In this episode, Professor Richard Harvey is in conversation with Professor David Castle (University of Tasmania) and Associate Professor Lynette Averill (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston and Yale School of Medicine) to discuss their perspectives on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in clinical practice.

Professor Richard Harvey has been a consultant psychiatrist since 1998. He trained in the UK and migrated to Australia in 2003. He has held a variety of clinical positions in public and private in Australia. He is a Clinical Professor at Deakin University and is currently in private practice. He is the Chair of the RANZCP Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Steering Group and he is also the Chair of the RANZCP Committee for Continuing Professional Development.

Professor David Castle is a part of the Department of Psychiatry, The University of Tasmania; and Co-Director, Tasmanian Centre for Mental Health Service Innovation. He has wide clinical and research interests, encompassing schizophrenia and related disorders, bipolar disorder, OCD spectrum disorders and disorders of body image. He has a longstanding interest in the impact of licit and illicit substances on the brain and body, and is actively engaged in programmes addressing the physical health of the mentally ill and the mental health of the physically ill. He has published widely in the scientific literature and is a frequent speaker at scientific meetings.

Associate Professor Lynnette A. Averill is a clinical research psychologist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and National Centre for PTSD and a professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and Yale University Department of Psychiatry. Associate Professor Averill studies the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine in PTSD, including glutamate-modulating ketamine and serotonergic psilocybin and MDMA, and their role in mechanistically intervening synaptic connectivity, which subsequentially manifests in behavioural, mood, and cognitive changes. Centred in a humanistic perspective, her studies have found that psychedelic medicines are particularly effective in addressing suicidality, guilt, shame, blame, and forgiveness.

Resources
For guidance regarding psychedelic-assisted therapy see Psychedelics | RANZCP

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