DoubleBlind - Psychedelics for Trauma Conference

A synopsis of a conversation about Trauma, Stress, and Psychedelics between Lorna Liana, Dr. Charles Nichols, Dr. Xiaojue Hu, and Dr. Julie Holland.

Josh Good

Dec 04, 2022

Watch Episode 1 of GoodSense

DoubleBlind - Psychedelics for Trauma: How Does it Work?

Link To DoubleBlind's Website. Please Give Them Your Support!

Sun, Sep 25, 2022

Lorna Liana - Presenter

CEO of EntheoNation
Media company covering psychedelics, plant spirit shamanism, and visionary culture.
She is also the Founder of The Plant Spirit School, an online school offering workshops in psychedelic and plant medicine.
With over 25+ years of psychedelic exploration and 100s of ceremonies, Lorna is an advocate for the safe, intentional use of entheogens as a tool of self-mastery, as well as the practice of sacred reciprocity.

Charles D. Nichols, PhD

Professor of Pharmacology @ LSU:
Lead Scientist at Eleusis (Life Science company)
His love is psilocybin and the study of serotonin 2A receptor ligands
- Psilocybin is a serotonin 2A receptor agonist
- Designing new chemicals - Functional Selectivity of serotonin 2A receptor ligands at their target receptor to design new chemical entities with better therapeutic potential.
- Potent anti-inflammatory effects and drug development
  - In some clinical instances proving to be 100x more potent than a steroid. Looking at all chronic oxidative damage from stress/disease. LSD has some. Psilocybin is powerful. DMT is not.
  - Data gathering on micro-dosing psilocybin is happening to see if/what dose would give anti-inflammatory effects.

Stress and trauma cause up-regulations in stress hormones which create problems that worsen over time. Stress and trauma have been found to be epigenetically passed from parents to children.
- Identified changes in gene expression of victims of severe trauma that are changing the stress response of their children and grandchildren (referenced studies with Rwandan Genocide and Holocaust survivors).
Stress causes dysregulation at the area of the thalamus where psychedelics activate/normalize. Psychedelics can cause increased synaptic growth and plasticity in cortical areas (prefrontal cortex / hippocampus) when combined with behavioral therapy (same areas where trauma and PTSD victims show less activity and dysregulation).
24-hour-restraint stress induces long-term depressive-like phenotypes in mice Study using female rats exposed to the trauma of being restrained for 1 hour a day. These rats had depressive symptoms for the rest of their life by changing their brain neurochemistry. Those effects can be reversed: One Dose of Psilocybin in Late Adolescence Mitigates Deleterious Effects of Developmental Stress on Cognition and Behavioral Despair in Adult Female Rats.
Psychedelics provide access to the memories involved with traumas known and forgotten (but very much present) to confront them and allow for healing to happen. Psychedelics bring it to the surface and also provide the increased plasticity to find new ways in dealing with that.
Dr. Nichols is trying to identify the genetic and epigenetic changes associated with both the trauma and the psychedelic response.

Dr. Xiaojue Hu, MD

Board-certified Psychiatrist, Therapist, Researcher
Center for Psychedelic Medicine at New York University School of Medicine
- Assistant clinical professor of psychiatry - psilocybin research
Brain Food Clinic, where she works with nutritional psychiatrist Drew Ramsey.
- A humanistic holistic approach to psychiatric practice through psychotherapy and responsible medication management.
- Whole perspective - Incorporate diet, lifestyle, beliefs, sociocultural contexts, neurochemistry, etc.
Assistant trainer and mentor at Fluence
- Education in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and integration.

“I think psychedelics really give the biological, physiological, and I would also argue spiritual and psychological context and power to really motivate ourselves to shift the way we see things.” - Dr. Xiaojue Hu

Traditional psychotherapy can take a long time to first find the stories that you are telling yourself both consciously and subconsciously and then have both the persistence and motivation to change them. Integration is key.

“There is a saying, one night with psychedelics with like 10 years in therapy. It’s more like 10 years of insights. What you do with all those insights or new feelings is up to you.” - Dr. Xiaojue Hu

Process and integrate
- Verbally, non-verbally, and subconsciously
- Movement practice - yoga, meditation, dance, nature, etc

Dr. Julie Holland

Psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist
Author of the New York Times bestsellers Moody Bitches and Weekends at Bellevue.
Editor of non-profit books: Ecstasy: The Complete Guide & The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis
Medical advisor to MAPS & Medical monitor for studies examining the efficacy of using MDMA-assisted & Cannabis-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Her newest book is Good Chemistry: The Science of Connection, From Soul to Psychedelics.

Very interested in and passionate about MDMA therapy (thinks it can be a godsend for people) as well as the potential benefits from drugs and experimentation in general.

Dr. Julie Holland notes that inflammation is related to most medical and psychiatric conditions.
- Cause/effect relationship with stress. Stress reduction = Anti-inflammatory.
- Parasympathetic state - Being calm, diet, hand holding, skin-to-skin contact, orgasm
  - Anti-inflammatory at the cellular level.

Multiple references to critical windows & Dr. Gül Dölen

Gül’s paper - Oxytocin-dependent reopening of a social reward learning critical period with MDMA
Adult mice return to a child-like state of openness to connecting to other mice, when given MDMA
Teaching old mice new tricks - Gül proved the brain’s of mice had reopened into a kind of “critical period” while on MDMA.
Researchers of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD knew the drug opened people back up to social connections. How MDMA, Octopuses, and Gül Dölen Reopen Minds
The longer acting the psychedelic = The longer the critical windows reopen
Check out the Care For The Healers episode of the One Health Discovery Series with her here for free:
- The Evolutionary, Developmental, and Therapeutic Effects of MDMA in Animals

Thank you for joining me for our first GoodSense and I look forward to growing this resource!

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