The New Health Club

I talk to Robin Carhart Harris about an important tool of the future: psychedelics. Robin has the aura of your typical “cool scientist” and heads the Psychedelic Research Group within the Centre for Psychiatry at Imperial College London. He has designed a number of functional brain imaging studies with psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and DMT, plus a clinical trial of psilocybin for treatment resistant depression. Carhart-Harris is the first person in the UK to have legally administered doses of LSD to human volunteers since the Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971. He is passionate about finding proof, that we need new mental health drugs.

For the premier episode of the “Heal Soul!” series in colaboration with Dr. Bronner’s I speak with Michael Pollan, an American journalist who has written several articles and a book about the new psychedelic science in connection with addiction and depression, including “How to Change Your Mind”. During the interview, Pollan emphasizes that in his opinion psychedelics are wasted on the young and can be more useful later in life. He believes that psychedelic therapy will be available in Britain and the US within the next few years. For him it is greatly fascinating to have access to such a powerful tool to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dr. Rosalind Watts is the clinical lead at “Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research”, which is connected to the Imperial College in London. One of the most important psychedelic research centers right now. Rosalind’s Ted Talk “Can Magic Mushrooms unlock depression” was one of the first talks I have ever seen on the topic of psychedelics. I loved Rosalinds very human, very patient support driven approach to the topic of psychedelic therapy and treatment resistant depression. I also love that we had great laugh about, how she and her university friends lived above a magic mushrooms shop in Birmingham back then. But our talk is about the future of psychedelic therapy, about micro dosing and how it can make you cry, instead of being super focused on “work stuff” and if it is a good thing, that our "business as usual" is interrupted now. “Hunger for nature, spending time together and new experiences is what we are seeing right now. And psychedelic therapy can play a huge role in this.” says Watts.

We are going full entertainment and Netflix here! I talk to Donick Cary, the director of the Netflix movie called “Have a good trip”. Cary interviewed Sting, Deepak Chopra, Rosie Perez, Ben Stiller, Anthony Bourdain, Cary Fisher and Sarah Silverman about their psychedelic trips and how their lives and minds changed after their psychedelic experience. For good. Donick Cary gets the movie right, since he is a big shot Hollywood writer: he worked as the head writer at Late Night with David Letterman, he wrote for The Simpsons, Parks and Recreation, HBO’s Silicon Valley. Carys uses a specific kind of humour, since he is trained in his writing for the Simpsons and Letterman. So how do you talk psychedelics with celebrities and make it entertaining and not an ego driven trip bragging? And will celebrities talking about this change the public opinion about these new tools? Well, if humour is part of the equation, “people will listen” says Cary. Or, as Deepak Chopra says “Life a trip,” and psychedelics might help to improve your ride.

I talk to Zack Haigney the founder of the Trip Report, a cool, new newsletter on the Business, Policy and Impact of Psychedelics The Trip Report monitors the Business, Policy, Regulation, Science and Cultural Impact of Psychedelics and aims to be the go-to media outlet. Zach, not unlike myself, started to be involved in the psychedelic industry not that long ago and I like the way he is reporting and reflecting in his newsletter on all that is happening now so fast in the current psychedelic ecosystem. We talk how do to a good newsletter and if and why psychedelic can be political. One day. that’s what Zach and I agreed on, we will run a mantel wellness morning show.

I am talking to Ronan Levy from "Field Trip Health" based in Canada. The company is providing clinics for evidence based legal psychedelic therapies to treat depression. But what I like about "Field Trip Health" is their attitude towards a really dated idea to call some people “sick” or “crazy”. Field Trip Health says, we treat people, not patients. “We are all sick and healthy at the same time. It’s just that some people need more support.” says Ronan.We discuss the design places for a psychedelic treatment should have. Should they look more like a spa? Or a clinic? Or do we need new designs? And do the “ well" need psychedelics to get “better"? Or should we only focus on clinically depressed people? But then again, these concepts and terms don’t work any more. Join me and Ronan talking new psychedelic solutions and why mindfullness is not enough anymore.

A mental wellness philosopher, that is what I call Elise Loehnen. She is now the “chief content officer” at goop.com, the health company founded by Gwyneth Paltrow. She is in charge of the language that is used at Goop, especially if it comes to mental wellness and mental health. I think that Elise created a whole new language around mental wellness, especially in her Goop Podcast she cohosts with Gwyneth Paltrow: because we need a completely new language to address mental health. “Crazy” or “depressed” doesn’t do the job any more. Listen to Elise and me, exchanging Psilocybin-Experiences and trying to make sense of the current cultural PTSD during and after Covid19.

Up for a little biotech and psychedelics? I talked to Florian Brand, Co-Founder and CEO of the ATAI Lifescience. ATAI is “committed to acquiring and efficiently developing innovative treatments that address significant unmet medical needs and lead to paradigm shifts in the mental health space.” So ATAI as a company is on the forefront to heal mental health disorders, the are one of the first “superstar” companies, to speak in a Hollywood language, in the new psychedelic field. Also, like in so many other cases of founders in this field, Florian has experienced a psychedelic treatment and healing, that made him a believer in the new compounds.

