Ideas worth spreading

The future of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy

4,176,458 views |

Rick Doblin |

TED2019

• April 2019

Could psychedelics help us heal from trauma and mental illnesses? Researcher Rick Doblin has spent the past three decades investigating this question, and the results are promising. In this fascinating dive into the science of psychedelics, he explains how drugs like LSD, psilocybin and MDMA affect your brain -- and shows how, when paired with psychotherapy, they could change the way we treat PTSD, depression, substance abuse and more.

Could psychedelics help us heal from trauma and mental illnesses? Researcher Rick Doblin has spent the past three decades investigating this question, and the results are promising. In this fascinating dive into the science of psychedelics, he explains how drugs like LSD, psilocybin and MDMA affect your brain -- and shows how, when paired with psychotherapy, they could change the way we treat PTSD, depression, substance abuse and more.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about how people can benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana.

About the speaker

Rick Doblin

Psychedelics researcher

See speaker profile

As the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Rick Doblin crusades for the safe and legal use of psychedelics in therapy.

Learn more

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about how people can benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana.