What is maternal / paternal trauma, you ask. Exactly. It's one of the most common forms of trauma today that's unnamed, unidentified, undiagnosed and making generations of people mentally unhealthy. So let's starting talk about it to start addressing it. You've heard it here first - the term maternal / paternal trauma was introduced here at Psychedelic Therapy Connection to start a conversation that's long overdue in this country. Millions of stress out, burned out, depressed and straight up traumatized parents know it's there like a dark cloud hanging overhead, but without a name it's hard to call it out for what it is. It's trauma. A lot about getting pregnant, staying pregnant, delivering a child and then raising a young child is traumatizing today for a number of reasons. Let's kick things off by looking at this new, but definitely prevalent, mental health issue at a high level. We'll address the primary sources of maternal / paternal trauma as well as why this problem is so bad and getting worse. Sources of Maternal / Paternal Trauma When you consider all of the potential sources of trauma for parents, the list is actually pretty extensive. Some sources of trauma are fairly obvious while others are so covert they are a surprise even to the people experiencing the mental distress. The primary sources of maternal / paternal trauma are: Reproductive Issues / Infertility Miscarriage Stillborn Birth Abortion  Infant Death  Premature Birth / NICU Placement Baby Diagnosed With Disability Maternal Death  Maternal Near Death Experience  Difficult Delivery  Care Taking For Special Needs Infant/Child Postpartum Depression Burn Out Loss of Agency This is not an exhaustive list, but these are the biggest sources of maternal / paternal trauma. When you consider the various stages of parenthood, it's hard to find a mother or father who isn't painfully familiar with at least one of them. Why Addressing Maternal / Paternal Trauma is So Important Maternal / Paternal trauma is a serious issue we have ignored for far too long. It is our personal belief here at Psychedelic Therapy Connection that this is the root cause of the Mental Health Crisis in America . We're calling it the root cause because parents have a direct effect on the mental and emotional development of their children. There's going to be a residual effects for the children of mothers and fathers that are struggling with a mental health disorder. It goes right back to what many clinical therapists and psychiatrists already know - most of our issues start in childhood. Worse still is that those children can embody it and then pass it along to their own children. Unless we address maternal / paternal trauma it's going to continue to have a domino effect that spreads mental health issues much further than they need to go. There's no way for a mother or father to parent to the best of their ability if they are struggling with mental distress. Why Maternal / Paternal Trauma is Getting Worse Even just one of those sources above can lead to clinical PTSD, Anxiety or Depression. But the truth is, many parents deal with a combination of factors. And on top of that they are expected to just deal with it. And that's at the heart of why this serious issue is getting worse. Parents Are Taught to Ignore Themselves and Focus Solely on Their Baby If you experience trauma before or during delivery good luck. Because as soon as the baby is born you are expected to push all of that down deep, ignore it and put all your focus on the new baby. Yes, babies need our focus. However, the way mothers and fathers are expected to disregard themselves in order to do that is mentally unhealthy. Why don't we offer counseling and mental health services during pregnancy and shortly after delivery? Why don't we have parenting classes expressly about dealing with the emotional turmoil that can come with becoming a parent? Because we as a society are trying to act like this problem doesn't exist when it most certainly does. It's as if we are deathly afraid that admitting it will mean we're bad parents, when the opposite is actually true. Ignoring a parent's emotional struggles and mental health issues is ultimately damaging for the child, and knowingly doing that is bad parenting. This is an issue that has manifested in other serious ways. Years ago a California consortium looked into why maternal deaths rates were so high in America - among the worse for developed nations. It turns out the two primary causes of maternal deaths, eclampsia and hemmoraging, were preventable in most cases. So why did the deaths occur? Mainly because medical teams were taught to put all of their attention on the baby and the mother's needs went to the wayside. Ignoring the needs of the mother literally has cost thousands upon thousands of lives and created an immeaurable amount of trauma. California now trains medical teams to continue monitoring the health of the mother instead of ignoring her in order to look out for the signs of eclampsia and hemmoraging so that fewer women die. This writer is one of the women who benefited from that research and fortunately still alive to tell the tale. This is a perfect example of how ignoring the needs of parents can be detrimental. The mental health of mothers and fathers also needs the same level of attention. Imagine how much pain, suffering and even death is caused by us ignoring the problem of maternal / paternal trauma. Unrealistic Social Expectations and Pressures The problem really began during/after WWII when millions of men came back from war traumatized. Instead of getting help with those issues they had a lot of kids - the Baby Boomer generation. On top of that the economy dramatically changed and women entered the workforce in significant numbers, often out of necessity because things started getting more expensive and the American capitalism economy boomed with the added workers, production, and