Ep: 25 Depression and Psychedelics - Psilocybin, LSD, Ketamine

With Dr. Richard Idell! Globally, more than 300 million people suffer from depression, and 260 million suffer from anxiety disorders—many of whom live with both conditions. A study by the World Health Organization found that such disorders cost the global economy $1 trillion in lost productivity each year. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US and almost 45,000 people in the US die by suicide. EVERY YEAR!!! The FDA began placing suicidal ideation risk warnings on certain antidepressant medications in the fall of 2004. In a recent story, The New York Times discusses why many people taking antidepressants discover they cannot quit. Last month, I interviewed Johann Hari about his New York Times best-selling book, Lost Connections - Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression. You might remember from that interview how antidepressants… haven’t been studied long-term. The “cure” doesn’t come in a bottle. I could go on, but that should tell you something right there. My guest, Dr. Richard Idell is Psychiatrist and an assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Health at UT Health Northeast. He’s been published in numerous scholarly publications and if you look him up — you’ll be more than impressed. Oh yeah...he’s a musician too!! We’re going to talk about one of his most recent papers about the treatment of depression with psychedelics. If psychedelics scare you... you’ll want to listen, because we’re going to bring the facts. I’ll share my personal experience and the doctor will talk about the research. From the CDC 21,028 people died from alcoholic liver disease in 2015. 33,000, 171 died from alcohol induced deaths in 2015. Opioids!! More than 65,000 died in 2017. Why do we seek “pain” killers? And you know how easy alcohol is to get. How many died from taking Psilocybin? I can’t even find that number. Do you know how addictive sugar is? Keep this in the back of your brain when we do this podcast -- this is from an article in National Geographic - link in comments. "Nicole Avena, a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital in New York, has shown that rats will keep gobbling sugar if you let them, and they develop tolerance, craving, and withdrawal, just as they do when they get hooked on cocaine.