

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