Have your heard of PRE-TSD? The fear of things to come ? Most Health Workers are suffering from this, plus a proper PTSD after their time at the “frontline” as we call it now. I talk to Karen Dougherty from Ontario in Canada, the founder of the Ontario Covid Mental Health Network. She is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. She came up with a briliant idea. She created a network of therapists, that help to support nurses, doctors, erveryone working on the frontline. At this point, for them this can feel like going into a war zone. Which means they might have to deal with PTSD later, but often with a PRE-TSD: the plain fear of what can happen to them if they go to work in the morning. Karen has developed a great model therapists can copy & paste.

This time I talk to Ayelet Waldman who talks refreshingly open about her microdosing experience with LSD and becoming a modern empath through the experience: she just founded FeedER to support health workers with food during the Covid19-Crisis. Ayelet is a very successful Israeli-American novelist and essayist, has written many novels, TV Shows like “Unbelievable” on Netflix. Her book “A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life” is a fascinating diary about that little blue bottle in Ayelets fridge: LSD in a microdose.

Welcome to the new world we are operating in now aka the world of ZOOM and Yoga pants all day. In the upcoming podcast our guest is Lars Christian Wilde, President and Co-founder of COMPASS Pathways. COMPASS is a mental health care company “dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health”. COMPASS is currently looking into the beneficial effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression. There are so many questions right now. Will large portions of our society suffer from at least a mild form of PTSD after this current crisis? Will there be a whole new world of psychedelic investors, since we need new tools now more than ever? I loved how Lars explained why psilocybin gummi bears won’t be the future of the psychedelic movement. Also, the Covid-19 crisis might mean: psychedelic-assisted treatment could become more important than ever.Lars also discussed a possible vaccine for mental health disorders that we might have access to in a few years which would be useful in situations such as our current crisis.

This time I talk to the british fun- gentleman Dr Ben Sessa. He is an approved MDMA and psilocybin psychotherapist. currently a senior research fellow at Bristol and Imperial College London Universities. He is a co-founder and director of the UK's Breaking Convention conference. Dr Sessa is becoming well known for his MDMA trials and did a TED Talk about treating child hood trauma with MDMA in 2016. Sessa thinks MDMA could be psychiatry’s antibiotic. I talk to Ben about trauma and a possible cure with MDMA. So what if after the crisis we are experiencing now in times of Covid-19 will leave a lot of people with traits of PTSD aka post traumatic stress disorder?

Our guest on the podcast today, Brian D. Earp. He’s the Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics & Health Policy at Yale University and The Hastings Center, and a Research Fellow in the Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. He’s the co-author of Love Drugs along with Julian Savulescu. We talk about ‘love drugs’: Could psychedelics serve as a catalyst for falling in and out of love? Sounds like a futuristic invention or a movie premise, but it’s the topic of Brian D. Earp’s new book: Love Drugs: The Chemical Future of Relationships. Brian talks science, no science fiction. So what about an ‘anti-love drug’? Maybe to help us get over an ex-partner? As much as some psychedelic-assisted experiences may help couples strengthen their emotional ties, others might help individuals let go of their emotional connections during a difficult break-up. These substances, like MDMA (the active ingredient in ecstasy), already exist, and they can have profoundly transformative effects on our feelings of love. Enjoy!

In this episode I am having a conversation with David Bronner, the CEO or Chief Cosmic Engagement Officer of Dr. Bronner’s. Dr. Bronner's is the top-selling soap in the U.S. natural marketplace. They only use the purest organic & Fair Trade ingredients, and they are a third-generation Jewish soap maker from Heilbronn, Germany. We talked psychedelics and how a company works, if it is run by a Cosmic Engagement Officer, a CEO with a psychedelic experience and lifestyle. Dr. Bronner’s is involved in the new psychedelic world, supporting MAPS (https://maps.org/), where David sits on the board. Plus: the company supports several decriminalise nature campaigns. David’s jewish ancestors were killed in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. So we talked how inherited holocaust trauma could be cured with the help of psychedelics and how this might become a serious treatment.

In this episode I am having a conversation with Martijn Schirp, Co-Founder of Synthesis, a legal, modern, guided psilocybin retreat in Amsterdam. I went there last weekend, drank magic truffle tea and the insights were incredible. Martijn and his team manage to create an extraordinary atmosphere to dive in a psychedelics mushroom aka truffle experience. Over a weekend. Today, we talk answering big life questions with the help of psychedelics, finding your real purpose with the help of a truffle, just in case you lost it. We explain what to do against pre-trip nervousness, why Gwyneth Paltrow show is here now and why magic mushrooms can be a tool for our challenging times, if taken in the right set and setting. Enjoy the ride!

In this episode I am talking psychedelics & mental health. My guest is one of the thriving forces in the new psychedelic world: Christian Angermayer, the founder of Apeiron Investment Group and ATAI Life Science. Angermayer is not your typical VC. He knows the spiritual background of psychedelics, the latest studies, the secrets of greek philosophers, if it comes to doing psychedelics. If you need a little bit of an obsessed counter part to talk psychedelics, he is your man! Enjoy!