PT510 – Early Research, Psychedelics in Palliative Care, and the Intersection of Science and the Sacred, with William Richards, STM, Ph.D.
Psychedelics Today
Psychedelics Today, LLC
4.6 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2024
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Joe and Kyle interview William Richards, STM, Ph.D.: senior advisor at Sunstone Therapies, psychologist at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, contributor to Vital, and author of Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics & Religious Experiences.
He talks about the first time he experienced psilocybin in a research study in 1963, his early studies on the psychology of religion, working with Abraham Maslow, how he became one of the early psychedelic therapists, and what it was like for all of that to disappear when Nixon came into office and shut everything down. He discusses his move into psychedelics and end-of-life care after seeing patients' fear of death completely disappear, and contemplates whether psychedelics could help people prepare for death – how would we live if we no longer feared death?
He also discusses:
- How the integration of psychedelics into palliative care should be a huge step in cultural acceptance
- How psychedelics could be used for education and boosting creativity, problem solving, and even new perspectives on history and classic works
- The study of comparative religion and the potential for psychedelics to find the connections and commonality between seemingly disparate religions
- The impact of psychedelic experiences on the perception of the sacred
- How fascinating it is that the same substance, dose, and set and setting can create such incredibly different experiences
and more!
For links, head to the show notes page.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Psychedellics today. This is Joe Moore coming at you from |
| 0:16.9 | Southern New Hampshire today. Today on the show, Kyle and I interview Bill Richards. |
| 0:21.7 | If you don't know who Bill Richards is, this will be a very good and educational podcast for |
| 0:27.1 | you. |
| 0:27.9 | If you do know who he is, you're going to learn plenty anyway. |
| 0:31.8 | Bill is a long time figure in this psychedelic ecosystem here and has been a part of it for really as long as it's |
| 0:42.2 | been going on in America from my perspective. A lot of early involvement in the scene around |
| 0:49.2 | Maryland, Spring Grove and elsewhere. So I think Bill's a lovely human, really excited to finally |
| 0:57.4 | have him on the show, and it was just so great to finally interact with him that way. So I hope |
| 1:03.1 | you all enjoy this one and learn plenty. Thank you, Bill, for being here, and thank you all for tuning in. |
| 1:10.2 | And we'll see you on the other side. |
| 1:15.1 | Hey, this is David Drabkin, Director of Education at Psychedelics today. Are you a clinician |
| 1:20.8 | or wellness practitioner who wants to learn more about the clinical and real world practical |
| 1:25.7 | applications of psychedelics. |
| 1:28.3 | In that case, take a look at our upcoming Navigating Psychedelics Live course. |
| 1:33.3 | This is our nine-week live-taught online course that will teach you everything you need to know |
| 1:38.3 | about the safe use and integration of psychedelics. |
| 1:41.3 | In small learning groups, we'll cover topics such as the history, |
| 1:46.0 | science and therapeutic potential of enthagens and psychoactives. We'll also explore the ethical, |
| 1:51.8 | legal and regulatory implications of psychedelic use whilst refining our hands-on harm reduction, |
| 1:58.6 | spaceholding and integration skills. We have an incredible lineup of |
| 2:03.2 | guest speakers sharing their knowledge with us each week, including Dr. Edo Cohen, Emma Knighton, |
... |
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