Mydecine’s Dr. Rick Barnett On Psychedelics In The Fight Against Addiction
The Dales Report continues their conversation with Dr. Rick Barnett, renowned clinical psychologist and esteemed member of (NEO: MYCO)(OTCMKTS: MYCOF) Mydecine Innovations Group’s Medical, Scientific and Technology Advisory Board.
In the second half of this two-part interview series, Dr. Barnett and Shadd Dales continue their discussion on psychedelic investing and the future of the sector as a whole. But first, Shadd has Dr. Barnett clear up a few common misconceptions surrounding psychedelics and their ability to treat addiction.
In his question, Dales refers to the idea that a single psychedelic experience has the ability to offer an instant remedy, with hopeful patients often unaware of the post-session work and treatment that is needed to achieve the desired results.
“There’s a three-part process,” starts Dr. Barnett. “There’s preparation, there’s the experience, the journey, the trip, and then there’s the integration. And I can’t emphasize enough that we really need to front-load the preparation phase a lot more than we do. People read the headlines, they read the research, they get all excited about it, and they just want to go right for the dosing and think that this is going to cure them.”
Modern society is driven by our ever-growing desire for instant gratification and this desire for a quick fix or immediate results are particularly strong in addicts.
“Coming from the addiction world, that instant gratification pathway is fine and good in some ways. But it’s not a good overall strategy. And so front-loading the preparation phase, and what I mean by that is really getting to know the medicine, getting to know the people, you’re going to be doing the medicine with getting to know yourself a little bit more. And most importantly is getting your expectations right. You want to have the expectation that this is going to be a powerful experience, and it’s going to last a lifetime. It’s not just one and done kind of deal.”
“You could have one powerful experience. And from that experience, if your expectations are correct, you’re going to be prepared for the after journey, the integration phase, which lasts a lifetime, and you may not even need to use psychedelics again because you’ve seen and learned things about yourself that you begin to integrate into your life for the long term. So I think front-loading the preparation, the expectation end of things before going into a psychedelic journey is really going to be something that we all need to focus on.”
Dr. Barnett shares some of his personal experiences with psychedelics and further elaborates on how he was able to turn his trip into a life-changing moment.
The conversation moves back to the industry, where Dales and Dr. Barnett touch on everything from public perception of psychedelic therapeutics to legislative hurdles.
As the interview wraps up, Dr. Barnett shares a hopeful outlook for the psychedelic industry, and predicts that we will be on the cusp of FDA approval for MDMA by the end of 2023.
“II hope we’re continuing to make all the crazy progress that we’re making. I hope that we’re continuing to really look at the standards of care, look at the models that are coming out of the drug delivery and the therapy delivery side of things. I think there’s real progress to be made in terms of ethics and standards of care when it comes to delivering these medicines within the therapeutic context.”