income that was generated for buying more stuff. Then we got sold on the idea of buying more stuff and more stuff, which is the backbone of capitalism. We needed to own a big home and fill it with tons of stuff. And if your neighbor got some new stuff, well you needed that stuff too. All the while we were taught by society that we needed to still maintain that family structure regardless of how the dynamics changed. Women in particular were taught they simply needed to do more, get more productive, figure out how to balance it all with little to no support unless they had extended family nearby to help with the child rearing. Today, with the internet and social media things are even worse. Parents are continually in comparison mode, gauging how well they are parenting compared to others. They told a million different ways they are doing things wrong and there's more pressure than ever to get it exactly right. Simply feeling like you now have to also show the world what a great parent you are on social media with expensive family photo shoots and picturesque vacation shots is an additional stressors that wasn't there in the past. Isolation Leading to Less Collective Childcare Raising a child is stressful in and of itself. It is a full-time job all on it's own, and it's most effective when you have numerous caring adults who can help raise them. It's the whole "it takes a village to raise a child concept", which is how we naturally did raise children back in the day. Innately, that is how it's supposed to be done. But that isn't how we do it at all in the U.S. today, and it's making parents mentally unhealthy. We're simply too overburdened, too busy, too stressed. Often just one parent at a time is charged with watching all of the children for the bulk of the day so that the other parent can work, or that is left to childcare workers and there's no parent involvement. For many parents, this then triggers feelings of guilt because we're being told we should be super parents handling it all. With little to no breathing room it's near impossible to catch your breath and feel like you're not about to hyperventilate. To give ourselves breathing room kids get put in front of screens, and it ultimately makes familial and societal issues worse. What We Can Do to Address Maternal / Paternal Trauma in the U.S. One of the simplest solutions for maternal / paternal trauma is psychedelic therapy . Why? Because it's effective for starters. But more importantly, it's because psychedelic medications are fast acting. Parents don't have a lot of spare time. People with kids need efficiency. Correcting issues as quickly as possible is also extremely important for the children that are being impacted whether it seems like they are or not. There's also the matter of epigenetics. If you want to have a child or plan to have another one, mental health issues need to ideally be addressed beforehand to avoid any potential epigenetics backlash. But that's a whole other blog post topic, and we certainly will be discussing maternal / paternal trauma more. We'd love to hear the thoughts of others on this topic. The more we discuss it, the more we will normalize maternal / paternal trauma so that it can be addressed in the way that's needed.

You’re hearing it here first - we advocate for the use of psychedelic therapies to assist people who have been newly diagnosed with dementia.  There are certain diagnoses that no one wants ever. At the top of the list for many people is dementia. In many ways it is a diagnosis worse than many cancers. And if you’ve witnessed someone decline from dementia it’s heartbreaking. It’s easy to feel helpless and hopeless.  Something that was unexpected spending time regularly in a dementia care facility, was seeing a divide among the patients in the advanced stages. There were the happy people and the sad people. It was a very clear delineation, and their states of being were pretty much constant.  At first it seemed to be a singular observation, that is, until another person in a group visiting noted the same. They specifically wondered why their parent seemed to be one of the sad people.  Startling Dementia Statistics There are 55+ million people in the world with dementia  - BUT - that number is expected to grow to 78 million by 2030 and 139 million by 2050. Every 3 seconds someone develops dementia.  What Would You Want to Think About If You Were Stuck in an Altered Mental State?  If you learned you had dementia, would you or would you not want to immediately start dealing with any mental health issues like depression and anxiety? Given what we know about dementia (a dreadfully small amount) and observations that have been made, you may want to err on the side of caution and see a therapist. There are connections between dementia and negative thought patterns. In all cases it seems beneficial to address negative thought patterns as both a preventative measure and therapy for dementia. Because here’s the kicker. When you have advanced dementia it’s near impossible to form new memories and perspectives, which means addressing mental health issues is not possible. But even people with advanced dementia don’t lose total sense of self . Research has shown people feel how they felt at the time of the diagnosis or before it.  Fast intervention with fast-acting psychedelic therapies could be highly beneficial for anyone who has struggled with depression, trauma or anxiety in the past. As soon as someone is diagnosed with dementia improving their mental health and mental state should be a top priority. .  Cancer Patients Are Already Receiving Psychedelic Therapy to Deal With a “Death Sentence” Would you or would you not want assistance wrapping your head around a death sentence diagnosis? More and more cancer patients are answering “yes” to the idea of psychedelic therapy as a way of dealing with the emotions of mortality.  Research shows that psychedelics like psilocybin can reduce depression in cancer patients . It reduces worry, fear, despair, sadness and anxiety in people who are fighting for their lives. There’s no real downside. Improving a patient’s mental state actually improves their response to treatments. And if they don’t respond it at least makes their final months or years more enjoyable.  So, why aren’t we doing the same for dementia patients? They are likely already having difficulty mentally dealing with it all given the symptoms of the disease. It would seem like they need psychedelic-assisted therapy as much or more than a cancer patient given all the factors at play. It will be interesting to see if the field of psychedelic research begins to focus on therapies for dementia patients. Until we find a cure, it’s one of the best things we can do for the millions of people living with dementia today. If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with dementia, find a psychedelic therapist who can provide assistance.

We’re hearing more and more about dosing these days. Yes, dosage is a key component of effective psychedelic therapy, but what’s with all the dosing nomenclature lately? As psychedelic therapies  become more studied and socially acceptable, dosing has become a hot topic. How much, or little, is the right amount? And what exactly counts as a hero dose?  Should you even bother with microdosing psychedelics?  Let’s take a closer look! *Quick Disclaimer: At the moment, dosing is largely undefined. There isn’t a set dosage that determines what falls into the various categories. Furthermore, the dosage amount varies depending on what medication you’re using and the person. Body weight, past use of psychedelics and more all influence how a dose will hit someone. So moving forward, understand that dosing psychedelics isn’t an exact science yet, which is something researchers are currently working on.  What to Know About Microdosing This is the one people are most familiar with thanks to uber billionaire entrepreneurs that swear by microdosing , well, anything it seems like. In particular shrooms/psilocybin, LSD, ketamine - like we said, anything.  The medical criteria for microdosing is a dose that's sub-perceptual. This means you’re not perceiving the effects of psychedelics or the effects are very subtle. However, it could have an impact on cognition - the jury is still out. Math time! A microdose is usually anything from 1/5 to 1/20 of a normal dose  in which you will feel the hallucinogenic effects. Just a few years ago, Harvard published an article noting that there’s no known or definitive benefit  associated with microdosing psychedelic medications. There’s also concern with people building up a tolerance by microdosing, which would then necessitate higher doses for the sae effects.  BUT - all this is based on what has been studied explicitly. Some psychedelic therapists use microdosing as a way to prepare a patient for a full blown psychedelic therapy session. In this situation a benefit can be seen. If nothing else, it should put patients who are new to psychedelics at ease so that they can relax into the experience and get more out of it. And remember, there could be cognitive benefits. What to Know About Hero Dosing Hero dosing, also called macrodosing or a heroic dose, is most often used for psilocybin therapy, but it can really apply to many different psychedelics - although it is not recommended for safety reasons in most cases. Basically, a hero dose is a big dose.  Hero dosing can hit hard, so patients have to be prepared for that. But as scary as it may sound, microdosing psilocybin has been seen to be beneficial in curbing anxiety and creating a more impactful experience. It’s thought that hero dosing can be a benefit when a person isn’t going to do multiple sessions. Basically, you do a big dose once in place of a series of smaller doses.  It’s believed that a heroic dose really challenges the mind and can create a transformative experience that almost forces change. Studies seem to back that up. Treatments with around 25mg appear to have a profound impact.  What’s considered a hero dose? Again, this isn’t an exact measurement. A hero dose is essentially anything more than a normal dose. Many psychedelic therapists consider 5 grams of dried psilocybin or 25-40 mg of pure psilocybin to be a heroic dose. What to Know About Flood Dosing Flood dosing is a term used in iboga and ibogaine treatment for addiction, trauma and other mental health conditions. It’s a lot like it sounds. A flood dose is a large dose of a medication that kind of flushes the system. (I guess toilet dosing didn’t sound as good as flood dosing.) Flood dosing is the exact opposite of microdosing. If you’re looking for a metric, a flood dose is 20+mg/kg ibogaine.  Flood dosing definitely isn’t for everyone. And it’s something that should only be done under the supervision of a physician or experienced psychedelic therapist. There are a growing number of clinics that cater to ibogaine flood dosing, despite the fact the effects can last up to 12 hours. And it's really best if the patient is there for a bit longer for monitoring. Dosing Irregularity is One Reason Why You Want to Work With Psychedelic Therapists and Psychedelic Therapy Clinics  Health experts stress that the irregularity in dosing is one huge reason why people shouldn’t try to do psychedelic therapy on their own. It’s hard to know for sure how much of a psychedelic medication you’re taking when the source isn’t super reliable or regulated.  Psychedelic therapy clinics  are going to be the best solution if you are concerned about dosage levels. The medication is administered by a professional in a medical setting so everything is controlled. If you’d like to know more about dosing, talk with a psychedelic therapist  in your area. They are an excellent resource for what’s appropriate for your exact needs.

