Introduction to Psychedelics as Medicine

Benjamin Greenzweig

Hear the patients' perspective on the therapeutic use of psychedelics and empathogens for the treatment of Depression, PTSD and Anxiety

Episodes

  1. 10/28/2020

    Understanding all Types of Childhood Trauma and the Promise of Psychedelic Therapy

    From the Cuban Missile Crisis to Covid19: Understanding all Types of Childhood Trauma and the Promise of Psychedelic Therapy Childhood trauma takes many forms; from intergenerational trauma to navigating large, society-impacting events. Ask any baby boomer about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and you are certain to get an emotional response where they share the deep fear they experienced and how that continues to impact the adult they are today. There are many similarities to the anxiety and fear from the Cold War playing out today with Covid19 and society must recognize the deep, mental health impact lockdowns, mask mandates, race riots, protests and general unrest have and will continue to inflict on our children. Unfortunately these traumas aren't the only ones as children are also exposed to the more common traumas of abuse and neglect that plague our society. Chris Becker is a scientist and inventor as well as author. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley and was a postdoctoral associate at MIT in chemistry and physics. He is author on 130 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and 20 U.S. patents. He’s managed laboratories and research groups, and he co-founded two companies. Blending science and spirituality, Chris has practiced Buddhist meditation for many years. Chris is a father and husband, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chris will be joining Ben on the next installment of the Balanced podcast series to discuss the following: adult symptoms because denial and amnesia about childhood trauma are so prevalent childhood trauma and its treatment with psychedelic-assisted therapy common resulting symptoms including bouts of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior types of addiction including shopping, sex, overeating, anorexia, money, power, work, gambling types of symptoms such as unstable or unhappy relationships potential connection between childhood trauma to physical ailments like auto-immune disorders and cancer

    36 min
  2. Introduction to Psychedelics as Medicine: A patient perspective on the therapeutic use of psychedelics and empathogens for the treatment of Depression, PTSD and Anxiety

    05/29/2020

    Introduction to Psychedelics as Medicine: A patient perspective on the therapeutic use of psychedelics and empathogens for the treatment of Depression, PTSD and Anxiety

    There is little doubt that one of the biggest impacts of COVID19 will be to our society’s mental health, and sadly there is no shortage of statistics to support this. For every 1% hike in the unemployment rate, there has been a 3.3% increase in drug overdose deaths and a .99% increase in suicides. 60% of human illness and disease are based on stress, and 60 percent of U.S. adults are feeling daily stress and worry, a new Gallup poll shows. A recent study indicated that addiction in rats increases 19 times when in isolation. I battled depression and anxiety for more than 30 years and one day, after I hit yet another rock bottom, I decided that there just had to be another way to manage my mental health than with medicine and what seemed like inconsistent and ineffective talk therapy. I stumbled upon Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind and from that book, discovered the rabbit hole known as psychedelics. Over the next 14 months, I read, watched and listened to every article, research paper, video interview and talk I could find on psychedelics as I wanted to better understand if this medicine could help me. My journey concluded in March of 2020 when, after a successful MDMA session, I was able to identify and release a long-hidden, deeply buried, and painful trauma that explained virtually everyone one of my behavioral health challenges. Today, I consider my depression and anxiety in remission and have refocused my efforts on condensing the 14+ month journey I underwent to better understand the psychedelic treatments available into an easier to navigate resource for those who are curious to learn more. Join me, Samantha Raddochia and Wyly Gray as we talk about how we found relief from our suffering with psychedelics. For me, it was MDMA and depression, for Sam, it was psilocybin and LSD for her anxiety and for Wyly, a combat veteran, it was ayahuasca for his PTSD.  The goal of this podcast is  to provide a starting point for the psychedelic-curious as I believe everyone deserves to find their own mental health balance, and the more knowledge one has, the more empowered they are.  For more information on other webinars and resources, please visit https://www.balancedtrail.com.

    1h 15m

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Hear the patients' perspective on the therapeutic use of psychedelics and empathogens for the treatment of Depression, PTSD and Anxiety