The Neuroscience of Psychedelics With Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris (Part 2)

In part two of my podcast with Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, a world-renowned neuroscientist, we explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for treating mental health disorders and how it relates to findings in Robin’s brain imaging studies. We specifically focus on Robin’s revolutionary neuroscientific theories such as the “entropic brain hypothesis” which posits that psychedelics increase the complexity and unpredictability of brain activity, disrupting hardened neural pathways correlated with mental illness such as depression and OCD. We also discuss Robin’s famous research finding that psychedelics dysregulate or desynchronize the “default mode network” (the ego hub in the brain), which is different from the early media-popularized narrative that psychedelics lower activity in the default mode network. We also spend a fair amount of time discussing the psychology of psychedelics and how people are able to break free from toxic self-beliefs (such as “I’m unworthy”) at the heart of many mental health disorders such as anorexia and fibromyalgia through psychedelic therapy in Robin’s clinical studies. Broadly, we explore this fascinating relationship between order and chaos as it pertains to neuroscience, psychology, and our lived experience of the world as we try to make sense of the bizarre, complex situation we are all in as Homo sapiens in a technologically modernized society.

This is one of my favourite conversations so I hope you enjoy it!

Chapters:

00:00 Efficacy and Side Effects of Psychedelic Therapy

06:49 Exploring Brain Imaging Work in Psychedelic Research

23:31 Exploring the Default Mode Network and Ego Dissolution

33:27 Interdependent Arising and the Illusion of Self

38:48 Causation vs. Determinism: The Free Will Debate

44:33 Psychedelics and the Entropic Brain Hypothesis

01:00:06 The Dynamics of Brain Activity Under Psychedelics

01:09:10 Understanding the Entropic Brain Hypothesis

01:25:05 Psychedelics and Their Impact on Eating Disorders

01:32:47 Understanding the Paradox of Addiction

01:37:55 Unlearning Toxic Beliefs

01:45:43 Integration and the Impact of Psychedelics

01:55:58 Future Directions in Psychedelic Research

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