The Future Of Mental Health: Psychedelic Medicine For Depression, Addiction, Trauma, And More

Episode 810 1h 12m

Overview

Mental health problems are the number one driver of indirect healthcare costs, loss of productivity, and diminished quality of life. Yet, we aren’t very successful at treating them with modern medicine.

Today on The Doctor’s Farmacy, I am excited to talk to Dr. Pamela Kryskow about the renaissance of psychedelic medicine and how these compounds are finally being recognized as powerful tools for overcoming hard-to-treat health issues like PTSD, depression, addiction, and more.

We kick off our conversation by talking about how unresolved trauma is often a core factor at the root of chronic mental health conditions. Trauma can get ‘stuck’ in the body, guarded by our nervous system in an effort to keep us safe. Dr. Kryskow explains how psychedelic medicine can help resolve deep-seated trauma and improve our sense of wellbeing and safety in the world. We talk about the different types of psychedelics, such as psilocybin, ketamine, and MDMA, and how these compounds work at the cellular and neural circuit level to trigger neuroplasticity, which is our brain’s ability to rewire itself in ways that lead to long-lasting shifts in our emotional, cognitive, and behaviors patterns.

Throughout our conversation, we discuss Dr. Kryskow’s extensive clinical experience with psychedelic-assisted therapy for the treatment of depression, PTSD, and end-of-life distress. Dr. Kryskow shares clinical trial evidence that shows a success rate of PTSD resolution of 92% in 12 weeks, whereas, in a traditional psychiatric model, the success rate is 30 to 40% over many years.

We also talk about microdosing, which is the practice of consuming very low doses of a psychedelic compound. Dr. Kryskow explains how microdosing differs from a full-dose psychedelic experience in terms of effects and intended outcomes, and how it can potentially be used as a long-term strategy for mental well-being and cognitive enhancement. We also talk about what the future of psychedelics looks like and how we can make psychedelics more scalable and accessible in a safe and responsible way. I hope you’ll tune in to learn more.

Sponsors

This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, ButcherBox, Joovv, and ARMRA. The Doctor’s Farmacy podcast works with a select group of sponsors to allow for ongoing production and allow it to be zero-cost to anyone who wishes to listen to and watch the podcast.

Topics Covered

  • The history and resurgence of psychedelic medicine

    (8:36)

  • Effectiveness and cost savings of psychedelic therapy

    (10:00)

  • Psilocybin and depression treatment

    (12:48)

  • How psychedelics work in the brain

    (18:34)

  • Pamela’s real-world experience providing psychedelic therapy

    (28:43:00)

  • Microdosing psychedelics

    (43:40:00)

  • Government regulation of psychedelic medicine in Canada

    (53:11:00)

  • The future of psychedelic medicine

    (1:00:51)

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Host & Guests

Transcript

Automatically generated. Please forgive any typos or errors in the following transcript. It was generated by a third party and has not been subsequently reviewed by our team.

Introduction:
Coming up on this episode of the Doctor's Farmacy,

Dr. Pamela Kryskow:
There's parts of our brains that just don't talk most of the time. And under the influence of these psychedelics is that those parts of the brain then connect, and that gives us a possibility of having new ways of knowing, new ways of interpreting.

Dr. Mark Hyman:
Welcome to Doctor's Farmacy. I'm Dr. Mark Hyman, that's farmacy with an f, a place for conversations that matter. If you've been listening the news or watching TV shows online, you probably have heard about the psychedelic revolution, which is taking the scientific world by storm and medicine and psychiatry by storm, by transforming our way of thinking about mental illness. It really..

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Ep. 810 - The Future Of Mental Health: Psychedelic Medicine For Depression, Addiction, Trauma, And More