Treating Addiction, Depression, and Anxiety with Psychedelics (Minisode #25)

We’re all just trying to figure out what this world and this life are all about, and do our best at living well. At least I know I am!

But wouldn’t it be nice to have a little help when it comes to recovering from traumas, treating anxiety and depression, understanding spirituality on a new level, successfully overcoming addiction, and even reducing our fear of death?

Well, research and clinical trials in the field of psychedelics is showing that we can. 

Psychedelics were the subject of serious medical research in the 1940s to the 1960s, when many scientists believed some of the mind-bending compounds held tremendous therapeutic promise for treating a number of conditions including severe mental health problems and alcohol addiction. By the mid-60s, research into psychedelics was shut down for decades. After the blackout ended, the doctor we have on the podcast today was among the first to initiate a new series of studies on psilocybin—the psychoactive compound in “magic” mushrooms.

On today’s mini-episode, Dhru speaks with Dr. Roland Griffiths, a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Griffiths’ principle research focus in both clinical and preclinical laboratories has been on the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs. 

His research has been largely supported by grants from the National Institute of Health, and he is the author of over 360 journal articles and book chapters. In 1999 he initiated a research program at Johns Hopkins investigating the effects of the classic hallucinogen psilocybin that includes studies of psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experiences in healthy volunteers, psilocybin-facilitated treatment of psychological distress in cancer patients, psilocybin-facilitated treatment of cigarette smoking cessation, and psilocybin effects in long-term meditators.

In this episode, we discuss the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin for the treatment of addiction, and how a single dose of psilocybin substantially diminished depression and anxiety in cancer patients. 

Find Dhru’s full-length conversation with Dr. Roland Griffiths here: https://broken-brain.lnk.to/DrRolandGriffiths/

For more on Dhru Purohit, be sure to follow him on Instagram @dhrupurohit, on Facebook @dhruxpurohit, on Twitter @dhrupurohit, and on YouTube @dhrupurohit. You can also text Dhru at (302) 200-5643 or click here https://my.community.com/dhrupurohit.

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