The Pursuit of Happiness: How Psychedelics are Revolutionizing Mental Health (Part 1: Science and Health)

With Principal Programming Sponsor

SPEAKERS:

Paul Austin, CEO, Third Wave

Courtney Barnes, Counsel, Feldman Legal Advisors PLLC

Alex Wolfe, Co-founder and COO, Circadian Wellness

Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Director, Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Taking the stage, Paul Austin, CEO of Third Wave, asked the audience to keep an open mind about psychedelics, noting that they show potential to transform the way we treat PTSD and other mental illnesses. Psychedelics are ancient medicines, having been used by humans for thousands of years, but a backlash in the 1960s led to a hiatus on research until recently.

Describing the current clinical overview of psychedelics research, Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy & Trauma Research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, explained how MDMA or psilocybin may offer a new standard of treatment. Our current strategies for mental health treatment are to suppress problems; psychedelics offer a different paradigm of care when paired with assisted therapy.  

We are turning the corner after 50 years of prohibition, noted Courtney Barnes, Counsel at Feldman Legal Advisors, PLLC. Although these substances remain on Schedule 1, many cities have passed legislation decriminalizing them and several may be approved for therapy-assisted use within the next two years. Alex Wolfe, Co-Founder & COO of Circadian Wellness, highlighted new clinical and observational trials helping to make psychedelics more acceptable and big finance taking notice. Anecdotally, Wolfe noted that psilocybin has allowed him to be a more fully integrated leader.

“Everything around us is interconnected and now we have to build new systems for mental health, new systems for business [and] new systems for policy that are based on that understanding.”

 

Paul Austin, CEO, Third Wave

“There is no one-size-fits-all approach to regulation.”

 

Courtney Barnes, Counsel, Feldman Legal Advisors PLLC

“We’re going to see some really cool companies emerge that are making amazing products and, more importantly, protocols of how to use these products that can really help people heal.”

 

Alex Wolfe, Co-Founder & COO, Circadian Wellness

“Psychedelics could revolutionize strategies for crossing into a new realm, which may promote a sense of self-compassion or self-awareness.”

 

Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Director, Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy & Trauma Research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai