Your brain on psychedelics with Gül Dölen

What can octopuses on MDMA teach us about sociability? That’s what neuroscientist and psychedelics researcher Gül Dölen wanted to find out. The creatures are antisocial with a brain structure very different from humans, but on the drug ecstasy, octopuses wanted to hang out with each other – and were even “touchy-feely.” Dölen has been doing groundbreaking work with MDMA and other hallucinogens to learn how they affect brains and unlock their therapeutic potential. She has a particular interest in critical periods in brain development, when humans are open to learning something new and meaningful from the environment. It’s a fascinating time to be researching MDMA, psilocybin, LSD and other psychedelics as they show increasing potential to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD and addiction…but they are no magic pill.