Well, Now: Psychedelics' Long Strange Trip to the Doctor's Office

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Slate Podcasts

Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For years, psychiatrists have been researching new methods to help people with treatment-resistant mental illness. These include severe cases of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other debilitating diagnoses. One type of drug has seen some positive results in clinical trials: psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, and LSD. In professional medical settings, they’re used as a part of a multifaceted approach to mental health treatment, including supervised therapy sessions while a patient is on a drug. Recently the pharmaceutical manufacturer Lykos petitioned the FDA to approve the psychedelic MDMA as a part of caring for treatment-resistant PTSD. Earlier this month, an advisory committee to the FDA released their vote of rejecting to approve the drug. Now it’s up to the FDA to make the final call, but the odds are not in the favor of Lykos and many psychiatrists and patients who’ve seen positive outcomes as a result of these MDMA-assisted trials. Psychiatrist and entrepreneur Dave Rabin is one of the doctors pushing to approve psychedelic-assisted therapy. On this week’s episode of Well, Now we ask him about the results of his trials using psychedelics in therapy as well as what he thinks the future holds for this field as we wait for the FDA’s final verdict. If you liked this episode, check out: “As Little Regulation As Guns”: How Social Media Hurts Youth Mental Health Well, Now is hosted by Dr. Kavita Patel and registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller. Editing and podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry, with support this week from Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Editorial oversight from Alicia Montgomery, Vice President of Slate Audio. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Well Now,
0:06.1	You're listening to Well Now,
0:07.6	Slate's podcast on health and wellness.
0:10.4	I'm Maya Feller.
0:11.5	And I'm Kavita Patel.
0:13.0	Psychodelics like Silasibin, LSD and MDMA seem to be showing up everywhere. I recently attended a wellness and longevity event where micro dosing of Silasibin and other mood-altering substances were touted as, quote,
0:25.9	the medicine we all need, end quote.
0:28.7	Peer-reviewed studies show promising results in treating various mental health conditions such as depression, post-traumatic
0:34.7	stress disorder, anxiety, addiction, and end-of-life distress.
0:39.8	But despite this great progress and great awareness, there has still been reluctance especially from regulators, including most recently, the Food and Drug Administration's Advisory Committee, which voted to recommend against approval of one of the first
0:54.1	psychedelics that would be available in the market. A key FDA advisory committee
0:59.0	today rejected the use of a psychedelic drug to help patients struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, questioning the trials and its effectiveness.
1:08.0	The FDA must now decide whether it will follow suit and reject the use of what's known as MDMA.
1:14.4	Some patients and researchers had long hoped the government would approve it.
1:18.2	The manufacturer LICO sought a recommendation for its drug, myetamine, otherwise known as MDMA, specifically for the
1:25.9	treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.
1:29.5	In what was considered a blow to many advocates and patients. It was actually compelling Maya to hear from so many veterans and other patients during the open comment period for this advisory committee meeting where they were just begging and discussing the fact that for the
1:44.8	first time there was something that was actually possible that could get them through what
1:49.8	felt like a very dark tunnel, especially for persons with post-traumatic stress disorder.
1:54.9	While we're still waiting for the FDA to make a final decision, it seems very unlikely that the
1:59.8	FDA would move forward with approval when an advisory committee has given a recommendation
2:05.2	to not move forward.
	...

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