Talks

Psychedelics in Medicine

Thursday June 23, 16:00, Alternative Stage GNO

Frederick Barrett, Associate Director, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

Dr. Frederick Barrett presented his research on the contribution of psychedelic substances in the treatment of psychiatric diseases at the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera.

Barrett is a cognitive neuroscientist with training in behavioral pharmacology and is a Deputy Director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In 2017, he received the first federal grant in the United States for a research of psychedelic substances on a human since the 1970s.

Barrett started his speech by explaining what psychedelic substances are and how they have already been used by scientists within a therapeutic framework.

He then elaborated on the steps that researchers follow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to include patients in the clinical studies of psychedelic therapy with psilocybin. Psilocybin is a psychedelic substance, with similar properties to substances like LSD, and which may cause unpleasant side effects, such as nausea and panic attacks. Its use, however, takes place in a controlled and safe context for patients, he said. Often, treatment is combined with psychotherapy that lasts up to several months after the initial treatment session with psilocybin.

Presenting the clinical study data of 24 subjects, he showed that one week after the treatment session with psilocybin it was estimated that they experienced remission in depression, which remained low for at least one year. Moreover, at least 70% of participants had progress in their treatment.

As he said, the research is very small, in terms of the sample size, to lead to the approval of psilocybin as a therapeutic method by the U.S. government. It did, however, launch other clinical studies worldwide, which confirmed the effectiveness of psilocybin compared to other, more long-term medications.

“In carefully controlled computerized games we see people making more flexible decisions after psilocybin therapy,” he said, explaining its beneficial effect on brain regions that are related to consciousness, cognition, and decisions.

Although he did acknowledge the possible side effects and risks of the use of psilocybin and similar substances, he concluded that these substances may bring about a revolution in the science of psychiatry and the treatment of mental illness.