“Dr. Doblin’s quest to win mainstream acceptance of psychedelics took a significant leap forward on Monday when the journal Nature Medicine published the results of his lab’s study on MDMA, the club drug popularly known as Ecstasy and Molly. The study, the first Phase 3 clinical trial conducted with psychedelic-assisted therapy, found that MDMA paired with counseling brought marked relief to patients with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.”
If you are interested in psychedelics, you probably heard the news that the Canadian Mindmed recently closed $24 Million Ahead of IPO and Field Trip Psychedelics raised $8.5M in Series A last month. This news opened the gates for the next stock market fad for investors – if the markets are still standing, that is.
The Psyon Psychedelic Clinic is a psychotherapy-oriented centre
that focuses on psychotherapy and the use of psychedelic substances. Looking
forward, Psyon anticipates changes to the current legislation which will newly
allow the therapeutic use of psychedelics in mental health care programs.
Psyon’s goal is to also function as a healthcare facility offering the
so-called psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP). It will be doing so in full
compliance with the applicable law. The clinic also offers specialized
education and training for therapists in this field.
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is a new approach to the
treatment of mental illness. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
granted substance-assisted psychotherapy (with MDMA for post-traumatic stress
disorder and psilocybin for depression) the status of a “breakthrough therapy”
for assistance with these types of mental health issues.
Currently, Psyon’s clinic at Bílá Hora, Prague provides
psychotherapeutic counselling covering a broad spectrum of situations and
difficulties that people can encounter in their lives, with a particular focus
on the clinical use of psychedelics.
“At this time, this mostly means
providing professional assistance to people who might have encountered
difficulties due to their previous use of psychedelics. A positive integration
of a difficult psychedelic experience into one’s life is an area that standard psychiatric
practices often have a difficulty dealing with today due to a lack of
appropriate training,” explains Stanislav Milotinský, one of
Psyon’s founders.
Psyon was started by a team of leading
researchers and practitioners in the field of mental health, including
neuroscientists, physicians and psychologists. The Psyon team
includes:
Prof. MUDr. Jiří Horáček, PhD, FCMA – Director of Science and
Research at the Czech National Institute of Mental Health (NÚDZ),
physician, researcher, and professor at the 3rd Faculty of Medicine,
Charles University
MUDr. Martin Brunovský, PhD – head of a research programme at
NÚDZ, head physician, researcher, and lecturer at the 3rd Faculty of
Medicine, Charles University
MUDr. Filip Tylš, PhD – researcher at NÚDZ, physician, and
lecturer at the 3rd Faculty of Medicine
MUDr. Tomáš Páleníček, PhD – researcher at NÚDZ, physician, and
lecturer at the 3rd Faculty of Medicine
Mgr., Mgr. Stanislav Milotinský – psychologist at Bohnice
Psychiatric Hospital in Prague
Mgr. Jaroslav Farkaš – psychologist
The background of the clinic’s founders
includes neuroscience research at the Czech National Institute of Mental Health
(NÚDZ) (Jiří Horáček, Martin Brunovský, Tomáš Páleníček, Filip Tylš); clinical
work with patients (Jiří Horáček, Martin Brunovský, Tomáš Páleníček, Filip
Tylš, Stanislav Milotinský); management activities at the Czech Psychedelic
Society, a non-profit organization (Filip Tylš, Stanislav Milotinský, Jaroslav
Farkaš), and at the Foundation for Psychedelic Science (Tomáš Páleníček, Jiří
Horáček, Martin Brunovský); extensive psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic
counselling (Filip Tylš, Stanislav Milotinský, Jaroslav Farkaš, Jiří Horáček,
Tomáš Páleníček); international training in working with altered states of
consciousness (Jiří Horáček); and training in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies
and Research (CPTR provided by the CIIS in San Francisco, CA, USA) (Filip Tylš,
Stanislav Milotinský).
The development of our psychedelic clinic has
received financial support from the Miton investment group: “We consider psychedelic research to be extremely
important. It can prove to be an exceptionally promising direction in the
present state of affairs in which the science behind the treatment of mental
health disorders hasn’t seen any substantial progress for decades. We are both
supporting Psyon financially and also offering business advice. We consider it
more than just an investment with the expectation of a traditional type of
financial return. We are providing our support as a contribution to research,” stated
Václav Štrupl, a partner at Miton.
What are some of the clinical areas in which
the potential benefits of the use of psychedelics are being investigated?
Psychedelics have shown great promise in the
treatment of a number of different types of mental and other illnesses in
clinical trials conducted all over the world. Such trials are currently
investigating the use of psychedelics in the treatment of depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, e.g. for veterans of war and victims of
abuse), in palliative care and other areas. Psyon is planning to focus its
therapeutic practice on treatments for depression and trauma.
Since the research into the use of
psychedelics is undergoing an international resurgence, we are seeing and
expect to see a continuing high demand for specially trained experts in this
field. Courses completed by some of our therapists include the Certificate in
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research (CPTR) at the Centre for
Psychedelic Therapies and Research of the California Institute of Integral
Studies (CIIS), the MDMA Therapy Training Program for PTSD provided by MAPS and
the European-based training in psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression by
Compass Pathways. Many of our practitioners are also involved in scientific
studies and clinical trials of psychedelic substances.
