176: The Power of Psychedelics and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies with Ronan Levy

There’s a rising popularity in the field of psychedelics as it relates to addiction treatment and healing trauma. But aren’t psychedelics addictive?

On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Ronan Levy, co-founder of Field Trip Health, a company with a mission to heal the sick and better the well through psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted therapies. Ronan explains the role of psychedelics in healing trauma and addiction treatment and recovery.

A trained lawyer by profession, Ronan hopped into the entrepreneurial world over 10 years ago and got an opportunity to start a business in the medical cannabis industry in Canada. Eventually, he discovered the role of psychedelics and since then, he has been committed to using this platform that opens up conversations to a whole new audience so he could reach more people in the hope that we can shift the conversation around mental health from a reactive place into something we do proactively.

Ronan initially thought that if he could get people thinking about their mental health like their physical health and becoming proactive in developing emotional awareness and emotional resilience, then we would all be doing justice to the world and our healthcare systems. That’s when he started exploring psychedelic therapies and their potential to build a business around them. But more importantly, it’s not just the physical effects of psychedelics that drew him to this space, but how psychedelics play a significant role in raising the consciousness of humanity on a global scale.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Psychedelics and healing trauma
• What are psychedelics?
• The risk of taking psychedelics
• The impact of psilocybin-assisted therapies
• What’s going on in the brain during a psychedelic experience
• The cross country ski track analogy
• Other benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapies
• What a psychedelic experience feels like

Key Quotes:

[07:02] - "If we could get people thinking about their mental health like their physical health, and being proactive and developing emotional awareness... we would be doing such a justice to the world."

[08:08] - “It's about the conscious evolution of consciousness – how do we elevate humanity in a way that we can deal with the challenges that we face as a species and as a planet?”

[08:28] - “Trying to use old techniques to address new problems is not going to work.”

[10:19] - “It's virtually impossible to overdose on psychedelics. And when done in a proper therapeutic environment with medical professionals or psychotherapeutic professionals, the risk of the so-called bad trip or going crazy is virtually negligible.”

[12:14] - "These are not just medicines, they actually change people and help them see the world from a different lens."

[13:07] - “Psychedelics, particularly ketamine is such a powerful medicine for acute suicidal ideation… you have these layers of effect going on that are not only changing the emotional resonance of what's going on, but they're also actually changing the physical operation of your brain in a healthy and productive way.”

[19:34] - "Through psychedelics and some of my personal experiences with psychedelics, I can start to see myself as being worthy of love and as being a successful human being even if I don't have a successful business."

If you really enjoyed this episode, we’ve created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at www.theaddictedmind.com to download it.

Supporting Resources:

Field Trip Health

Twitter: @RonanDLevy

Instagram: @RonanDLevy

Episode Credits

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