Jerrold Rosenbaum, MD: Toward a Better Understanding of How Psychedelics Work

Psychedelic compounds, including psilocybin and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) have emerged as promising novel treatments for depression and other psychiatric disorders.  Research indicates that these agents may promote neuroplasticity, creating a unique opportunity to change patterns in brain activity, and in turn, improve symptoms, behavior and functioning.

Earlier this year the Mass General  launched a new program, the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics.  This is a collaborative endeavor including researchers from the Department of Psychiatry, the Chemical Neurobiology Laboratory, and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging.  The Center seeks to understand how psychedelics enhance the brain’s capacity for change, to optimize current treatments and create new treatments for mental illness, and to make the term “treatment resistant” obsolete.

In this video, Jerry Rosenbaum, MD, Psychiatrist-in-Chief Emeritus and Director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics hosts the official launch of the program, which features a discussion with Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.  This program includes other members of the Center, including Sharmin Ghaznavi, MD, PhD, Center Associate Director and Director, Cognitive Neuroscience; Stephen J. Haggarty, PhD, Scientific Director, Chemical Neurobiology; Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD, Scientific Director, Neuroimaging; Jacob Hooker, PhD, Director of Translational Biomarkers; Franklin King IV, MD, Director of Training and Education.

In a recent interview published in the Harvard Gazette, Dr. Rosenbaum discusses some of the exciting new research going on in the field of psychedelic therapeutics.  He emphasizes that moving forward requires a solid foundation of scientific inquiry, understanding the mechanism of action of these novel treatments and how best to use them.  

…it is not psychedelics themselves that are therapeutic, but the drugs create a state where psychotherapy, processing of emotional material and past traumas, can be handled so that you can be free of them. If managed well, you can make profound changes in how people think, feel, and behave — in some cases abruptly after years of suffering. 

A new study at the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics will be focusing on rumination, a pattern of excessive thoughts about negative experiences and feelings.  While rumination is a key feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Dr. Rosenbaum points out that rumination is an important, and often intractable element of many other psychiatric disorders, including depressive disorders, eating disorders, and addiction.   

New center seeks to understand any ‘magic’ in mushrooms (The Harvard Gazette)

Sharmin Ghaznavi, MD, PhD, Center Associate Director and Director, Cognitive Neuroscience

Stephen J. Haggarty, PhD, Scientific Director, Chemical Neurobiology

Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD, Scientific Director, Neuroimaging

Jacob Hooker, PhD, Director of Translational Biomarkers

Franklin King IV, MD, Director of Training and Education