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Webinar: Psychedelics

Every year, thousands of Australians manage mental health issues ranging from mood disorders to substance abuse disorders. Innovative treatment approaches are urgently required to relieve the economic and healthcare burden of mental illness in society. One such novel treatment approach includes the medicinal use of psychotropic plant-based medicines such as cannabis, or psychedelic compounds such as ‘magic mushrooms.’ Other examples include Ayahuasca, a two-plant combination originating in the Amazonian basin, and even lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the popularised synthetic hallucinogen of the 1960s.

Areas where these psychedelics may be therapeutically administered include the treatment of substance or alcohol dependency, depressive disorders, trauma-related disorders, and end-of-life anxiety. While psychedelics are strongly not recommended for people with a personal or family history of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, the data suggests that medicinal psychedelics have an otherwise good safety profile.

It is essential to note that the study and potential therapeutic application of psychedelics must be carried out within a medically supervised and psychotherapy-supported framework. The psychological treatment model for the medical application of serotonin-inducing psychedelics, known as ‘set and setting’, is a critical aspect which differentiates its use from that of other drug therapies. The psychedelic-assisted therapy is comprised of three parts: 1) Preparation for the dosing session, 2) Support during the dosing session, 3) Debriefing and integration following it.

Join this webinar to learn about a recent meta-analysis conducted by the team involved both populations with clinically diagnosable mood disorders, as well as healthy adults, and aimed to evaluate the effects of psychedelic agents (versus placebo) on symptoms of depression and mood state.

Presenter: Jerome Sarris

Jerome Sarris is an Executive Co-Director of Psychae Institute. He also holds a position as Professor of Integrative Mental Health (Deputy Director and Research Director; 2017-2020) at NICM Health Research Institute, Westmead, Western Sydney University, and is an honorary Principal Fellow at Melbourne University, at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. Jerome moved from clinical practice to academic work, completing a doctorate at The University of Queensland in the field of psychiatry. He undertook his postdoctoral training at The University of Melbourne, Department of Psychiatry; The Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University of Technology; and The Depression Clinical & Research Program at Harvard Medical School (MGH). He has a specialised expertise in conducting double-blind placebo-controlled RCTs, and a particular interest in psychotropic plant medicine research (e.g. psychedelic medicines, kava, and medicinal cannabinoid therapies), nutraceutical psychopharmacology, pharmacogenomics, Integrative & Lifestyle Medicine, and He has completed/currently conducting > 35 research studies (most are double-blind RCTs).

Prof Sarris has 225 publications with an H-Index of 52 (cited over 12,000 times with a SciVal of 3.80, and 48% of articles being in top 10% of the journal’s citations [CiteScore percentile]) and has published in many eminent psychiatry journals including 5 publications in World Psychiatry (No. 1 journal in the field; IF 50), with other publications in The American Journal of Psychiatry, Lancet Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. He has a combined Altmetrics score of >8,000, including holding both the top 2 positions for Altmetric impact in World Psychiatry. This research has impacted policy e.g. World Health Organization, World Bank, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, ANZ Royal College of Psychiatry, Therapeutic Goods Administration. He has been collaboratively awarded over 25 million dollars in personal and study grants, including being CIA on 6 multicentre NHMRC/MRFF Grants (including a recently funded MRFF clinical trial studying the psychedelic medicine ‘Ayahuasca’ for psychiatric disorders). Prof Sarris is a founding Vice Chair of The International Network of Integrative Mental Health, and an Executive Committee Member of the International Society of Nutritional Psychiatric Research. He has been awarded the NHAA most notable contribution to research award, and the ANS Educator of the year. Prof Sarris Chairs the Taskforce on Integrative and Complementary Medicine for the World Federation of Societies for Biological Psychiatry & the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments, and is an NHMRC natural therapies working group committee member.

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