Summary: Natural Stacks interviews MAPS Founder Rick Doblin, Ph.D., about current clinical research into treating PTSD with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.
Originally appearing here.
“MDMA in some ways, is the ideal drug for PTSD.” – Rick Doblin of MAPS
Rick Doblin founded MAPS – the Multidiciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies – in 1986. For the last 3 decades, Rick and his team have advanced our collective knowledge of psychedelics and are championing their use as treatment modalities for PTSD and more.
This podcast episode explores the treatment methods, the science of memories, traumas, and how psychedelics, including MDMA can be used as a doorway into a safe place to relive traumatic without fear so the memories can be reprinted and patients can make considerable progress in the healing process.
You can even score some free MDMA (if you’re a researcher!)
Meet Rick Doblin
A husband and father of 3 daughters, Rick Doblin received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on the regulation of the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana and his Master’s thesis on a survey of oncologists about smoked marijuana vs. the oral THC pill in nausea control for cancer patients.
His undergraduate thesis at New College of Florida was a 25-year follow-up to the classic Good Friday Experiment, which evaluated the potential of psychedelic drugs to catalyze religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment.
Rick studied with Dr. Stanislav Grof and was among the first to be certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner.
His professional goal is to help develop legal contexts for the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana, primarily as prescription medicines but also for personal growth for otherwise healthy people, and eventually to become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist.Â
What You’ll Hear from Rick Doblin on the OPP
- The long road to legally treating PSTD patients with psychedelics like MDMA, LSD, Ayahuasca, and marijuana
- How neuroscience research at Stanford and Yale is backing psychedelics to push this legitimate science into the mainstream
- The most common error “recreational users” make with psychedelics and Psychedelic Harm Reduction with the Zendo Project
- How MDMA is, “in some ways, the ideal treatment for PTSD”
- The science of memory formation – and how MAPS uses psychedelics to help PTSD patients “recall and reprint the book” of their memories
- Longer times in altered states allow us more time to process and deal with issues
- The best dosage for clinical treatment and how this “doorway” enables us to positively change our mental health over the longterm
- “We have to do the work. We have to heal ourselves. Psychedelics can help remove obstructions, but we have to heal ourselves.”
- Rick’s tips to explore your consciousness, work through “demons” and microdosing psychedelicsÂ
- Modeling after social change movements from the past like gay marriage and marijuana
- Psychedelic dinners and how you can get involvedÂ
- Why legalization follows medicalization (not decriminalization)
- How public education impacts public policy
- Rick’s “driver’s license” model to public use/legalization of psychedelics
- Where you can find more of Rick and MAPS
- Rick Doblin’s Top Tips to #LiveOptimal