What the hell is going on, America? Seriously, based on the latest US mental health statistics things are out of control. The mental health crisis in America isn't relenting, at least not according to the latest data. When it seems like we've hit the peak, we get a fresh round of research that suggests mental health is getting even worse somehow.  Bigger Percentage of Americans Are Depressed, Stressed and Suicidal Groups like the American Psychological Association (APA) and Gallup polling have found that more people feel depressed, stressed and unhappy than ever before. It's a collective cry for help that the U.S. government has found a way to tune out like a mom with 3+ kids.  The fact that one out of every two adults between the ages of 18 and 34 have some sort of mental health condition is startling. It makes people who are 65+ (who may have done psychedelics in the 60s) seem chill as hell in comparison.  And the suicide rate has got to be discussed. It's higher now than in 2011 when we were coming out of the Great Recession. And yet, people were happier back then when the economy was still gripping tight to the porcelain so as not to go in the shitter.  When suicide deaths hit the highest number on record, we need to examine what is going on to cause people to go to that extreme. We also need to put all options on the table for reducing suicidal ideation. It's a matter of saving lives, so lets say screw the misguided societal beliefs that aren't based on science because that's not what's most important here.  Download and share the interactive infograph ! Psychedelic Therapy Can Be a Part of the Solution Clearly, based on the 2023 mental health statistics, we need to be doing things differently in the U.S. If we were getting it right, the mental health statistics would be moving in the other direction. New novel therapies that have been proven to reduce symptoms and help people overcome mental health issues are desperately needed. Many psychedelic therapies have proven to be beneficial for conditions like treatment-resistant depression, clinical anxiety, substance use disorder and PTSD. Possibly the most important benefit for psychedelic therapy mental health patients, that has been well documented in many research studies, is its rapid reduction of suicidal ideation. Almost immediately many people have greatly diminished suicidal ideation or none at all.  In other words, psychedelic therapies can save people's lives by reducing the number of suicide attempts. This is a "yeah duh" moment. If nothing else, the FDA needs to fast-track approval for psychedelic medications that are administered specifically for suicidal ideation.   We're here for anyone that thinks psychedelic therapy could be beneficial for their mental health. Our goal is to connect licensed psychedelic therapists with patients that need their guidance. Each patient that is helped is a step towards solving the mental health crisis in America. If you're ready for a new type of therapy, find a psychedelic therapist you connect with.

Spoiler alert: The team at MAPS were disappointed to say the least. Find out how the MAPS founder reacted to the FDA advisory committee's recommendation to not approve MDMA therapy for PTSD, and if his prediction could be right in the coming weeks . Doblin is Upbeat Despite Vote Against MDMA Therapy Hearing interviews with MAPS  founder Rick Doblin in the weeks before the FDA advisory panel released their review of his stage 3 clinical trials on MDMA therapy for PTSD , it's clear he's pretty hopeful. So when the panel voted against the approval of MDMA therapy in June it was certain to have been a hard blow. But Rick didn't let the advisory vote get him too down - he has access to psychedelic therapy that can help him cope with the loss. At least he was upbeat publicly. Soon after the vote Doblin was on the record as saying there's a, "substantially more than a 50/50 chance the application will be approved in August". Rick is meaning the actual FDA vote on MDMA therapy  that's coming up. The one with FDA members that previously approved the trial methods that the advisory committee had issues with. Issues that were cited as a big part for why they recommended the FDA not approve MDMA therapy for PTSD treatment. It's a point along with several others that MAPS and Lykos are publicly calling into question or outright refuting. In other words, holes are being blown in the advisory committee's recommendations well before the FDA takes its vote. To be fair, no psychedelic medication has gotten the thumbs up yet. Also, some of the panel's points were either purely anecdotal or really a non-issue as per precedence already set by the FDA. So, there is reason to hope the FDA will go against the advisory panel's recommendation. Possible Contributing Factors for the MDMA Therapy Down Vote Everything was looking really positive and proponents were really expecting a win with the advisory panel vote. What happened? Lykos Didn't Play Nice With ICER Lykos Therapeutics (the biotech firm associated with MAPS) failed to work with Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, or ICER , to identify shortcomings in the research prior to submitting their application for FDA approval in February 2024. The following month ICER released a report about Lykos' research, which highlighted issues. It was a factor for the committee members that voted MDMA therapy down. Chief among the concerns was bias on the part of the researchers and even some participants as well as the inability to do a true blind study. It's kind of obvious to many people if they got the placebo, especially if they've done the psychedelic before, which some of the Lykos study participants had. But in actuality the last concern is a known issue for many medications, and it hasn't held up approval in the past. Politics is Always a Part of Psychedelics It's our personal belief that part of the recommendation against approval is partly due to it being an election year. This might have just been a way of feeling out what kind of backlash there could be if approval were denied. Thorough analysis of the clinical trial methods and results need to happen to ensure efficacy, but the FDA advisory committee seemed to lean heavily on worst case scenario assumptions. Now it's up to the FDA to determine if MDMA therapy is effective enough to gain approval. Find MDMA Therapists Near You There are licensed therapists that are using psychedelics to help patients that can benefit from psychedelic-assisted therapy. Even if the therapist isn't able to prescribe MDMA, they can assist you with intention setting, reflection on the experience and integration. All of these things have been shown to improve the results of psychedelic therapies like MDMA therapy. Get started by searching for psychedelic therapists  based on location, profession and psychedelic therapies.

Right now there are highly effective therapies for a variety of mental health disorders, but they aren't available for the vast majority of the public. Why? Because they are psychedelics, and psychedelics have been misunderstood by many since the "War on Drugs" began. Many Mental Healthcare Providers Know With Healing Potential of Psychedelic Therapies When you become a psychiatrist, psychologist or clinical counselor you promise to care for patients to the best of your ability. That's hard to do when effective therapies are available, but not legal. In an effort to honor their oath, thousands of therapists across the country have used psychedelic medications to treat patients. These therapists have read dozens if not hundreds of the thousands of studies on the efficacy and safety of different psychedelics. They know firsthand that compared to the conventional treatments, psychedelics are even more safe and can be much more effective. There Are Therapists Fighting For the Legalization of Psychedelics Right now is a pivotal moment for psychedelic therapy. The growing desperation to curb the Mental Health Crisis in America, awareness of what psychedelic therapy entails and cultural shifts in how we view these medications have aligned to set the stage for legalization. It's not going to be an easy or quick process, but many therapists are behind the cause and helping pave the way for widespread legalization of psychedelics for therapeutic use. Already states like Oregon and Colorado psychedelics are being decriminalized across the board, even beyond therapeutic use. As the federal government considers reclassifying a number of psychedelics progress will continue to be made one patient at a time. Finding Psychedelic Therapists is How We Help Patients There's a lot to be hopeful about for the future of psychedelic therapy, and we want to help facilitate the process in the way we know how to best. Psychedelic Therapist Connection was created to connect therapists that use psychedelic therapy with patients that can benefit from it. Psychedelic therapies are the future of mental health care, and we want to help make it happen. We're leveraging our talents and skills to aid in the effort by providing a resource that makes finding psychedelic therapists easy. Beyond being a directory resource, we also aim to spread awareness about psychedelic therapies and educate the public in an effort to combat misinformation. We are also helping more therapists discover how to become qualified at using psychedelic medications in a clinical setting.