Rachel Yehuda (Mount Sinai): Studying the Science of Psychedelics and PTSD

Today’s guest is a legend in the field of traumatic stress studies. Dr. Rachel Yehuda has been researching stress and PTSD for 30 years and now with the promising results from MDMA clinical trials trials, she and her team have founded the Mount Sinai Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research.

On the show, we discuss the four pillars of Mount Sinai’s new center. We go deep into the history of the PTSD diagnosis and the evolving understanding of how trauma works in the brain, including an explanation of epigenetics. We look at how the center will study psychedelic medicine from basic science using stem cells to specific types of therapy, and collaboration with other medical centers.

Dr. Yehuda is the Director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Mount Sinai, Vice Chair for Veterans Affairs for the Department of Psychiatry, Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division, Director of the Yehuda Lab, and a Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine. She is also the Director of Mental Health at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center. She has authored more than 450 published papers, chapters, and books in the field of trauma and resilience, focusing on topics such as PTSD prevention and treatment, molecular biomarkers of stress vulnerability and resilience, and intergenerational effects of trauma and PTSD.

Links

• Rachel Yehuda
• The Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research
• Twitter
• Rachel Yehuda on Instagram
• Rachel on Twitter
• Email

Timestamps

• :05 - Rachel explains the four pillars of the new Mount Sinai Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research
• :09 - Rachel explains what PTSD is and her experience of the field of trauma studies
• :21 - How epigenetics, the study of gene expression, holds the key to PTSD
• :30 - How the Center will study psychedelics
• :39 - Using stem cells to study the efficacy of different psychedelic molecules
• :44 - Biomedical approach verses studying the efficacy of particular therapies
• :52 - The Center’s approach to collaboration