[B]OLD AGE With Debbie Weil

Best Of: Dr. Bree Johnston on Psilocybin Trips and the Growing Acceptance of Psychedelic Therapy

Episode Summary

Since Debbie spoke with Dr. Bree Johnston one year ago, psychedelic therapy has been legalized or decriminalized in several more states in addition to Oregon. And the topic of psychedelic therapy to treat addiction, depression and to ease fear of death is much in the news. So we are re-airing an especially informative episode that ran in May 2022.

Episode Notes

Debbie talks with Dr. Bree Johnston, a geriatrician and palliative care physician in practice for 35 years who is also certified in psychedelic therapies. This is a re-airing of an episode published one year ago.

The topic of psychedelic therapy has gone mainstream in the past several years and especially in the past year. In the year since Debbie and Dr. Bree spoke, the use of psilocybin, MDMA and other psychedelics as therapy for addiction, depression and to ease fear of death has been increasingly in the news. The use of psilocybin is now legal or decriminalized in a handful of states in addition to Oregon.

Dr. Bree is an especially clear speaker and talks openly about the benefits of her own psilocybin trips. She tells us she wishes she could prescribe them for her elderly patients who are anxious about dying.

She explains everything you might want to know about different psychedelics, what their effects are, what to be wary of and more.

As to how this topic fits into aging and reinvention, Debbie says were she to receive a fatal diagnosis from cancer or another disease, she's pretty sure she would seek a guided psilocybin trip to ease fear of dying.  

 

UPDATE on legal status of psychedelics

 

 

RECENTLY IN THE NEWS:

 

*****

NEW! Subscribe to Debbie's Substack.
Substack is the new home for Debbie's regular newsletter. She offers behind-the-scenes commentary on the latest episodes of the podcast. She also writes in more depth, from a personal perspective, about the land of the old: the positives, the negatives, and the surprises. 

*****
 

COMPLETE SHOW NOTES:

Complete show notes with more resources and links from the May 2022 airing of this episode are here.

 

NOTE FROM DEBBIE

If you've been enjoying the podcast, please leave a short review on Apple Podcasts. It takes less than two minutes and it really makes a difference.

 

 

Connect with Debbie:

 

 

Media Partners

Credits: