people say all kinds of things about psychedelics, well-being and spirituality that are totally not

based in evidence at all, and are pretty outrageous claims. And so I think providing scientific

unbiased evidence, just entering this information into the public sphere can have a lot of

benefit in terms of raining in the sorts of statements and claims that people make.

Hello and welcome to the Psychology Podcast. Today we welcome Rowan Griffiths and David Yeadon

on the show. Dr Rowan Griffiths is a professor of neuroscience, psychiatry and behavioral science

and director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University

School of Medicine. He has authored over 400 scientific publications and has trained more than

60 postdoctoral research fellows. His initial 2006 publication on psilocybin is often attributed

as the catalyst for the re-initiation of psychedelic research after decades of halted drug research.

I also have on the show Dr. David Yeadon, who is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University

School of Medicine, working in the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

His research focus is on transformative experiences that can result in long-term changes and how

they can temporarily alter consciousness and self. His work has been covered by the New York Times,

the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Magazine and MPR. In this really rich and

poignant episode, I talked to Dr. Griffiths and Dr. Yeadon about the latest research on psychedelics.

They answer some of my burning questions such as, what are the common characteristics of a

mystical experience? Are hallucinations necessary for a transformative experience? How does psychedelics

affect our brain? We also touch on the topics of mindfulness, religion, mental illness and creativity

as they share about the latest developments in the field. Also, we talk about Dr. Griffiths

own mortality. He was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness and we discussed what that

means for how he lives his life and for the research he's conducted in his whole life and the

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