Category: NEWS

Prague, 13 January 2020

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.