How to Change Your Mind

Everyone, it seemed, was here, scientists rubbing shoulders with
guides and shamans, veteran psychonauts, a large contingent of
therapists eager to add psychedelics to their practice, plus funders and
filmmakers and even a smattering of entrepreneurs sniffing out business
opportunities. And although I picked up snippets of concern about the
new attorney general’s efforts to rekindle the drug war, on the whole the
mood was unmistakably celebratory.
When I asked conferencegoers which session they deemed most
memorable, almost invariably they mentioned the plenary panel called
“Future of Psychedelic Psychiatry.” What was most noteworthy about this
panel was the identity of the panelists, which, at a psychedelic
convention, was cause for cognitive dissonance. Here was Paul
Summergrad, MD, the former head of the American Psychiatric
Association, seated next to Tom Insel, MD, the former head of the
National Institute of Mental Health. The panel was organized and
moderated by George Goldsmith, an American entrepreneur and health
industry consultant based in London. In the last several years, he and his
wife, Ekaterina Malievskaia, a Russian-born physician, have devoted
their considerable energy and resources to winning approval for
psilocybin-assisted therapy in the European Union.
It was clear to everyone in the standing-room crowd exactly what the
three men on the panel represented: the recognition of psychedelic
therapy by the mental health establishment. Insel spoke of how poorly
the record of mental health care stacks up against the achievements of the
rest of medicine. He pointed out that it has failed to lower mortality from
serious psychiatric disorders and spoke of the promise of new models of
mental health treatment such as psychedelic therapy. “I’m really
impressed by the approach here,” he told the group. “People don’t say,
simply, we’re gonna give psychedelics. They talk about ‘psychedelic-
assisted psychotherapy.’ . . . I think it’s a really novel approach.” Insel
tempered his enthusiasm, however, by noting that such a novel paradigm
may bedevil regulators accustomed to evaluating new drugs in isolation.
George Goldsmith asked both men what advice they would give to the
researchers in the room, men and women who have been working
diligently for years to bring psychedelic therapy to patients. Without
hesitating, Insel turned to the audience and said, “Don’t screw it up!”