71: Pam Conboy and Leah Linder: Combining Psychedelics, Spirituality and Functional Medicine: A New Approach to Mental Health Care?

In this fascinating conversation for the MindHealth360 Show, Pam Conboy and Leah Linder discuss an imminent and radical approach to mental health treatment: psychedelic therapy. When combined with spirituality, community, and functional medicine, this approach can be incredibly powerful for brain restoration, neuroplasticity, and mental healing.

Pam Conboy is a biologist and clinical laboratorian who has worked most of her life in medical marketing but has been working in Naturopathic Functional Medicine spheres for the last 7 years, transforming her approach and understanding of medicine. 

Leah Linder is a naturopathic physician. Following significant patient interest in the healing power of psychedelics, she was blown away by the wealth of research on the power of psilocybin to successfully address depression, anxiety, PTSD, and many other mental health conditions as a breakthrough therapy endorsed by the 2018/19 US Food and Drug Administration.

Reconnecting a year ago, they discovered how psilocybin can be used legally and therapeutically in the context of a religious entity. Founders of the Setas Seminary Church of Spiritual Integration, the first legitimate non-profit church using psilocybin for therapeutic use under the Religious Freedom Act, their treatments sincerely incorporate elements of naturopathic medicine, holistic spirituality, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. In this groundbreaking interview, they explain the remarkable effects of psilocybin on our biochemistry to reveal why it can not only powerfully and sustainably address mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD when used in an integrative and therapeutic way but can also be truly life-changing for those who use it.

In this episode, learn about:

• How the Religious Freedom Act enables the use of psilocybin within the church setting.
• Ways psilocybin kickstarts the healing process, and why it works significantly more effectively than antidepressants via the 5-HT serotonin receptors.
• How microdosing can help individuals taper off SSRIs.
• Why the therapeutic space is key and the importance of the therapist witnessing/holding in the healing journey.
• How recreational use can go wrong, and why the Church hasn’t seen a 'bad trip.'
• Why the psilocybin used in the Church is safer than SSRI medications, where their psilocybin is sourced, and the rigorous testing involved.
• The three therapeutic psilocybin dosing categories, and the circumstances in which they are applied: 1) micro-dosing 2) moderate dose 3) full dose
• Ways the full dose generates a significant psychedelic experience, why it is taken in ceremony and how it works long-term.
• How psilocybin can create neural pathways/connections, as shown in MRI scans, and how it can vastly increase neuroplasticity and the growth of brain cells quickly – giving sufferers a jump start into better mental health.
• Why whole mushrooms, rather than molecules, are used and ways they are anti-inflammatory.
• Why psilocybin is only one of many tools in the healing toolkit, and why the integration of community, naturopathic medicine, EMDR, light therapy, etc., is also vital, and how the Church facilitates this approach.
• The early research showing that psilocybin can prevent neurodegenerative diseases and stabilize the endocrine system, pointing toward its potential to treat many areas of poor health.
• Some incredible case stories from churchgoers, ways it can unexpectedly bring to the forefront and heal past traumas, and why psilocybin therapy can be life-changing.

For further insights, visit www.mindhealth360.com – your comprehensive guide to mental well-being.