“On this episode we talk with Douglas Rushkoff, author, teacher, and host of the Team Human podcast. Rushkoff’s work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and each other. His latest book, also called Team Human, calls for the retrieval of human autonomy in a digital age. Rushkoff is also no stranger to the psychedelic scene having collaborated with Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, Terence McKenna, Ralph Metzner, Mark Pesce, and Erik Davis. We discuss some of the parallels between digital and psychedelic mainstreaming, the mental health epidemic as an externality of capitalism, and placing our trust capitalist cures. Will COVID-19 be to psychedelics as 9/11 was to surveillance capitalism? September 11th became the excuse to implement a surveillance state and surrender digital technologies to corporations. Will we see psychedelic medicines become the go-to recovery option for COVID-related mental health fallout? We also explore what a true psychedelic renaissance might look like.”
Tag: Healthcare
“Psychedelics are going mainstream. With landmark studies in the last decade showing their incredible potential in treating serious mental health conditions, 2020 saw a goldrush of investment. But what are the implications as psychedelics move from the counterculture to the boardroom? In this short documentary, Alexander Beiner speaks to leading experts in the field – from clinicians and CEO’s to shamans and philosophers – to ask what the rise of psychedelic capitalism means for the future of culture and medicine. Includes interviews with Dr. Rosalind Watts (clinical lead of Imperial College’s groundbreaking psilocybin for depression study), Erik Davis (author of Techgnosis and High Weirdness), Jamie Wheal (author of Stealing Fire), Kat Conour of the Auryn Project, Bill Linton (CEO of The Usona Institute) and Shipibo shaman Jose Lopez Sanchez among others. Are we seeing the birth of a new era in mental health care, or late capitalism’s sneakiest cash grab yet? Turn on and tune in to find out.”
“Carl Hart, Ph.D., is the Chair of the Department of Psychology at Columbia University. His research focuses on the behavioral and neuropharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs. He is particularly interested in what social and psychological factors influence drug use and their effects, and using evidence-based research to formulate more humane drug policies.”
“Could psychedelics help us heal from trauma and mental illnesses? Researcher Rick Doblin has spent the past three decades investigating this question, and the results are promising. In this fascinating dive into the science of psychedelics, he explains how drugs like LSD, psilocybin and MDMA affect your brain — and shows how, when paired with psychotherapy, they could change the way we treat PTSD, depression, substance abuse and more.”
“Bestselling author Tim Ferriss (Tools of Titans, The 4-Hour Workweek, etc.) probes the science, mysteries, and future of psychedelics with Dr. Roland R. Griffiths, a clinical pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Griffiths has been researching mood-altering compounds for more than 40 years, has published more than 370 scientific papers, and started the psilocybin (think “magic mushrooms”) research program at Johns Hopkins nearly 20 years ago. Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues have been leaders in the re-initiation of research with classic psychedelic drugs, which was blocked for a period of several decades. This session offers details and stories that can help both novices and experienced psychonauts get a better understanding of the applications of these incredible compounds.”
Bruce Sewick
Treating Addictions Using Psychedelic Assisted Therapy
College of DuPage Seminar [2018]
Treating Addictions Using Psychedelic Assisted Therapy
College of DuPage Seminar [2018]
“Recorded as part of a seminar on Psychedelics: Therapy, Culture and Cluster Headaches. Bruce Sewick LCPC, RDDP, CADC discusses the clinical use of psychedelics particularly in the treatment of alcoholics and addicts. Bruce Sewick is an Adjunct instructor in COD’s Human Services and he teaches the Psychedelic Mindview class.”
“Researchers in neuroscience, psychiatry, and clinical practice join other leaders in psychedelic medicine to discuss this rapidly emerging field.”
“What the Health is a 2017 documentary film which critiques the health impact of meat and dairy products consumption, and questions the practices of the leading health and pharmaceutical organizations. Its primary purpose is to advocate for a plant-based diet. Filmmaker Kip Andersen uncovers the secret to preventing and even reversing chronic diseases, and he investigates why the nation’s leading health organizations doesn’t want people to know about it.”
watch on Netflix or watch on watchdocumentaries.com
“A clinical psychologist from Imperial College describes how Magic Mushrooms (Psilocybin), when used in a therapeutic setting, have been found to be a very effective treatment for depression. In this talk she draws on her experiences as working as a therapist on the groundbreaking Psilocybin for Depression study, and introduces us to some of the patients and their stories of transformation. Dr Rosalind Watts completed her clinical psychology training at University College London. After six years of practicing psychotherapy in the NHS, she joined a clinical trial at Imperial College, investigating psilocybin (magic mushrooms) as a treatment for depression. Her research explores patients’ positive views of this intriguing therapy.”
