The Tim Ferriss Show

#667: Dr. Gül Dölen on Rethinking Psychedelics, New Applications (Autism, Stroke, and Allergies), The Neurobiology of Beginner’s Mind, Octopuses on MDMA, and The Master Key of Metaplasticity

Apr 19, 2023

Join Dr. Gül Dölen, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and a trailblazer in psychedelic research, as she explores groundbreaking applications for psychedelics. She discusses how these substances could reopen critical periods in the brain for disorders like autism and stroke, revealing their potential as therapeutic 'master keys.' Fascinating insights into octopuses under the influence and the intricate link between the brain and immune response further highlight the transformative power of psychedelics in health and learning.

02:06:32

Episode guests

Gül Dölen

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

How Psychedelics Can Reopen Critical Periods

03:14

Reopening Motor Critical Periods with Psychedelics for Stroke Treatment

01:20

The Context of Disease and Traditional Healing in Different Cultures

01:09

The Importance of Critical Periods for Vision and Autism

01:12

Intro

4min

Psychedelics and the Mind: Exploring Neuroplasticity

13min

Psychedelics and Autism: Reopening Critical Periods

25min

Navigating Learning and Adaptation Through Critical Periods

4min

Reopening Critical Periods: Psychedelics and Brain Plasticity

20min

Exploring Psychedelics and the Immune System

24min

Cultural Context and Psychedelic Healing

13min

Navigating Challenges in Academic Research

17min

Exploring Science, Curated Insights, and Practical Advice

5min

10.

The Ultimate All-In-One Nutritional Supplement

2min

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Dr. Gül Dölen is an associate professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a pioneer and world leader of psychedelics research. Her laboratory has discovered a novel mechanism that could account for the broad range of therapeutic applications that psychedelics are currently being tested for. Her lab has discovered a novel critical period for social reward learning and shown that this critical period can be reopened with psychedelic drugs, such as MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, ketamine, and ibogaine. Building on this discovery, she has formulated the hypothesis that psychedelics may be the long sought “master key” for unlocking critical periods across the brain. To test this hypothesis, she has initiated a nationwide collaborative effort to determine whether psychedelics reopen critical periods for ocular dominance plasticity, bird song learning, anatomical plasticity in the barrel cortex, serotonergic neuronal regeneration, dendritic spinogenesis, and motor learning.

Importantly, understanding psychedelics through this framework dramatically expands the scope of disorders (including autism, stroke, and allergies) that might benefit from adjunct therapy with psychedelics, an approach she has dubbed the PHATHOM project (Psychedelic Healing: Adjunct Therapy Harnessing Opened Malleability).

Dr. Dölen earned her MD, PhD at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she carried out seminal work on critical periods, learning and memory, and the pathogenesis of autism.

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[06:25] How Gül designed her own major as an undergrad.

[09:03] Philosophy of mind and theory of mind.

[13:33] What theory of mind in non-human species suggests.

[16:45] The origin of Gül's interest in autism.

[21:37] Autism facts vs. fiction.

[28:31] Critical periods.

[37:59] How critical periods apply to therapies for autism.

[43:37] Why might psychedelics allow us to reopen shut critical periods?

[49:25] MDMA and the octopus.

[52:40] Challenging popular notions about psychedelic research.

[54:52] Plasticity.

[1:00:26] Favorite neurotransmitter receptors.