Psychedelics Today

PT508 – The Veteran Community and Operator Syndrome: Psychedelics and Redefining Pain Management, with Tommy Aceto


Listen Later

In this episode, Joe and special guest, Court Wing, interview Tommy Aceto: former Navy Seal and trauma medic, NCAA athlete, Michigan State Champion Wrestler, and now, psychedelic advocate and ambassador for the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition.

He discusses his journey from childhood to wanting to become a SEAL, and the toll that military life and its programming can take on a person: how a life built on high levels of endurance, deprivation, and constantly surviving in a fight-or-flight mindset often manifests in Operator Syndrome, chronic pain, depression, and addiction. Veterans are seeing the potential of psychedelics to rewire their brains and allow them to process pain differently, by allowing them to feel emotions they were trained to turn off: “You’ve got to feel to heal.”

Aceto discusses:

  • The affirmation and approval many who join the military seek, and how that often translates into needing to stay at certain levels of risk to truly feel alive
  • The similarities between soldiers and professional athletes and high performers
  • Dealing with chronic pain, and how forcing movement is often the best tactic
  • The Controlled Substances Act and how opioids became a business
  • Why the most important thing vets can do today is to tell their healing stories

and more! For links, head to the show notes page

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Psychedelics TodayBy Psychedelics Today

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

547 ratings


More shows like Psychedelics Today

View all
Sounds True: Insights at the Edge by Tami Simon

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

1,845 Listeners

Ram Dass Here And Now by Ram Dass / Love Serve Remember

Ram Dass Here And Now

2,562 Listeners

Aubrey Marcus Podcast by Aubrey Marcus

Aubrey Marcus Podcast

3,976 Listeners

Mindrolling with Raghu Markus by Be Here Now Network

Mindrolling with Raghu Markus

494 Listeners

Buddha at the Gas Pump by Rick Archer

Buddha at the Gas Pump

624 Listeners

Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield by Be Here Now Network

Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

1,434 Listeners

THIRD EYE DROPS by Michael Phillip

THIRD EYE DROPS

1,241 Listeners

The Psychedelic Podcast by Third Wave

The Psychedelic Podcast

299 Listeners

This Jungian Life Podcast by Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano

This Jungian Life Podcast

1,551 Listeners

New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast by New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast

New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast

257 Listeners

Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories by Craig Heacock MD

Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories

458 Listeners

Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast by Mark Plotkin, Ph.D.

Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast

262 Listeners

Psychedelic Therapy Frontiers by Numinus Network

Psychedelic Therapy Frontiers

171 Listeners

Sounds of SAND by Science and Nonduality

Sounds of SAND

110 Listeners

The Telepathy Tapes by Ky Dickens

The Telepathy Tapes

7,127 Listeners