The Science of Psychedelics for Mental Health | Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris

(music plays) Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris. Dr. Carhart-Harris is a distinguished professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco. He is one of the leading researchers in the field of psychedelics and how they change neural circuitry in the brain. His laboratory is responsible for understanding, for instance, how psilocybin, also sometimes referred to as magic mushrooms, change neural circuitry in the brain such that new ideas and new forms of learning occur. His laboratory is also responsible for carrying out various clinical trials, some of which have demonstrated that appropriate dosages of psilocybin can alleviate major depression in more than 67% of people that take the drug. Now, this is not to say that everybody should take psilocybin, and today's discussion describes both the clinical trials and why treatments with psychedelics in some cases work and in some cases do not work in order to treat major depression, as well as discussions around psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, sometimes also referred to as LSD, as well as DMT, and how these change the brain, and how those brain changes can relate to changes in mental health as it relates to depression and other psychiatric challenges, as well as how psychedelics are being applied in order to change neural circuitry for sake of expanding different aspects of the human mind, including creativity, intelligence, and much more. During today's discussion, Dr. Carhart-Harris teaches us about the history of the study of psychedelics, as well as how the legislature, that is the laws surrounding psychedelics, are evolving in the United States and elsewhere for the use of psychedelics to treat psychiatric challenges. By the end of today's discussion, you will have a thorough understanding of how psychedelics work, both in the short term during the actual journey or trip. In fact, much of my discussion today with Dr. Carhart-Harris talks about the different aspects of the psychedelic journey and how those relate to therapeutic outcomes. And of course, by the end of today's discussion, you will also understand the long-term effects of psychedelics, that is how they can actually rewire the brain. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Eight Sleep. Eight Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating, and sleep tracking capacity. I've talked many times before on this podcast about the fact that sleep is the foundation of mental health, physical health, and performance. One absolutely critical variable to getting excellent sleep is the temperature of your sleeping environment. That is, in order to fall and stay deeply asleep at night, your body temperature needs to actually drop by about one to three degrees, and in order to wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and alert, your body temperature has to increase by about one to three degrees. 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Today's episode is also brought to us by Levels. Levels is a program that lets you see how different foods affect your health by giving you real-time feedback on your diet using a continuous glucose monitor. One of the most important factors in terms of your energy levels and your immediate and long-term health are your blood glucose or blood sugar levels, as they're commonly called. With Levels, you can assess how different foods and activities impact your blood glucose levels. When I did this, it taught me several things. First of all, it taught me that certain foods really spike my blood glucose levels, and while spikes in blood glucose aren't always a bad thing, I was able to assess how certain foods were spiking my blood glucose too much, such that I would have post-eating dips in energy levels, and by removing those foods and substituting in other foods, really evened out my energy levels. So if you're interested in learning more about Levels and trying a continuous glucose monitor yourself, go to Levels.Link/huberman. Right now, Levels is offering an additional two free months of membership. Again, that's Levels.Link/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by HVMN Ketone IQ. Ketone IQ is a ketone supplement that increases blood ketones. Now, most people have heard of the so-called ketogenic diet, but most people, including myself, are not on the ketogenic diet. That is, I, and most people, eat complex carbohydrates, fruits and things of that sort, in addition to quality proteins, et cetera. It turns out that even if you're not following a ketogenic diet, increasing your blood ketones can still have benefits. So for instance, I use Ketone IQ anytime I want to do extended bouts of focused work, preparing for podcasts, research, writing grants, and if I ever want to exercise, but I don't have time to eat or I don't want to have my gut full of food. Taking Ketone IQ and thereby increasing my blood ketones allows me to do cognitive work or physical workouts without getting hungry and with plenty of energy and cognitive focus. If you'd like to try Ketone IQ, you can go to HVMN.com/huberman to save 20% off. Again, that's HVMN.com/huberman. I'm pleased to announce that I will be hosting two live events in September of 2023. The first live event will take place in Toronto on September 12th. The second live event will take place in Chicago on September 28th. Both live events will include a lecture and a question and answer period, and are entitled The Brain Body Contract, during which I will discuss tools and science related to mental health, physical health, and performance. And I should mention that a lot of that content will have absolutely no overlap with content covered previously on the Huberman Lab Podcast or elsewhere.If you're interested in attending either or both of these events, please go to hubermanlab.com/tour and enter the code Huberman to get early access to tickets. Once again, that's hubermanlab.com/tour and use the code Huberman to access tickets. I hope to see you there. And now for my discussion with Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris. Dr. Carhart-Harris, welcome. I've been wanting to talk to you for a long time. I certainly have known who you are for quite a while because I place you in this very small but very special and important category of researchers who has been pioneering the use of psychedelics for the treatment of specific clinical conditions and really, uh, carrying the torch for essentially the entire field. So I wanna start with a, a voice of gratitude and say thank you for doing this incredibly important work. Could you tell us a little bit about what psychedelics are? In fact, I'm curious as to how the name psychedelic ever came to be-