Rick Doblin: The future of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy
As the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Rick Doblin crusades for the safe and legal use of psychedelics in therapy. Full bio
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has been scarier for me
psychedelic researchers in the world,
how psychedelics, when used wisely,
all over the world
for the fields of psychiatry,
of mystical experiences.
of the research settings
by the counterculture,
criminalized all uses of psychedelics,
all psychedelic research.
and lasted for decades.
are beneficial or harmful
like LSD, psilocybin, mescaline,
with LSD and mescaline,
brought me in touch with my emotions.
a spiritual connection
my bar mitzvah did not produce.
that they drove me to psychedelics
to turn me into a man.
of our shared humanity,
that same thing as well.
had the potential
to genocide and environmental destruction.
psychedelic psychotherapist.
of psychedelic research.
is showing great promise
stress disorder, or PTSD,
substance abuse and alcoholism
to go after the root causes
of the psychiatric drugs used today
on a daily basis.
as tools for neuroscience
of human consciousness.
experiences they produce
between meditation and mindfulness,
taking psilocybin
and brain changes.
has demonstrated
default mode network.
needs and priorities.
in the default mode network,
to the background,
of a larger field of awareness.
able to produce in humanity
longer the center of the universe,
that revolved around the sun,
experiences of their lives.
to the world bigger than themselves.
the story of Marcela,
post-traumatic stress disorder
to leak out of therapeutic circles.
in a recreational setting,
flooded her awareness
is taken therapeutically,
of difficult emotions,
past her trauma.
not to commit suicide
her trauma more fluidly, more easily.
that if she ever shared her story,
keeping her a prisoner in her own mind.
and the thoughts in her mind
to move forward with her life.
effective for treating PTSD.
after Marcela's treatment,
overcome PTSD with MDMA.
have brains that are different
where we process fear.
in the prefrontal cortex,
in the hippocampus,
into long-term storage.
in the opposite way.
in the prefrontal cortex
between the amygdala and the hippocampus
to move into long-term storage.
published a paper in "Nature,"
that MDMA releases oxytocin,
also did studies in octopuses,
unless it's mating season.
Marcela and I worked together,
moved to criminalize Ecstasy,
of its therapeutic use.
of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
and psychotherapists
about therapeutic use of MDMA
the DEA freaked out,
that I could see to bring it back
drug development process.
pharmaceutical company.
to present to FDA
into the large-scale Phase 3 studies
safety and efficacy
for prescription use.
in one of our pilot studies.
disabled with PTSD.
are committing suicide,
was three and a half months long.
non-drug psychotherapy sessions,
MDMA session for preparation
MDMA session for integration.
"inner-directed therapy,"
to experience whatever's emerging
of connecting him to his friends.
of his friends who had died.
through the eyes of his dead friends.
would not want him to suffer,
a new way to honor their memory,
he was telling himself a story
he was taking them for escape.
the opiates anymore,
than himself in Cambodia.
studies, including Tony,
that received therapy without active MDMA
at the end of treatment.
for this patient population.
to 56 percent no longer having PTSD.
to suppress their trauma,
one year after the last treatment session,
reductions in symptoms.
psychotherapy for PTSD
a breakthrough therapy
esketamine for depression.
initiated our Phase 3 studies.
to the Phase 2 studies,
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.
to directly administer it to patients
have been through our training program,
to administer MDMA
in clinic settings.
the next several decades,
of psychedelic clinics established,
to administer MDMA,
and other psychedelics
into centers where people can come
for personal growth,
between catastrophe and consciousness.
to help consciousness triumph.
look under your seats ...
up here for a minute.
been to Burning Man.
about using these drugs
mental illnesses
can be helpful for depression,
rather than microdosing,
deal with the root causes.
a mood-elevation lift.
that they need a daily drug,
the United States and North America,
are actually being done
in Israel and in Canada.
some therapists from China.
like this was a good idea
the answer to that, so ...
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rick Doblin - Psychedelics researcherAs the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Rick Doblin crusades for the safe and legal use of psychedelics in therapy.
Why you should listen
Since he was 18, Rick Doblin has devoted himself to becoming a legal psychedelic psychotherapist. In 1986, he founded a nonprofit psychedelic pharmaceutical company -- the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) -- which he has grown from a one-man project to an international psychedelic pharmaceutical company.
Doblin's professional goal is to become a legally licensed psychedelic psychotherapist by developing legal contexts for the safe uses of psychedelics and marijuana as prescription medicines and also for personal growth, spirituality and creativity. Today, MAPS is designing or sponsoring psychedelic psychotherapy drug development research in over a dozen countries and has raised more than $70 million in donations.
Doblin received his master's and PhD in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and he was in the first group to be certified by Dr. Stanislav Grof as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner.
Rick Doblin | Speaker | TED.com