Paul Stamets Psilocybin Mushrooms and The Mycology of Consciousness
01:07:43 min
CLEAR ALL
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.
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Dr. Roland R. Griffiths is a clinical pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Griffiths has been researching mood-altering compounds for over 40 years, has published over 360 times, and started the psilocybin research program at Johns Hopkins nearly 2 decades ago.
Head of Psychedelic Research, Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology, Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris share today with us his knowledge and wisdom as a scientist about the magic mushrooms.
New research using psychedelic drugs to understand the brain could lead to new treatments for mental disorders such as depression.
The talk will review brain imaging work on the action of psychedelics on the brain and describe the results of a clinical trial assessing psilocybin as a treatment for depression. It will also review the broader societal impact of psychedelic drug-use and discuss its implications.
Robin has been conducting pioneering brain imaging studies of psychedelic drugs. Most recently, he has completed the first phase of a clinical trial looking at the potential of psilocybin to treat depression, and his talk looks at how these drugs can be used in treatment.
Psychedelics afford a unique opportunity to expand our understanding of consciousness and its altered states, to develop techniques for enhancing consciousness, and to uncover new avenues of treatment and improved therapeutic techniques.