Dr. Matthew Johnson: Psychedelics for Treating Mental Disorders | Episode 38

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2021

⏱️ 173 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode I discuss medical research on psychedelic compounds with Dr. Matthew Johnson, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. We discuss the biology and medical clinical-trial uses of psilocybin, MDMA, ayahuasca, DMT, and LSD. Dr. Johnson teaches us what the clinical trials in his lab are revealing about the potential these compounds hold for the treatment of depression, addiction, trauma, eating disorders, ADHD, and other disorders of the mind. Dr. Johnson describes a typical psychedelic experiment in his laboratory, start to finish, including the conditions for optimal clinical outcomes. And he explains some of the potential hazards and common misconceptions and pitfalls related to psychedelic medicine. Dr. Johnson explains flashbacks, the heightened risks of certain people and age groups using psychedelics and the ever evolving legal and pharmaceutical industry landscape surrounding psychedelics. Dr. Johnson also explains how the scientific study of psychedelics is likely to set the trajectory of psychiatric medicine in the years to come. Dr. Johnson is among a small handful of researchers who have pioneered the clinical study of these powerful compounds. He has unprecedented insight into how they can be woven into other psychiatric treatments, changing ones sense of self and of reality. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Maui Nui: https://mauinuivenison.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com Timestamps (00:00:00) Introducing Dr. Matthew Johnson (00:02:10) Supporting Sponsors (00:06:40) ‘Psychedelics’ Defined (00:14:09) Hallucinations, Synesthesia, Altered Space-Time Perception (00:19:56) Serotonin & Dopamine (00:23:50) Ketamine & Glutamate (00:28:00) An Example Psychedelic Experiment (00:37:30) ‘Letting Go’ with Psychedelics (00:44:10) Our Mind’s Eye (00:48:00) Redefining Your Sense of Self (00:58:56) Exporting Psychedelic Learnings to Daily Life (01:04:36) Flashbacks (01:12:10) Ayahuasca, & ASMR, Kundalini Breathing (01:15:54) MDMA, DMT (01:26:00) Dangers of Psychedelics, Bad Trips, Long-Lasting Psychosis (01:38:15) Micro-Dosing (01:56:45) Risks for Kids, Adolescents & Teenagers; Future Clinical Trials (02:03:40) Legal Status: Decriminalization vs. Legalization vs. Regulation (02:18:35) Psychedelics for Treating Concussion & Traumatic Brain Injury (02:27:45) Shifting Trends in Psychedelic Research, Academic Culture (02:44:23) Participating in a Clinical Trial, Online Survey Studies, Breathwork (02:50:38) Conclusions, Subscribing & Supporting the HLP, Supplements Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Uberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
0:09.0	I'm Andrew Uberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.
0:15.0	Today I have the pleasure of introducing Dr. Matthew Johnson.
0:18.0	Dr. Johnson is a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
0:23.0	where he also directs the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.
0:27.0	As many of you know, there is extreme excitement about the use of psychedelics for the treatment of various disorders of the mind.
0:33.0	Dr. Johnson's laboratory is among the premier laboratories in the world understanding how these compounds work,
0:40.0	how things like psilocybin and LSD and related compounds allow neural circuitry in the brain to be shaped and changed
0:47.0	such that people can combat diseases like depression or trauma or other disorders of the mind that cause tremendous suffering.
0:55.0	Dr. Johnson is also an expert in understanding how different types of drugs impact different types of human behaviors,
1:01.0	such as sexual behavior, risk-taking and crime.
1:05.0	Dr. Johnson and his work have also been featured prominently in the popular press, such as articles in the New York Times,
1:11.0	and Michael Paulin's book Had a Change Your Mind, and in a feature in 60 minutes about psychedelics and the new emerging science of psychedelic therapies for treating mental disorders.
1:21.0	During the course of today's conversation, Dr. Johnson and I talk about psychedelics at the level of what's called microdosing,
1:29.0	whether or not it is useful for the treatment of any mental disorders.
1:33.0	We also talk about more typical macrodosing, what those macrodoses entail, and he walks us through what an experiment of a patient taking psychedelics for the treatment of depression looks like in his laboratory from start to finish.
1:46.0	The conversation was an absolutely fascinating one for me to partake in. I learned so much about the past, present, and future of psychedelic treatments and compounds.
1:56.0	And indeed, I hope to have Dr. Johnson on this podcast again in the not too distant future so that we can talk about other compounds that powerfully impact the mind and human behavior,
2:07.0	and perhaps can also be used to treat various diseases.
2:10.0	Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.
2:16.0	It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public.
2:23.0	In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast.
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