Psychedelics: Treating Addiction, Depression, and Anxiety with Dr. Roland Griffiths

Dhru Purohit Show

Dhru Purohit

Alternative Health, Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2023

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode is brought to you by InsideTracker and Pendulum. Psychedelics were the subject of serious medical research from the 1940s through the 1960s, when many scientists believed some of the mind-bending compounds held tremendous therapeutic promise for treating a number of conditions, including severe mental health problems and alcohol addiction. But by the mid-1960s, research into psychedelics was shut down, a policy that would last for decades. After the blackout ended, the doctor we have on the podcast today was among the first to initiate a new series of studies on psilocybin—the psychoactive compound in “magic” mushrooms. Today on The Dhru Purohit Podcast, Dhru sits down with Dr. Roland Griffiths, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Griffiths has conducted extensive research with sedative-hypnotics, caffeine, and novel mood-altering drugs. In 1999, he initiated a research program at Johns Hopkins investigating the effects of the classic hallucinogen psilocybin. The program includes studies of psilocybin-facilitated treatment of psychological distress in cancer patients and cigarette-smoking cessation as well as the compound’s effects in beginning and long-term meditators and religious leaders. In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Griffiths discuss his research on psilocybin in the treatment of psychological distress in cancer patients and cigarette-smoking cessation. They discuss the connection between psilocybin, spirituality, and consciousness and their potential for treating conditions ranging from drug and alcohol dependence to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Griffiths dive into: -The connection between psychedelics, spirituality, and consciousness (3:30) -The history of psychedelic research (12:32) -The reintroduction of psychedelic research by Dr. Roland Griffiths and others (16:31) -Why research participants rated their psychedelic experience as one of their most meaningful (20:57) -What is happening in the brain when using psychedelics (27:39) -How psychedelics can help us understand altered states of consciousness (33:13) -The therapeutic benefits of psilocybin for the treatment of addiction (44:20) -How a single dose of psilocybin substantially diminished depression and anxiety in cancer patients (48:56) -The future of psychedelics (52:11) -The downside and risks of psychedelics (1:00:18) -Learn more about Dr. Roland Griffiths and his work (1:04:28) For more on Dr. Roland Griffiths and his research on psychedelics, check out his website https://www.hopkinspsychedelic.org. InsideTracker provides detailed nutrition and lifestyle guidance based on your individual needs. Right now, they’re offering my podcast community 20% off. Just go to https://www.insidetracker.com/DHRU to get your discount and try it out for yourself. Pendulum is the first company to figure out how to harness the amazing benefits of Akkermansia in a probiotic capsule. To receive 20% off your first purchase of Pendulum’s Akkermansia probiotic supplement, go to https://www.Pendulumlife.com and use code DHRU20. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, Drew Proud here. Recently there have been so many guests and experts of all areas who have come on this podcast to talk about the influence and the role that psychedelics have played in their evolution and healing journey.
0:13.0	The psychedelic that has come up most common in these interviews has been psilocybin, the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms.
0:20.0	Well a few years ago, back in 2019, I got a chance to interview Dr. Roland Griffiths from Johns Hopkins University who is considered to be the world's foremost expert in this field of study.
0:31.0	I was re-listening to our old interview the other day and sharing it with a friend and there are so many gems that are in this interview that I decided to reshare it with the audience who might be interested in going deeper on this topic.
0:44.0	Now before I tell you a little bit more about Dr. Griffiths, I want to acknowledge that Roland has recently come out and shared with the public that he's been diagnosed with what is very likely terminal stage 4 cancer.
0:57.0	In fact he did an episode with Tim Ferris all about this.
1:01.0	And after listening to that episode and resharing our first episode with a friend, I really got clear that one of the ways that I wanted to make sure that I helped continue spread the message
1:13.0	of Dr. Griffiths and his passionate work in this space was resharing this episode with my audience.
1:21.0	I've also reached out to Dr. Griffiths to ask him if he would be open to coming back on this podcast to talk to us in a part 2.
1:27.0	And specifically for him to share how psychedelics have been part of expanding his perspective in the face of this looming mortality.
1:36.0	I hope he agrees and of course if he does you'll hear about it first here on the podcast. Regardless if Roland does not agree or can't make it, I just want to send my best to him in this very vulnerable stage of life.
1:49.0	Well I'm going to share a little bit more about Dr. Griffiths work. He's a professor in the departments of psychiatry and neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
1:57.0	His principal research focuses in both clinical and pre-clinical laboratories and has been on the behavioral and subjective efforts of mood altering drugs.
2:07.0	His research has been largely supported by grants from the NIH and he's the author of over 360 journal articles and book chapters.
2:16.0	He's been a consultant to the National Institute of Health and to numerous pharmaceutical companies in the development of new psychotropic drugs.
2:24.0	He's also currently a member of the expert advisory panel on drug dependence for the World Health Organization.
2:31.0	Our episode which was again recording in 2019 was recorded at the Institute of Functional Medicine Conference.
2:39.0	And I was so blown away by Dr. Griffiths presentation that you'll see my awe and amazement and all the questions that I get to ask him in this re-air of that episode.
2:52.0	Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy it.
2:56.0	Dr. Griffith, thank you for being on the Broken Brain Podcast.
2:59.0	You're my pleasure.
3:00.0	You give a fantastic presentation today at the conference and blue a lot of people's minds on the work that you've been doing now for quite some time.
	...

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