“Research into psychedelic drugs was interrupted in the 1960’s due to regulatory changes. Recently, these compounds are once again studied both as therapeutic agents in psychiatry and as experimental tools to further our understanding of the human brain. David Nutt stands at the forefront of these developments as principal investigator of a team including Robin Carhart-Harris and other researchers at Imperial College, London. Together, they are running clinical trials of psychedelic substances including psilocybin in the treatment of depression. They are also using brain imaging to investigate the effects of psychedelic drugs on activity and connectivity within the brain. At this lecture, he will cover the latest research findings and share his vision of the future of psychedelic science.”
“Addiction treatment doesn’t cure addicts, it creates addicts. Our current approach fails by teaching helplessness. We can help by changing our attitudes, and treating problematic substance users as our capable equals rather than helpless addicts. Steven Slate is the Author of The Clean Slate Addiction Site. He is co-author of the Saint Jude Program 13th Edition taught at Saint Jude Retreats. He’s authored articles on addiction for textbooks. He continues to work in research and development at Baldwin Research Institute to create the best solution for problematic substance use. His writings are based on his own personal experiences with addiction. He is not a doctor or PHd, but rather an autodidact, studying for the past decade the principles around addiction. He is also a trained life coach through New York University.”
“Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, the psychologist, neuroscientist and Head of the Psychedelic Research Centre at Imperial College London. Yours is the world’s first organisation dedicated to the research of mind-altering substances and focuses on three key areas of study: mental health, social science and neuroscience. He was the first in the world to investigate the effects of LSD using modern brain imaging, and the first to study psilocybin – the active compound in magic mushrooms – for treating severe depression.”
“Bestselling author Tim Ferriss (Tools of Titans, The 4-Hour Workweek, etc.) probes the science, mysteries, and future of psychedelics with Dr. Roland R. Griffiths, a clinical pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Griffiths has been researching mood-altering compounds for more than 40 years, has published more than 370 scientific papers, and started the psilocybin (think “magic mushrooms”) research program at Johns Hopkins nearly 20 years ago. Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues have been leaders in the re-initiation of research with classic psychedelic drugs, which was blocked for a period of several decades. This session offers details and stories that can help both novices and experienced psychonauts get a better understanding of the applications of these incredible compounds.”
“This TEDx talk explores the practice of MDMA Psychotherapy, illustrated with the life-story of a fictional typical patient. We owe it to this population of vulnerable, untreated patients with unremitting mental disorders due to psychological trauma, to explore MDMA Therapy as potential new treatment for the future of psychiatric medicine. Ben Sessa is a consultant psychiatrist in adult addictions, working part-time at Addaction in Weston-Super-Mare and is senior research fellow at Bristol, Cardiff and Imperial College London Universities, where he is currently taking part of his time away from clinical medical practice to study towards a PhD in MDMA Psychotherapy. He is the author of two books exploring psychedelic medicine; The Psychedelic Renaissance (2012) and To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic (2015) and is currently conducting research with Imperial College London and Cardiff universities studying the potential role for MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD and alcohol dependence syndrome. Dr Sessa is outspoken on lobbying for change in the current system by which drugs are classified in the UK, believing a more progressive policy of regulation would reduce the harms of recreational drug use. He is a co-founder and director of the UK’s premier international psychedelic conference, Breaking Convention.”
“Carl Hart, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University, offers a provocative, evidence-based view of addiction and discusses how it should impact drug policy.”
“What really causes addiction — to everything from cocaine to smart-phones? And how can we overcome it? Johann Hari has seen our current methods fail firsthand, as he has watched loved ones struggle to manage their addictions. He started to wonder why we treat addicts the way we do — and if there might be a better way. As he shares in this deeply personal talk, his questions took him around the world, and unearthed some surprising and hopeful ways of thinking about an age-old problem.”
❝ A provocative work by medical ethicist James Hughes, Citizen Cyborg argues that technologies pushing the boundaries of humanness can radically improve our quality of life if they are controlled democratically. Hughes challenges both the technophobia of Leon Kass and Francis Fukuyama and the unchecked enthusiasm of others for limitless human enhancement. He argues instead for a third way, “democratic transhumanism,” by asking the question destined to become a fundamental issue of the twenty-first century: How can we use new cybernetic and biomedical technologies to make life better for everyone? These technologies hold great promise, but they also pose profound challenges to our health, our culture, and our liberal democratic political system. By allowing humans to become more than human – “posthuman” or “transhuman” – the new technologies will require new answers for the enduring issues of liberty and the common good. What limits should we place on the freedom of people to control their own bodies? Who should own genes and other living things? Which technologies should be mandatory, which voluntary, and which forbidden? For answers to these challenges, Citizen Cyborg proposes a radical return to a faith in the resilience of our democratic institutions. ❞