Psychedelics: Can They Help Treat PTSD? Researcher Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D. Explains

The environment for the use of psychedelics in psychotherapy is moving quickly. 

In mid-September, the Food & Drug Administration held a hearing about potential future therapeutic use of psychedelics in supervised and supportive settings. 

Psychedelic psychotherapy combines mind-altering substances like psilocybin or MDMA with talk therapy; researchers are studying it as a potential treatment for challenging mental health conditions. 

Rachel Yehuda,  Ph.D., is the director of the Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing at the Icahn School of Medicine, which is part of the Mount Sinai Health System. She says this approach can serve as a “heart opener” and helps patients overcome avoidance they may have in discussing trauma and past life events. “It puts you in a frame of mind where you do allow yourself to go there…you become quite curious…you become remarkably nonjudgmental about yourself.”   

Yehuda joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to answer questions about the long-term benefits of this approach as well as its risks and medical contraindications.