On the Therapeutic Applications of Psilocybin w UCSF Psychiatrist

Psilocybin has been decriminalized in many cities in the United States and most recently has been approved for use in psychotherapy in the state of Oregon. In the latest studies, psilocybin has shown efficacy for patients suffering from depression, addiction, and end-of-life distress. And yet the potentials and risks of psilocybin are so unlike today’s conventional mental health treatments that much work remains to be done to prepare mental health practitioners and the public for psychedelic therapies.

Join clinician and CIIS professor Gisele Fernandes-Osterhold for an illuminating conversation with UCSF psychiatrist Brian Anderson on the benefits, risks, and therapeutic applications of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. Drawing on their shared background as mental health providers who have worked with many people who have both benefited and been harmed by psychedelic use in community settings, Brian and Gisele explore the current state of medical knowledge of psychedelics—both what the science can tell us and what it can’t—and discuss what the key next steps are for the field of psychedelic medicines.